About

SCELC represents a diverse community of 110+ Member and 230+ Affiliate institutions and organizations across multiple states, and is one of the top five consortia in licensing volume in all of North America.

SCELC is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation established in 1986. Originally focused on academic institutions in Southern California, SCELC now represents a diverse array of libraries, including many small and medium-sized institutions, across the United States.

SCELC’s portfolio of consortial licensing, programming, and services is enabled by our commitment to building relationships and nurturing networks between our libraries and our vendor and publisher partners. Our mission is to empower librarians to collaborate on access and effective use of library resources and services.

Mission

SCELC creates sustainable and tailored opportunities that serve our libraries today and in the future.

Vision

SCELC catalyzes libraries to strengthen their essential and transformative role in their organizations.

Values

In planning, decision making, programs and services, operations, or support to our community, SCELC’s actions will be characterized by the following core values:

Connect and collaborate. We are stronger when we bring people together to share, learn, and work together. 

Center inclusion and justice. We value and respect our community by embracing diverse perspectives, fostering dialogue and belonging, and advocating for social justice.

Act with integrity. At every turn, and to every stakeholder, we are a trusted partner.

Learn. In the changing landscape of information, education, and research, we remain curious, embrace new ways of thinking, and learn from our mistakes and successes.

Take risks. We are bold, strategic, creative, and adventurous when addressing challenges.  

Engage our community. We turn to our members to listen, drive, and evaluate our efforts, progress, and success. 

Punch above our weight. We leverage our collective power to support a diverse set of institutions. 

SCELC is an opt-in consortium composed of academic, research and medical institutions, with a predominance of small and medium-sized libraries. Some of the communities of interest in SCELC include art schools, seminaries, museum libraries and more. See a list of our institutions.

There are two groups of SCELC libraries: Members and Affiliates. Members pay annual dues and therefore have access to additional services. Affiliates do not pay annual dues, instead they only license resources. 

SCELC also has several partnership programs which provide broader opportunities for licensing resources. Our partnership programs include:

• ATLA Affiliate Program
• CSU Resource Licensing Program
• TexShare Partner Program

The SCELC (Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium) was founded in 1986 by the University of Southern California and initially named the Electronic Guildhall of Knowledge.

In its early days, SCELC reached out to four academic libraries—California Lutheran, Claremont, Pepperdine, and Whittier College—to collaborate on networking and professional development. These foundational activities included hosting speakers at directors' meetings and organizing one or two member conferences each year.

Today, SCELC operates as an “opt-in” consortium, allowing member libraries and affiliates to participate in licenses and programs based on their assessments of what best serves their individual needs, with "all-in" deals being a rarity. The organization was formally incorporated as a 501(C)(3) nonprofit in 2001.

SCELC Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws