South African National Library and Information Consortium

History

The Coalition of South African Library Consortia (COSALC), a non-profit organisation, was established in 1999 as a single umbrella organisation to include the various higher education academic library consortia, the National Library of South Africa (NLSA), the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA), and the various research entities. COSALC's primary strategic focus was at national level, in particular, the establishment of a national site-licensing project. The South African Site Licensing Initiative (SASLI) commenced work in May 2002. COSALC was registered formally with the South African Registrar of Companies as a Section 21 (not-for-profit) company in 2003 and received start-up funding from the Open Society Institute.

During the transformation of South Africa's higher education landscape in the early years of the 21st century, COSALC/SASLI played an important role. In accordance with the National plan for higher education, published by the Ministry of Education, the number of higher education institutions was reduced from 35 to 23 in order to remove the imbalances of the past and to bring about greater efficiencies within the system. COSALC/SASLI negotiated the consolidation of multiple subscriptions to electronic information resources to one subscription per merged institution, arranged access for all the sites within the merged institutions at no additional cost and facilitated new collection development policies. This resulted in considerable savings on subscriptions to electronic databases and journals for academic libraries.

At the 2006 Annual General Meeting it was agreed to change the name of the organisation. Following a protracted and tedious legal process, the Coalition of South African Library Consortia (COSALC) became the South African National Library and Information Consortium (SANLiC) on 21 June 2011. The decision to change the name was taken in order to reinforce the organisation's national commitment and to accommodate a more varied membership. Further change in the shape of a complete restructuring of the membership structure followed when a special resolution was taken at a General Meeting held on 12 October 2011. The membership had previously consisted of the regional consortia; in the new membership structure, the individual institutions became the registered members.

Membership and Governance

SANLiC is responsible for collective site licensing negotiations on behalf of its members (26 public universities and six research councils) and institutions from other southern African countries who do not qualify for direct membership. Membership of SANLiC is open all South African public higher education institutions, statutory research institutions, and other public entities, subject to SANLiC board approval. Member organisations pay an annual membership fee as well as a service fee for each deal in which they participate. Member voting rights and membership fees are based on a tiered system according to participation. The SANLiC staff report to the Board of Directors, who in turn are elected by the member representatives.

Members

Higher Education Members

Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Central University of Technology

Durban University of Technology

Mangosuthu University of Technology

Nelson Mandela University

North-West University

Rhodes University

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

Sol Plaatje University

Stellenbosch University

Tshwane University of Technology

University of Cape Town

University of Fort Hare

University of the Free State

University of Johannesburg

University of KwaZulu-Natal

University of Limpopo

University of Mpumalanga

University of Pretoria

University of South Africa

University of Venda

University of Western Cape

University of the Witwatersrand

University of Zululand

Research Institutions

Agricultural Research Council

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

Human Sciences Research Council

National Library of South Africa

National Research Foundation

South African Medical Research Council

Other

Botwana International University of Science and Technology

University of Botswana

University of Namibia