Editorial: Inhaling the Spore
John F. Helmer · Information Technology and Libraries · 1998
Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, Lawrence Weschler's history of the enigmatic Museum of Jurassic Technology,(1) begins with the strange history of Megaloponera foetens, an unusually large Cameroonian stink ant that is known both for its ability to emit a cry audible to the human ear, and for a curious obsession. While roaming the forest floor, M. foetens occasionally inhales a fungal spore, we are told, from the genus Tomentella. This spore lodges in the brain and immediately begins to grow, quickly fomenting bizarre behavioral changes in its ant host. For the first time in its life, the ant leaves the forest floor, driven by the growing spore to climb until, finally exhausted, it sinks its mandibles into the plant and dies. The fungus continues to consume the brain and body, eventually erupting from the ant's head in a horn-like structure that rains spores down on the forest floor where they await other passing ants. For some, library consortia can be such an obsession (without the fatal ending, hopes). Although exposure to a consortium may be casual, even accidental, laboring toward consortial ends can quickly prove an obsession. In its acute form, this obsession drives consortia staff to swarm and create, of all things, a consortium of consortia. Judging from the flurry of activity seen today, it is easy to conclude that library consortia are experiencing a renaissance. Many librarians have, apparently, inhaled the consortial spore. A noteworthy part of the library landscape since at least the 1930s, exploding under the catalysts of technology and federal money in the 1960s and early 1970s, consortium formation slackened pace for perhaps twenty years before catching fire again in the 1990s. Today, library consortia are undeniably hot, and new consortia seem constantly to be forming. Library consortia are establishing the cutting edge in database licensing practices and playing an increasingly important role in IT research and development efforts. The burgeoning power of library consortia is clearly evident in the extent to which vendors are now tailoring products and business practices to meet the needs of this emerging market. For libraries, membership in a consortium is increasingly seen as the ante for participation in the game of competitive and cost-effective database licensing. Perhaps more than any other indicator, the existence, success, and prominence of the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC), formerly the Consortium of Consortia, is testament to the extent of this obsession for collective action. ICOLC has been likened by some to Star Trek's powerful, hive-like, and aggressively assimilating Borg Collective or a one big union IWW of the information age. It is remarkable to note that ICOLC, a relatively informal organization first convened in February 1997, has already become of the best venues for influencing vendor business practices, licensing terms, and product development. Modern library consortia take many forms, from highly centralized, well-staffed, and tightly integrated organizations to loose federations or buying clubs, purchasing products that require minimal cooperation and no central staff. There is no single successful model. Some rely on carefully crafted bylaws, memoranda of understanding, and an extensive system of advisory committees while others seem to have given no thought to governance and are completely dependent on the collaborative instincts of a few individuals. …