New Partnership for Shared Book Collections

This is a follow-up to the September 16, 2020 post entitled Final Report on Creation of National Shared Print Network in Canada.

The most recent issue of the journal Journal of Library Administration includes an article on a new North American library partnership that aims to promote shared print monograph collections:

"The Partnership grew out of meetings to address the question of how to develop and sustain an infrastructure that would capitalize on opportunities for collaboration and cooperation across the growing number of shared print initiatives. With financial support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in April of 2018 the Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust (EAST) hosted a summit with representatives from over 25 shared print programs in North America as well as leaders in preservation and scholarly communications including OCLC and the Library of Congress. Over a two-day period, the group was invited to envision a robust future for shared print with a focus on scholarly monographs, to commit to join community-based action in support of preserving and protecting the print scholarly record, and ensuring its availability for students, scholars, and researchers."

"The summit resulted in identifying a set of key priorities for shared print’s future as well as the formation of a set of Working Groups to focus on these priorities. Among the priorities was the establishment of a formal enterprise focused on coordinating and directing the efforts of shared print. It was generally agreed that a federated organizational structure would work most effectively and that such an organization should focus on best practices and standards, identify research (particularly in the area of risk) needed for shared print, develop compelling narratives for the stakeholder audiences, and encourage the development of an open data infrastructure in support of shared print."