[1] The substantial additional holdings of electronic books, databases, and journals are not included because licensing arrangements often limit these to primary users of each library.
Most NEOS libraries and branches are located in Edmonton or the central and northern areas of Alberta: Camrose, Devon, Fairview, Grande Prairie, Lacombe, Lloydminster, Olds, Red Deer, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Vegreville.
The overall goal, was to "provide cost-efficient access" to the various libraries' respective clients through the sharing of resources.
The descriptive acronym NEOS certainly reflected the original task of "Networking Edmonton’s On-line Services” but quickly became obsolete as libraries outside Edmonton joined the consortium; nevertheless, "NEOS" has stuck.
[3] In a 2009 interview on the history of the University of Alberta Libraries, Ernie Ingles (Vice-Provost & Chief Librarian) commented on the significance of the NEOS consortium.