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Shared Print Program

SCELC’s Shared Print Program promotes broad availability and long-term sustainability of print monographs as a shared collection among participating institutions.

Shared Print Details: Goals, Mechanics and Costs

Program Goals

SCELC's Shared Print Program (SPP) seeks to preserve circulating print monographs and make them available through a shared collection.

Through the SCELC retention model, participating libraries seek to safeguard 20-25% of their circulating collection and add them to the program's shared collection.

The model is formulated to:

  • protect unique items
  • ensure at least one copy of each item exists across participating institutions
  • retain two copies of high-demand items having 40 circulations or more

The SPP is also focused on long-term preservation of scholarship held by minority-serving and religious institutions.

Eligibility

The SPP is open to all SCELC Members and Affiliates. Libraries that are not affiliates are encouraged to join SCELC.

How it Works

SCELC's shared print model provides a formula to help participants determine which print titles should be included in their commitment.  The model uses group collection analysis conducted with the aid of OCLC's GreenGlass software.

GreenGlass Collection Analysis

As part of your participation in the program, you will have access to GreenGlass for two years after your records are ingested.  GreenGlass makes it possible to use multiple factors to compare collections, both individually against comparator libraries, and as a group of libraries. This group analysis allows libraries to build decision metrics against known retention commitments made by participating libraries.  This data can be used to identify unique holdings of collective importance to maintain for the long term, as well as duplicative holdings.

The group analysis applies a retention model that results in retention commitment assignments of about 20-25% of the circulating collection.

SCELC and OCLC can assist with identifying suitable comparators, which are normally peer institutions, aspirational peers and inter-library loan partners.

Libraries can make additional commitments on a voluntary basis beyond the minimum commitments identified through the SCELC SPP model.

Retention Commitments

Libraries that are SCELC SPP participants are required to retain, loan, and replace items that are designated for retention at their library.

Each library’s retention commitments remain housed in the library’s own facility, whether on open shelves or in storage. Retention commitments across participating institutions are governed by a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU) assuring participants continued access to all retained titles in the collective collection. This assurance allows a library more flexibility in deciding whether to retain the same titles in its own collections.

Retention Guidelines

Guidelines for retention include:

  • One copy of each circulating title published before 2005 that is held by more than one participant library
  • All uniquely held circulating titles published before 2005 and held by fewer than five libraries in California
  • Two copies of titles published before 2005 with more than 40 circulations within the group of participants
  • Voluntary commitments of circulating titles as desired by participating libraries to serve other institutional goals (e.g. local interest, collection or curricular strengths, faculty authors, participation in other shared print projects)
  • Retention for 15 years (currently through July 31, 2032)
  • Disclosure of a library’s retention commitments in its local catalog (583 MARC field) and through registration in OCLC WorldCat

The SCELC Shared Print Committee and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) govern the evolution of the model over time.

Costs

During the onboarding process, a SCELC consultant will work with you to determine cost.

Generally, the following costs are required:

  • GreenGlass fees based on the number of records to be analyzed, including a setup fee (subsidized for Member institutions)
  • Annual SPP cost recovery fee to partially offset what SCELC pays to maintain the program

For more information, see pricing details in ConsortiaManager