Date & location: May 17, 2004 (10 a.m - 4 p.m.), Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Netherlands. (Similar SHARES meetings were held in December 2003 in Washington, DC, and Chicago.)

Purpose: Most SHARES libraries are up and running on distributed ISO ILL systems. The partnership has reached the point of being able to look closely at how they've been doing things through SHARES and think "big picture" thoughts about how SHARES should do them in the future.

This event was open to all RLG member staff with an interest in resource sharing, to meet colleagues from other SHARES libraries and RLG staff, and to contribute their ideas about the shape RLG's resource-sharing partnership should take in the future. "Now is the perfect time to concentrate on maximizing the value that new technologies offer, and on repositioning SHARES so that it delivers benefits to all of its potential members—regardless of library type, geographic location, or other consortial relationships." (Dennis Massie)

RLG's ILL Manager software was demonstrated and attendees engaged in a practical discussion of the peer-to-peer technical environment. This was a chance to compare notes on current practices and unmet needs. Participants also received updates on the work of the SHARES Executive Group, Practitioners Council, and the Sharing Special Collections Working Group. Finally, they engaged in some planning exercises to see how SHARES should evolve to better meet the interlending requirements of each library's users.