Organization
Resource Sharing Alliance Not for Profit, or RSA NFP, is a consortium formed in the early 1980’s by libraries in central and west central Illinois that share a common library automation system. RSA facilitates sharing of materials among its member libraries providing patrons with access to materials from almost 200 different library branches. RSA covers over 13,500 square miles of Illinois. RSA partners with Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS) to provide a support staff of 12 full time professionals.
RSA Membership Regions
RSA Membership Regions and Members by Region – 1 March 2024
Executive Summary
* All data as of 30 June 2023
Membership Data:
Number of Members: 143
Total Count of Member Buildings: 189
Public Libraries: 96 + Branches: 19
School Libraries: 42 + Branches: 27
Academic Libraries: 3
Special Libraries: 2
RSA Public Library Population Served Count:
1 to 2,000 served: 34 – smallest library serves 596 people
2,001 to 4,000 served: 25
4,001 to 10,000 served: 21
10,001 to 25,000 served: 11
+25,001 served: 5 – largest library serves 113,150 people
RSA School Library Student Enrollment Count:
1 to 500 students: 24
501 to 1,000 students: 13
+1,001 students: 4
Click Here for a list of all RSA member libraries.
View a Map of RSA Member Libraries and Branches
FY23 Statistics:
Total Number of Titles: 1,086,668
Total Number of Items: 4,377,627
Total Patron Count: 337,446
Annual Circulation: 4,981,767
Total number of holds successfully filled for patrons: 549,144
Annual circulation of items transited between libraries: 666,013
Annual count of items transited between RSA member libraries to fill patron holds: 441,205
Annual reciprocal patron checkouts (patron checkouts in libraries other than their own): 742,694
Board, Committees, and Groups
RSA NFP Board of Directors
The RSA NFP Board of Directors serves as the primary governance and planning group for RSA. The committee is composed of 12 voting members (Large, Medium, Small, Special/Academic/School library representatives, 4 At Large Full Online members, 2 At Large Basic Online members, the Chair of the Users Group, and Vice-Chair of Users Group. The RSA Executive Director is the tie breaking vote) and various RSA staff or invited guests. The Board of Directors advises both the Users Group and the RSA Director on the governance, direction, finances and operation of RSA.
For elected board members, see the Governance and Admin page.
Users Group
This group serves as the primary membership group. This group votes on major expenditures, new rules and directions, approves new system functionality and system operations, and most other RSA operations and policy.
Circulation Committee
This group shall consider issues related to circulation and system wide holds in RSA and make appropriate recommendations to the Planning Committee and Users Group.
This group meets quarterly or when required. Membership in this committee is open to all RSA libraries. There are no appointed members. All libraries are encouraged to send representatives to all meetings.
Database Committee
This group shall consider issues related to cataloging and data entry in RSA and make appropriate recommendations to the Planning Committee and Users Group.
This group meets quarterly or when required. Membership in this committee is open to all RSA Online and Basic Online libraries. There are no appointed members. All Online and Basic Online libraries are encouraged to send representatives to all meetings.
Reports Committee
This group shall consider issues related to the built-in system reports, Web Reporter, Directors Station and any other reports functionality used in RSA and make appropriate recommendations to the Planning Committee and Users Group.
This group meets quarterly or when required. Membership in this committee is open to all libraries. There are no appointed members. All Online libraries are highly encouraged to send representatives to all meetings, Basic Online and Union Listing libraries are also encouraged to attend.
RSAcat & Website Committees
This group shall consider issues related to public access, portal usage, and federated searching in RSA and make appropriate recommendations to the Planning Committee and Users Group. In addition, it provides guidance on the RSA Support Website.
This group meets quarterly or when required. Membership in this committee is open to all libraries. There are no appointed members. All Online libraries are highly encouraged to send representatives to all meetings, Basic Online and Union Listing libraries are also encouraged to attend.
RSA Day Committee
This group shall organize and run one or more annual RSA Day type events in conjunction with RSA Staff. This committee operates under the recommendations of the RSA Executive Director, RSA Board of Directors and Users Group.
This group generally meets quarterly or when required. Membership in this committee is open to all RSA libraries. There are no appointed members. All libraries are encouraged to send representatives to all meetings to help plan and provide effective RSA Day type events.
Membership Service Levels Committee (RSA Board Chartered Committee Jan 21 - Dec 21)
This is a temporary, Board Chartered, Committee consisting of 10 people to review and recommend new RSA Membership Levels and the associated products and services assigned to each service level. The committee started in Jan 2021 and expects to be finished by Dec 2021.
