Collection Scope of Shared Collections

Note: This Best Practice uses the Good, Better, Best, Aspirational terminology

A shared print program’s (SPP) collection scope defines the types of materials the program will secure commitments on and include rationale as to why these commitments matter. In general, it describes what the shared print program’s collection focus will be, while taking into account future needs and changes. Overall, it is an SPP’s public road map to ensure alignment with priorities, resources, and planning, done so that committed materials will meet the long-term needs of readers, scholars, and students.

Best Practice

Each level presumes all checks of any/all preceding levels.

Good

The shared print program will

define the body of material to be protected.
establish a process for identifying and encouraging the retention of volumes that are in usable condition.
bring more volumes under protection through voluntary commitments and orderly targeting of bodies of material.

Better

The shared print program will

define the body of material to be protected in order of local priorities set by member libraries.
determine the number of copies desired within the shared print program.
establish a process for identifying and encouraging the retention of volumes that exemplify desirable copy-specific characteristics, irrespective of the number of copies already retained, in order to adequately define risk and preservation.
acknowledge that the collection needs to grow through orderly targeting of bodies of material.
periodically review and update collection scope.

Best

The shared print program will

set chronological and numeric goals for protecting volumes, taking into account risks of condition, validation, and loss.
define subject and other collection specialties by institution for prospective shared collection building.
make commitments for materials that libraries typically circulate.
involve libraries not now in consortia or otherwise traditionally included in shared print programs in order to diversify collection content and diversify participation.
agree on group as well as individual library responsibilities in order to make transferring of the retention commitment (the physical volume) or reassigning the retention statement in the bibliographic record possible, and formalize a national or continental safety-net for volumes retained by libraries that exit agreements.
review collection scope annually through the membership, in consultation with other shared print programs and the needs of the collective collection.

Table of Best Practices	Good	Better	Best	Aspirational
define the body of material to be protected	X
define the body of material to be protected in order of priority and number of copies		X
set chronological and numeric goals for protecting volumes, taking into account risks of condition, validation, and loss			X
establish a process for identifying and encouraging the retention of volumes that exemplify desirable copy-specific characteristics	X
Establish a process for identifying and encouraging the retention of volumes that exemplify desirable copy-specific characteristics, irrespective of the number of copies already retained, in order to adequately define risk and preservation		X
make commitments for materials that libraries do not typically archive			X
bring more volumes under protection through voluntary commitments and orderly targeting of bodies of material	X
acknowledge that the collection needs to grow through orderly targeting of bodies of material		X
make commitments for materials that libraries do not typically archive			X
review and update collection scope		X
involve libraries not now in consortia or otherwise traditionally included in shared print programs in order to diversify collection content and diversity of participation			X
agree on group as well as individual library responsibilities in order to make transferring of bibliographic commitments and physical volumes possible, and formalize a national or continental safety-net for volumes retained by libraries that exit agreements			X
review collection scope annually through the membership, in consultation with other shared print programs and the needs of the collective collection			X

Examples:

HathiTrust “The primary goals of the HathiTrust Shared Print Program are to ensure preservation of print and digital collections by linking the two, to reduce overall costs of collection management for HathiTrust members, and to catalyze national/continental collective management of collections. Key attributes of the program are: Secure retention commitments for print holdings that mirror book titles in the HathiTrust digital collection”
EAST: “The EAST shared print collection consists of monographs, serials and journals. Materials are identified for inclusion through collection analysis done when a member joins. The shared collection focuses on both widely-held and rarely-held titles that can be shared with other participants in some form. EAST excludes certain classes of materials, which are listed on their Out of Scope document. The EAST Board of Directors may periodically identify new categories of materials for retention as determined by the membership.”
WEST: “The Western Regional Storage Trust (WEST) is a distributed retrospective print journal repository program serving research libraries, college and university libraries, and library consortia in the Western Region of the United States. Under the WEST program, participating libraries consolidate and validate print journal backfiles at major library storage facilities and at selected campus locations. The resulting shared print archives ensure access to the scholarly print record and allow member institutions to optimize campus library space. This collaborative regional approach to managing library collections represents an important step, when joined with other initiatives, toward development of a highly trusted network-level shared print archive.”
BTAA: “The Big Ten Academic Alliance Shared Print Repository is initially expected to focus on backfile print journal holdings of titles widely accessible electronically.”

Last updated August 2024