Abstract
There have been many and various library consortiums established in the US. They are Ohio Link listed as an ideal consortium state wide, and consortiums in Georgia and Pennsylvania, to name a few. VALE was founded in 1998 voluntarily by junior colleges, colleges and universities as a collaborative library group. As of March, 2001 it has covered more than 50 libraries to take part in, nearly all the college/university libraries in the State, and has been operated democratic way having financial aid by the State of New Jersey. The materials the member libraries of VALE are sharing with are electronic ones. The author describes organization of VALE, programs VALE set at the beginning, and what have been added to the original programs or have enhanced the programs. Then she describes merits and demerits found in the three-year operation of VALE since 1998, the future or possibilities of consortium, conditions to make successful the consortium, and the future of VALE.
