History of Gratis

December 6, 1982

GRATIS is formed with 14 founding members.

The reason for the formation was the tripling of the cost of I.L.L. vouchers from $1 to $3.

The founding members considered that the consolidation of scattered "knock-for-knock" agreements into an organised I.L.L. system was preferable to a costly national system. At the same time, it was realised that much useful material was held in hospital and small medical collections and was not included in national lists, and that this could be of great benefit in developing an alternative system.

March 22, 1983

GRATIS adopts its name.

December 1983

GRATIS has produced its first national union list and has doubled in size.

1984

The impact of the fledgling GRATIS on the library world was immediate. Inquiries from South Australian libraries lead rapidly to a formalisation of their own informal system.

GRATISSA, the first sister network, is formed in South Australia in early 1984.

By the middle of the 1984 there was a South Australian Union List to offer, and a reciprocal agreement between the groups came into effect in November.

1985

Computerisation of the union list is undertaken with the sponsorship of the University Co-operative Bookshop.

The GRATIS concept spread so rapidly, that it soon became apparent that computerisation of the union list was needed.

May 2, 1986

The first printed edition of the Co-op list is launched at a gala opening.

July 9, 1986

GRATISSA list launched at the Adelaide Hilton.

July 14, 1986

GRATISQ is formed, adding 22 members to the task of the Co-op.

1987

By the end of 1987, GRATISACT and VICGRATIS had been added to the fold.

July 1988

By July 1988 the reciprocal traffic between the five networks was so active that it was necessary to rank the state networks as well as the members. A liaison position of Joint Networks Co-ordinator was also established.

1988

By mid 1988 GRATIS found itself a busy network. The University Co-operative Bookshop extended its sponsorship by providing to the network a percentage of any book sales made by members of the network.

These developments meant that the future development of GRATIS was to be more formal, so a subcommittee embarked upon rewriting the GRATIS rules (which had grown on a friendly but ad-hoc basis) into a proper legal constitution which would allow, if desired, for legal incorporation.

Early 1989

Completion of rewriting GRATIS rules into a proper legal constitution.

November 15, 1989

At a joint networks meeting in Auckland, the combined networks adopted the name GRATISNET.

1991

The Joint Networks Co-ordinator position is abolished in favor of a National Committee, first filled by GRATISSA.

1993

GRATISQ takes over the role of the National Committee and focuses on revitalising the union list and standardising forms of title and data entry between networks. This was completed and a combined national list was launched.

National membership had reached 271 libraries.

In late 1993 the national Code of Conduct was adopted by the member networks.

1994

GRATIS revises its own constitution to align with the National Code.

A limited trial agreement with the Philson Library in Auckland opened the possibility of GRATIS expanding to New Zealand. Earlier enquiries from South-west England in the late 1980's led to a GRATIS-type network being formed there too.

1998

A collaborative project with the University Co-operative Bookshop was launched to implement this website, bringing online interactive access to current journal holdings to all participating members. The sponsorship of The University Co-operative Bookshop enabled the establishment of an effective online network for participating libraries from all parts of Australia using software developed by Prosentient Systems Pty Ltd.

2002

Prosentient Systems Pty Ltd assumed hosting responsibilities for the Gratisnet website.