Local and national partnerships augment VCU Libraries' collection and expand the research universe for faculty and students. Consortia, common in the academic library world, provide access either to cost-effective cooperative purchases of licensed resources or to expedited resource-sharing.

• As a member of the Richmond Area Library Consortium (RALC), VCU Libraries share resources with other Central Virginia academic libraries through a borrowing pass service, materials loans and a shuttle service.
• The Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) offers online resources in every field of learning and a Cooperative Borrowing Program.
• Through Interlibrary Loan and Item retrieval and delivery services, VCU Libraries secures materials from other institutions and delivers them digitally, by mail or for pickup. 

Affiliations

• Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)
  • KUDZU
• National Network of Libraries of Medicine Resource Libraries
• OCLC Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program
• Richmond Academic Library Consortium (RALC)
• RapidILL ASERL Pod
• Lyrasis
• Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) and VIVA Universal Borrowing Program
• Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC)
• Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
• Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)
• National Digital Stewardship Alliance
• Controlled LOCKSS (CLOCKSS)
• Portico