Categories of Membership

CERL has several categories of membership and also provisions for participation by non-members and commercial customers.

Membership allows full access to and full use of the records in the HPB Database and to such other databases as the Consortium can allow on terms as negotiated by the Consortium with OCLC every year. Each partner or member is invited to participate in annual meetings and is allowed one vote in Consortium decisions put to the meeting. Member institutions are eligible for representation on the Board of Directors and on the Consortium’s committees. CERL has decided that its Full Membership fee will not exceed €9,000. The annual fee was fixed at €8,000 for the 2006–2009 funding period. Full Members may nominate up to 15 smaller libraries as Cluster Libraries.

Group membership allows a group of libraries to become Full members at a reduced rate. The essentials of the scheme are:

• A Group pays a subscription, committed for three years.
• One institution in the Group undertakes responsibility for full payment by the Group members.
• Only one national or state library is allowed to be part of each Group.
• Groups may have multi-national membership.
• A Group is entitled to one vote at CERL meetings.

The overall effect of the new Group membership is that the average subscription fee for each participant is lower than the cost of separate Full Memberships.
Further details about the Group Membership scheme.

Smaller organisations can also join the Consortium as members, subject to approval by the Directors. To this category are reckoned to belong specialist rare-books libraries which are too small to be Full members, and collections in institutions not normally funded by public funding. Special members sign the Funding Agreement and have full voting rights. They pay a reduced annual fee. They have the same access as Full members to the HPB database and to such other databases as the Consortium can allow, which may not be on the same advantageous terms as that of Full members. They are not eligible to stand for election for the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee.

Associate membership is offered to organisations where financial or technical constraints make it impossible to join the Consortium immediately as Full members, but where there is a clear intention to become a Full member when the constraints are removed. Associate membership is granted for a period of three years and will be reviewed at the end of this period. An Associate member is entitled to receive information about the Consortium’s work, and to attend the Consortium’s open meetings as observers.

CERL offers Library Schools access to the HPB Database and the other databases and services that CERL provides, in order to brings its work and expertise to the attention of a future generation of librarians, thereby stimulating and encouraging an interest in and knowledge of European written heritage in future generations. Access to the HPB is offered at the special rate of €500 for teaching purposes.

Full members are entitled to nominate as cluster libraries up to 15 small libraries with which they have an association of some kind. Cluster libraries pay no fee, are not members and have no voting rights. They are each entitled to a single access point to the HPB which is shared by the members of a single cluster. Full Members can apply to have more than 15 cluster libraries at a cost of 500 Euros for each extra library.
Further details about the cluster libraries scheme.

Cluster libraries which require institution-wide access to the HPB Database can apply for ClusterPlus status which allows an individual account with access by IP recognition. The cost is 500 Euros a year.

Access to the HPB Database is offered to commercial customers such as antiquarian booksellers. The annual fee is negotiated on the basis of the size of the firm:

• Large firms €5,000
• Medium firms €2,500
• Small firms €1,000

Commercial customers are not members of CERL and do not have voting rights. They are invited to negotiate to form groups at reduced rates

Museums and other institutions with an interest in the history of the book for which Full membership or Special membership is not appropriate, can have access to the full range of CERL’s facilities as commercial customers. They would not be members and would not be eligible to vote. The annual fee would be negotiated on the basis of the size of the institution, in the range €2,500 for large institutions, €1,000 for medium-sized institutions, and €500 for small institutions.

Short-term projects in libraries and academic departments are invited to purchase access to the HPB and other CERL facilities. They would not be members and would not be eligible to vote. The annual fee would be negotiated on the basis of the size of the project, in the range €2,500 for large projects, €1,000 for medium-sized institutions, and €500 for small projects.

Cataloguing consortia can obtain access to the HPB for derived cataloguing only. CERL may allow access to other facilities by negotiation. Cataloguing consortia and their members do not have voting rights and cannot offer public access to the HPB in their institutions. The annual fee is calculated on the basis of the size of the organisation: an annual fee of €8,000 for the consortium, plus €3,500 for each participating member.