Membership

Membership in SCELC is open to non-profit private academic or research libraries staffed by a professional librarian and with a library collection (physical or virtual). Membership dues are only $750/year and, in addition to providing access to the many discounted offers for electronic resources from SCELC, members obtain additional benefits, as noted below. Licensing electronic resources through SCELC saves you more than just money — SCELC also signs one license on behalf of all licensees, sparing your library the process of license negotiation. SCELC also centralizes invoicing for all your resources obtained via the consortium, providing your library a one-stop shop and a single master invoice for your electronic acquisitions.

There are currently over 100 members of SCELC primarily in but also outside of California.

Membership Benefits

In addition to being able to license via SCELC, members can also take advantage of the following services:

SCELC Consortial ERMS (Electronic Resource Management System): The ERMS, based on Serials Solutions 360 Resource Manager, provides information for your e-resource license terms, vendor contacts, and the ability to migrate data seamlessly from the consortial ERM to your local installation of 360 Resource Manager. It also includes free access to the SCELC e-journal portal, enabling your library to track the e-journal content that you are licensing through SCELC.

Callimachus: the SCELC Digital Library: SCELC has purchased on behalf of its members an unlimited license for OCLC's CONTENTdm. Consequently, any library wishing to participate in the SCELC Digital Library can purchase its own access to unlimited images in CONTENTdm at a fraction of the cost when compaed to a direct purchase from OCLC. SCELC's Digital Initiative Working Group has provided guidelines and best practices for getting started with your digital library projects, and SCELC can arrange deeply discounted training sessions from OCLC.

The Charleston Advisor: The Charleston Advisor is the premier unbiased, peer-reviewed source for reviews of electronic resources. SCELC has purchased an online subscription to the Charleston Advisor for all its members, and it is freely accessible to assist your library with your e-resource collection development.

SCELC Grants: SCELC provides funds to support grants for your library staff to attend conferences or other continuing education opportunities. These grants have enabled many librarians or paraprofessional staff to attend the conferences of their choice, and has proven particularly helpful in these days of shrinking budgets.

SCELC Scholarships: SCELC provides funds to support the enrollment of member libraries's paraprofessional staff in accredited library and information science programs. These scholarships have helped provide financial aid for many of our SCELC library staff.

SCELC Vendor Day and Colloquium: These two SCELC events, described elsewhere on the web site, are free to all SCELC members. No admission fee, the SCELC Vendors vs. Librarians Bowling Tournament, breakfast, and lunch are provided free of charge to members, in addition to two days of useful content and interaction with publishers and other librarians.

Affiliate Status

SCELC Affiliates are libraries that do not qualify for SCELC membership but wish to license resources through SCELC. The only requirements are that the affiliate organization have a research or educational mission and not be classified as a 501(c)(4). Affiliates are not SCELC members. A notable example of SCELC Affiliates are the hospital libraries that are part of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Southwest Region (NN/LM PSR), for which SCELC assists in licensing e-resource content.

Affiliate Benefits

Affiliates do not pay annual dues, but can license the same resources as SCELC members with an additional transaction fee assessed on top of the usual SCELC surcharges. Affiliates do not have access to the other member benefits noted above, but can attend the SCELC events for a small admission fee, and can apply for full membership when qualified to do so.