Digital infrastructure and attitudes towards access and sharing: A case study of selected engineering libraries in the Maharashtra state of India

SummaryThis article includes a brief profile of selected engineering libraries in Maharashtra state of India and discusses salient issues related to strategic cooperation and consortia, with particular focus on the current situation. It examines the structural, financial and technical factors that have compelled the academic libraries to think about the formation of statewide consortia. The author surveyed forty-nine libraries to get an idea about the current status and explored the possibilities of forming regional consortia with a mission to enhance access to information and knowledge through cooperation for benefit of the engineering communities. The focus is on librarians' perceptions/opinion on the formation of state level consortia; ICT infrastructure; users' needs; collection development policies and the services provided by engineering libraries to the community.