ABSTRACT

The word Library has passed through various conceptual changes over the years. The idea of resource sharing and joint working arrangements between different libraries is not new. Indeed interlibrary loan arrangements have been carried out in a routine way for many decades. In recent years the formation of library networks, compacts and consortia has however taken on a new urgency as individual libraries have become less and less self sufficient. No single library can satisfy all its reader's needs with its physical collections and services, increased emphasis is placed on co-operation or resource sharing among libraries. Resource sharing had been in existence from the early centuries because of the economic concept of scarcity which states that there are few resources to satisfy numerous wants of man hence, no library is an island. Encyclopedia of library and information science (1979) defined resource sharing as mode of operation whereby library functions are shared in common by a number of libraries. Resource is said to include the materials and functions of library processes. The purpose of resource sharing is to satisfy the users by allowing them access to more materials or services and also to reduce cost to the individual library budget. It means the relationship of two or more libraries in material and function for the achievement of the goal of satisfying the users.