The University of California Libraries’ Shared Print program has joined the Partnership for Shared Book Collections, a federation of shared print monographic programs that aims to coordinate shared print collaboration in North America to support cost-effective retention and access to shared print monograph collections.
UC Libraries’ Shared Print firmly supports the vision and mission of the Partnership and sees this as a significant opportunity for the shared print community to streamline its activities to the benefit of all participating libraries and their stakeholders. In coordinating and consolidating our efforts, shared print programs can transition into a more integrated enterprise, with robust collaborative networks that better scale shared print efforts and more effectively advocate for required infrastructure and technology.
In the face of increasing financial, preservation, and space-based challenges, the Partnership is in a position, like its counterpart on the side of journal programs, the Rosemont Alliance, to maximize individual programmatic efforts and create an ecosystem that realizes the full potential of shared print. UC hopes that the future holds even greater connection among shared print initiatives, with a goal not of creating new organizations, but of connecting our communities to transcend the siloed, piecemeal landscape of current collective collections.
Members of UC’s Shared Print Strategy Team have participated enthusiastically in the summits and working groups that preceded the Partnership’s formal launch in January 2020 and the UC community looks forward to the ongoing work of the Partnership.
About UC Libraries’ Shared Print Program
The University of California Libraries include 100 libraries across the system, as well as two shared Regional Library Facilities. The combined UC Libraries’ print collection totals approximately 40.8 million volumes.
The University of California Libraries’ Shared Print collections consist of information resources jointly purchased or electively contributed by the libraries. UC Libraries participate in both UC-internal shared print projects and, increasingly, in collaborations that transcend its institutional boundaries. Shared print in the UC Libraries is collectively governed and managed by the University Librarians for the purpose of maximizing access to the widest audience of current and future members of the UC community.
About the Partnership for Shared Book Collections
Summits in April and December 2018, hosted by the Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, began the journey to launch the Partnership for Shared Book Collections. Throughout the second half of 2018 and through 2019, a steering committee and array of working groups advanced the strategic priorities identified in the summits.
The Partnership formally launched in January 2020 as a federation of existing monograph shared print programs in the United States and Canada. As of March 2020, the Partnership included 11 member programs. The Partnership aims to coordinate collaboration across these programs to support cost-effective retention of, and access to, print book collections with the goal of ensuring the long-term preservation, accessibility, and integrity of these scholarly print resources.