The Open Access Association? EAHIL’s new model for sustainability

Abstract

These are difficult times for professional associations which serve the many strands of the library and information services (LIS) profession. National, subject and sectorally-based associations in the developed world are struggling to thrive in an environment where their credibility and their income streams are threatened by a number of factors which are essentially outside their control. Many LIS associations are (or have recently been) in some degree of financial difficulty, and even those that have remained healthy are having to re-examine their priorities and activities – and the financial structure on which these depend – at a fundamental level. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reasons which this instability and uncertainty should exist, and how a small but reasonably typical and subject based association, the European Association for Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL) has adopted a radical, technology-based solution. We conclude with an analysis of the special factors that have applied in this particular case, and which may limit the applicability of the model described.