The White Rose Libraries, a long-standing collaboration among the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York, have selected OCLC Sustainable Collection Services to assist in developing a regional shared-print collection.
The White Rose Libraries (WRL) will work with Sustainable Collection Services (SCS) to make informed group-level decisions around the libraries’ physical collections. WRL will focus first on protecting scarcely-held materials and identifying opportunities for shared retention commitments. More broadly, SCS tools will help the group better manage monographs based on usage and holdings of other libraries in the UK and globally.
WRL will use the SCS GreenGlass decision-support application for real-time modeling of retention scenarios and collection visualisations, enabling participating libraries and groups to better understand their shared collection and to share responsibility for retention.
“We are excited to begin this new project with our White Rose partners and OCLC,” said Heidi Fraser-Krauss, Director of Information Services, University of York. “The data provided by the GreenGlass tool will give us new insight into our collections, enabling us to plan strategically and collaboratively. The potential for this tool to revolutionise collections’ management is very exciting.”
“My colleagues and I are delighted to be working on what will be an important strategic development for each of the White Rose Libraries,” said Stella Butler, University Librarian and Keeper of the Brotherton Collection, University of Leeds. “By using GreenGlass, we will be able to safeguard the value and heritage within our individual holdings, while taking advantage of the efficiencies that come from collective management of print collections.”
“This represents the latest instalment of the White Rose Libraries innovation with regard to collaborative collection management,” said Anne Horn, Director of Library Services and University Librarian, University of Sheffield. “We have a long history in working collaboratively in changing the shape of our collections. I am delighted to see this being taken to the next level using a data driven approach and sophisticated collection analytics.”
Sharing print collections will make it possible to free up valuable library space and local resources for the development of high demand and specialised collections, while ensuring each WRL library retains access to the widest possible range of resources available.
“OCLC is extremely pleased to be working with WRL, helping these libraries develop the best regional shared-print collection possible,” said Eric van Lubeek, Vice President, Managing Director, OCLC EMEA & APAC. “The group functionality within GreenGlass is built expressly for the purpose of informing and facilitating decision-making among shared print partners. For WRL, this means GreenGlass can help clarify outcomes and provide proof-points for collaborative collection development, while minimizing any of the associated risks of managing down low use items.”
SCS services use WorldCat, the largest aggregation of library data in the world as well as the world’s largest library resource sharing network, to inform which titles should be kept locally, which can be discarded, and which can be considered to be kept in shared collections.
About the White Rose Libraries
Since 1997 the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York have built on their individual strengths by collaborating through the White Rose University Consortium to add value from partnership activity in research, enterprise, innovation and learning and teaching. The White Rose Libraries is a collaboration between the Library Services of the three partner institutions of the Consortium. Taking advantage of the geographic proximity of the universities, their similar strategic and operational focus as large research libraries, and the existing links between their researchers, students, and staff, the White Rose Libraries have worked together since 2004 on a number of initiatives that have allowed them to pool resources and expertise.
