FAQ – Why this Partnership?

 

Coming Soon:

This page is currently under review by The Shared Print Partnership Executive Committee and will be updated.

 
 
How will the Partnership support and augment shared print programs?

The Partnership aggregates the power of shared print programs to advance the mission and value of shared print overall. To do this we have identified work that can be done collectively and offers mission-critical services that will save time and money for any shared print program. A list of services is found on the website. 

Why should I encourage my shared print program to join the Partnership?

 The Partnership furthers the objectives of shared print programs in several ways. It can enable programs to develop next stages in their strategy, creates a blanket agreement to enable access to the federated collections, understand how their retention commitments are impacted by the retention commitments of other programs, support cost-effective ways of updating data, and doing data analyses.

I am a member of a well established and funded shared print program. What benefits will my program get from the Partnership?

The Partnership supports advocacy at scale for shared print programs. For more detail, please see this document introducing the Partnership.

I am a member of a small collaborative. Should I still consider joining the Partnership?

Yes. Working collaboratively, the Partnership provides all members with access to shared expertise and works together to develop model policies, procedures, strategy, communication, and funding models that will support small and new, as well as large and established, programs.  For more detail, please see this document introducing the Partnership.

My institution doesn’t belong to a shared print program.  Can it join the Partnership?

Not at this time; membership is limited to programs rather than individual institutions or libraries.

 How will the Partnership implement and maintain the infrastructure to support the group objectives? Who will pay for it?

The Partnership is focused on creating efficiencies while completing key shared print objectives. It is organized as a federation of programs to leverage and reduce duplication of work across the member programs. The Partnership relies on the membership fee to employ a coordinator and on the participation of members for communication structures, governance, and working groups. For more information please refer to the Partnership for Shared Book Collections Governance document. 

What would participation in the Partnership entail in terms of costs, responsibilities, etc.?

Participating programs will pay an annual membership fee of $3,000 USD for each of the first 3 years, providing financial stability for the work of the Partnership. Member programs will also be expected to provide in-kind contributions in Partnership governance (see Partnership Membership Agreement for further details).

What does the Partnership offer in the first three years?

Coordinating collaboration among shared print programs to support cost-effective retention and access to monograph collections. By working together and with access to expertise, shared print programs can:

  • Support the creation and maintenance of shared print Best Practices
  • Support the development of new shared print programs 
  • Explore the means to provide openly accessible and easily updatable retention data  
  • Advocate and develop funding strategies to support shared print programs 
  • Investigate methods to identify unique materials
  • Develop Marketing/Communication templates and strategies 
  • Investigate options to improve discovery of shared print material 
  • Create a Shared Print Program Directory 
  • Provide brokering of shared print services for unaffiliated libraries 

Will the Partnership secure grant funding to cover some of the costs?

The Partnership plans to seek grant funding to support certain costs (e.g. for research) with the help of contributed staff time to identify potential grant opportunities and to develop proposals.

Are there plans for a database of retention commitments?

Yes, the Partnership is actively exploring the means to provide a database of retention commitment data that is openly accessible and easily updatable to reduce costs in decision making and collection workflows.

 I am interested in access to digitized shared books.  Will this partnership include digitization initiatives and will I have access to a shared digitized collection?

The Partnership will be investigating best practices related to the feasibility of digitization on demand when there is no digital version of monographs (includes addressing the roles of digital surrogates in shared print planning).

 Can participating libraries borrow books from other partnership members?

The Partnership is not a shared print program and participation does not have any effect on existing programs. Collection sharing is governed by local shared print and resource sharing programs.  

 Are there plans for a shared print storage facility? 

No. The Partnership is not a shared print program itself and there are no plans to investigate a shared print storage facility. 

What about journals?  Is there another program that addresses shared print journals?

There are a number of shared print initiatives focused on serials and journals retention. The larger ones in the U.S. are now collaborating in the Rosemont Shared Print Alliance, which is focused on archiving print serials and journals for scholarship.