The library participates in a number of cooperative groups in order to provide a wider and more affordable range of services to the campus community. The major affiliations are as follows:

OCLC
We belong to the national cataloging cooperative in order to share cataloging and other resources with several thousand libraries in the United States and overseas. OCLC produces the National Union Catalog, accessible through WorldCat in their FirstSearch databases. We subscribe to their cataloging service, to FirstSearch, and to the OCLC Interlibrary Loan Service. OCLC ILL allows us to automate almost all our interlibrary loan activity, and makes rapid document delivery through Ariel possible. (Ariel is software that allows documents to be transmitted over the Web, avoiding telecommunications charges.)

SOLINET
SOLINET is the regional network of OCLC that serves our area. Their group purchasing programs help reduce costs for the FirstSearch products as well as other databases such as Lexis-Nexis Universe. We agree to provide ILL service to other SOLINET members as part of our participation.

VICULA
The Virginia Independent College and University Library Association is a group of private college librarians who purchase products (such as the VIVA databases) and apply for grants collaboratively. VICULA also represents our interests to the Virginia General Assembly. VICULA members guarantee free ILL service to one another.

VIVA
The Virtual Library of Virginia is a large group of institutions whose group purchases of databases are partially funded through the state legislature. It is one of the most successful and influential of state library consortiums.

SWING
The Southwest Information Network Group is a multi-type library consortium intended to reduce costs by resource sharing and group purchasing. We negotiate our contract with our major book vendor through SWING.

ALA
We subscribe to the Interlibrary Loan Code developed by the American Library Association. In addition, we depend on the Association of College and Research Libraries to develop standards for assessing our library’s activities.

VLA
Our staff often take advantage of continuing educational opportunities provided by the Virginia Library Association. VLA also employs a legislative liaison to coordinate library advocacy efforts around the state.

ALICE
The libraries of the Appalachian College Association function as a collaborative unit under the name ALICE (Appalachian Library Information Cooperative Endeavors). ALICE operates under the supervision of a Council composed of library directors representing each state, two "at large" appointments, and the Director of the Central Library, Dr. Tony Krug. Ferrum's library director, Dr. Cy Dillon, is the Council representative from Virginia.

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