[1] Consortia conduct their business to advance research and learning, share resources and expertise, provide easy access to information and high-quality content (electronic resources), enable continuous professional development and strengthen library leadership as education and information providers.
The ICOLC gathers its strength from sharing information and strategies about the benefits that its members bring to libraries and their users.
In particular, the ICOLC has distinguished itself with important public statements about key common issues, meant for wide distribution in order to advance discussion with partners, suppliers, and publishers—and to communicate expertise.
All ICOLC members are invited to review the drafts online and suggest changes, with iterated revision by a stated deadline.
[6] Shared cataloging through OCLC and RLG brought libraries together in the 1960s and 1970s, while the 1980s saw movement to fast delivery for books and articles.
[7] A significant new impetus, however, came in the mid-1990s with the large-scale licensing of electronic resources, launched by publishers such as Encyclopædia Britannica and Academic Press.
For some, government support and funding for electronic access for students, citizens and researchers is a strong driver—often for groups of institutions as large as an entire nation's collection of libraries.
Also, there are significant benefits when libraries work together to discuss and analyze terms of use in provider licenses, where the shared goal is to maximize access while ensuring financially stable publishing models.
The ICOLC actively supports and facilitates consortial content licensing, along with emerging possibilities for cross-consortial and cross-country arrangements.