Libraries are working toward collaborative management and preservation of print journals, newspapers, legal materials, and government documents; they must also establish a similar concerted effort focused on print monographs. Monographs present complex challenges at a time when libraries want to ensure the preservation of the print record but have increasing incentives to divest of older, less used print materials and take advantage of the affordances of electronic text. With LYRASIS as lead organization, planning partners California Digital Library (CDL), Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), and Center for Research Libraries (CRL) were awarded a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to conduct a workshop titled “Developing a North-American Strategy to Preserve & Manage Print Collections of Monographs.” Workshop participants discussed the challenges and issues involved in collaborative monograph preservation and formulated an agenda of research and demonstration projects to test elements of a strategy.
In 2008, the University of Nevada, Reno Library moved into a new building, the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. As part of this move, approximately half of the library’s print collections were moved into the building’s automated storage and retrieval system; a substantial portion of these materials were federal depository materials. This case study describes how cataloging and government documents staff at the University of Nevada, Reno collaborated to achieve intellectual and physical control over a huge, largely uncataloged government documents collection destined for automatic storage. More than 9,000 linear feet of uncataloged government documents had to be placed into an automated storage system that requires catalog records for all stored items. To accommodate uncataloged documents, staff devised a way to create bulk catalog records, store these materials efficiently, and provide user access. The authors will explain how this project was planned for and executed as part of the library move, and then assess the success of the project and its impact on public and technical services operations after a year of working with the new system. The impact of moving this collection on public access is particularly significant in light of the library’s service mandate as a regional federal depository.
Shipping materials via a library courier service is much cheaper than shipping via the U.S. Postal Service. Most library delivery services are regional or state-based. This article illustrates how two separate services combined to development the multi-state courier system COKAMO. COKAMO is moving tens of thousands of items between three states at a fraction of U.S. Postal Service rates. Within one year of implementing the system, over 57,000 items have been shipped, creating savings of over $215,000 for participating libraries. Significant changes in the behavior of interlibrary loan staff throughout the region are evidenced in statistics which show an increase in borrowing between participating states and a decline in interlibrary loan to adjacent states not in COKAMO.
On a regular basis, Nicole Engard contributes to Collaborative Librarianship. In this article, Nichole Engard discusses the collaborative virtual office.
With this issue we complete two volumes of publication covering 2009 and 2010. Carrying forward the mission of Collaborative Librarianship, a new set of articles and reviews are offered that contributes to the professional and scholarly literature on library collaboration.
This article will describe how academic libraries can (and should) be involved in experiential learning. The authors detail the impact experiential learning can have on the relevance of academic libraries to their universities. They discuss the benefits to libraries as well as students. In particular, the authors describe experiential learning at the James E. Walker Library and the partnerships formed, projects completed, lessons learned, and the benefits realized.
Tom Sanville, Director of Licensing and Strategic Alliances at LYRASIS, contributes this editorial.
The New York State Higher Education Initiative (NYSHEI) represents the public and private academic and research libraries of New York, and differs from other state-based academic library organizations in both its size and mission. NYSHEI holds about 150 member institutions, including all 87 of the state’s public colleges and universities, and nine ARL members. Founded in 2002, NYSHEI evolved into its current form in 2007 by adopting a focus on political advocacy. NYSHEI applies its diverse collection of collaborating libraries toward achieving a statewide “information infrastructure” that supports not just the academic enterprise, but all research, innovation, and entrepreneurialism in New York. An important lesson learned during the formative phase of NYSHEI is that collaboration as a strategic value can be fairly meaningless. Rightly understood, collaboration is a tactic that helps two or more parties attain separate but shared aims. As such, NYSHEI approaches information resources as a required utility for the modern era, and actively works with partners in the business community, state government, and health care fields to promote widespread access to information resources.
This paper describes the cost-benefits and the return on investment of one consortium comprised of five separately administered libraries in the University of Colorado (CU) System. With a long history of collaboration, the libraries have developed an ideal cooperative arrangement for acquiring electronic content that is accessible across all campuses. The size and flexibility of this institution-based consortium allows it to be responsive and successful in collaborating across four campuses despite different sized budgets and unique local and institutional constraints. To demonstrate the value of jointly leveraging library budgets to university administrators, the authors conducted a consortium level cost-benefit analysis and describe the methodology used to quantify return on the university’s investment. This paper addresses both qualitative and quantitative outcomes and underscores how consortial participation has become an essential way of doing business.
Anne Abate reviews the book, "Librarians as Community Partners: An Outreach Handbook." This book, edited by Carol Smallwood, is a collection of essays about library outreach programs and includes contributions from public, academic, school, and special libraries across the United States. Each of the thirty-six essays describes a specific program implemented to increase awareness of the library and services offered, the steps taken to bring it to fruition, and the benefits to the library and community.
Christine Baker reviews, "The Anywhere Library: A Primer for the Mobile Web." The book co-authored by three public services librarians, Courtney Greene, Missy Roser, and Elizabeth Ruane, who experienced the process of creating a mobile site for their own library. The experience prompted them to write this book with the intent of providing a useful framework for other librarians who are considering entering the mobile web arena.
