Hellenic Economic Library Network (H.E.LI.N.): A partnership against the economic crisis

Abstract

The Hellenic Economic Library Network (H.E.LI.N.) was established in 2012 as a result of the cooperation among libraries providing resources and information services in the field of economics. Currently, the network includes ten libraries in the public and private sectors: three public universities, the Ministry of Economics and Development, the Bank of Greece, three private banks, and two public institutions. This is the challenge of the Network: the diversity of its organizations. The idea on the networking was born in the context of the economic crisis and the efforts of libraries to enlarge knowledge resources while minimizing funding. The principal objective of its members was to establish a partnership for sharing knowledge, ideas, best practices and resources in order to continue offering value-added services to their users’ communities despite the difficult economic conditions in Greece. The H.E.LI.N. Network operates under a horizontal administrative scheme with no financial contribution from its members while all the staff work on a voluntary base. Although the participating libraries come from diverse organizational structures, private and public institutions, they manage to create a strong collaborative network which provides interlibrary loan facilities, organizes meetings, conferences, lectures, informative and educational materials, book presentations, etc., concerning the socioeconomic and financial sciences targeted to approach the users of economic libraries or the general public. H.E.LI.N. is a dialogue for change and action! The purpose of this paper is to present the Network’s current actions and to highlight the impact of its activity on both information professionals and library users. Moreover, as the network supports synergies, it is open to discuss further cooperation with other networks worldwide.