The activity of the modern university library is connected, among other things, with the creation of strong links between different educational and scientific organizations. The goal of such cooperation is to improve the quality and accessibility of Russian higher education, including its digital forms. These problems are solved by a non-profit project of the electronic library system Lan, called Consortium of Network Electronic Libraries (Consortium NEL). It helps universities to optimize costs, increase the number of books and manuals for free. The project already involves 284 universities from Russia and the CIS countries (Kazakhstan, Belarus). Their publications form a book collection of 37 000 textbooks, manuals, workshops and lecture courses on the Lan’s platform. The article describes how the project was created, what is its current state and what are its opportunities. The experience of 284 Russian universities and universities of the CIS countries can be useful for libraries of all educational organizations.