story142.IN

Submitted by:

Arthur J. Lindeman
Executive Director
Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS)
957 W. Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-8920 USA

v: (317) 263-8920
f: (317) 263-8831
e: lindeman@ind.net

Categories:

Education, higher; Research, academic; Library

Keywords:

Innovative or improved ways of doing things; More equitable access to technology or electronic information; Local commitment to network- based activities; Partnerships between public and private sector

Supporting Documentation (contact author for more information):

Documentation

The Story:

The nation’s first statewide automated private college and seminary library resource sharing network has been started in Indiana with a $4.8 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. to the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana, Inc. (PALNI). PALNI, a cooperative nonprofit, public benefit corporation established by twenty-four Indiana private academic and seminary libraries, is developing an automated, shared database of the institutions’ more than 4.4 million volumes.

Using the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS) data network, called INDnet, the PALNI application will provide access for the cooperating libraries’ patrons to all the institutions’ library holdings as well as ultimately to those of Indiana’s state-supported institutions, and vice versa. The PALNI group played a key role in the development of the statewide Internet- based network in Indiana. The IHETS- Internet network will provide linkages among and between PALNI institutions and other organizations who are connected to the Internet.

The central database, owned by PALNI and operated under contract by the Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority (lNCOLSA), will be located in Indianapolis. The shared database and bibliographic data- handling capabilities of the system will allow participating libraries to engage in increasingly sophisticated resource sharing and cooperative acquisitions programs, including access to the international OCLC library network. Indiana academic and seminary library patrons will begin to have access to the collective nineteen million volume library holdings of the state’s institutions of higher education as the network database goes on-line by the end of 1993. The INDnet network was funded jointly by a portion of the PALNI grant and the National Science Foundation. INDnet is connected to CICNet as its regional network service provider.

The PALNI network was designed to yield the greatest possible return on investments in library cooperation, collections, operations, human resources, and technology by consolidating similar activities across many institutions.

The Lilly Endowment’s three year grant will provide funds for equipment for the system and a phased sharing of operating support for the first three years. The cooperating institutions provide partial operational funding during the period of the grant and will be responsible for the ongoing operational costs of the network at the conclusion of the grant, estimated in late 1995.

PALNI Institutions:

Larry Frye
President
Private Academic Library Network of Indiana, Inc. (PALNI)
Lilly Library, Wabash College
Crawfordsville, IN 47933

v: (317).362.1400
f: (317).364.4295
e: fryel@wabash.bitnet