In December of 2003 the Cooperants Assembly approved a strategic document for the development of PORBASE, in which new profiles for the cooperants and new ways of cooperating were defined:
Permanent Cooperants
Cooperants that fulfil minimum technical requisites to contribute with their records, normally pre-recorded, to the central base. The possibility of cooperating online also exists. The permanent cooperation can be extended to new international cooperants, such as foreign libraries that have significant collections with relevant items for PORBASE.
Candidate Cooperants
Any institutions partially relevant to PORBASE even if they don’t, at the time, have the technical conditions to acceptably contribute to the database. The aim is to give these new cooperants access to the necessary information and opportunities to become permanent cooperants, decision made after receiving and analyzing the first batch of records at the central base.
Exterior Cooperants
Institutions that are not libraries or documentation services but that may in some way contribute to PORBASE, either with contents, available services or areas of performance. When there are similarities in aims (such as promoting services or cultural and scientific references) or in technological development (definition of data models and sharable communication protocol, etc.) it’s possible to develop synergies. Those representing these potential cooperants may be invited to participate in all PORBASE activities at the same level as the permanent cooperants, except when it comes to eligibility for the Technical Assembly and voting at the General Assembly.
Types of Cooperants 
