PALICO consortium updates

Palestinian Library and Information Consortium (PALICO) was found in 2005. It is a consortium comprised of university libraries from the West Bank and Gaza. Due to movement restrictions in the area, consortium members in Gaza participate in meetings via video conference. It is not yet an official consortium due to the political situation in the area, but EIFL and other organisations and companies (e.g. publishers) are willing to consider PALICO a consortium in contracts and agreements.  

On 23 April 2012, PALICO held its 3rd meeting for the 2011-2012 academic year. During the meeting, members discussed their status, e-resource subscriptions, EIFL country coordinators, and the possibilitry of adding new members. 

The results of the meeting include:

• Mrs. Diana Sayej Naser (Birzeit University) will remain the EIFL Country Coordinator for another term of two years, 2012-2013.
• A new coordinator to Gaza was nominated and accepted:  Mr. Abedelmageed Elhassanat (AlAqsa University - Gaza).

Since it was founded in 2005, PALICO has made tremendous progress:

• It has increased member institutions from 11 institutions to 17 (newest members include: Palestine Technical College - Arroub - Hebron, May 2012 and Al Istiqlal University/The Palestinian Academy for Security Sciences, January 2012). . 
• It has increased access to e-databases from zero to 20, of which 11 are through EIFL (7 free and 4 by subscription).
• It launched its website in 2009: www.palico.ps.
• It prepared and approved its laws and bi-laws in 2010, and is working towards officially registering the consortium.
• It met with the Palestinian Academic Research Network/ Ministry of Higher Education in May 2012 to discuss future cooperation in establishing a Union Catalogue and subscriptions to e-resources. 
• It has an excellent reputation.