Maine Shared Collections Strategy’s major achievements

The Maine Shared Collections Strategy’s (MSCS) multi-type library partners have taken a cooperative approach to facing the challenges and opportunities of managing legacy print collections. Since its formation in 2010, MSCS (which is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services) has had some notable achievements:

  • MSCS were able to compare and analyze collection data at scale for approximately 3 million items across the eight partner libraries’ collections, from data residing in five different library systems, with the assistance of Sustainable Collection Services (SCS).
  • MSCS developed selection criteria and implemented decisions for print monograph and serial titles retention, management, preservation, and potential de-accessioning across the eight MSCS partner libraries.
  • MSCS partner libraries incorporated data on HathiTrust and Internet Archive titles as digital surrogates for print holdings as part of their collection analysis activities.
  • MSCS went beyond the project goal of developing a model for jointly managing and preserving print collections to actually agreeing to commit to retain a total of 1.4 million title-holdings for a 15-year period.
  • MSCS became the first shared print initiative to disclose retention commitments for monograph titles in the OCLC Local Holding Records of titles using the OCLC Shared Print Symbol. MSCS also documented retention commitments in the local systems of partner libraries and the union catalog MaineCat in the item MARC fields 561, 583, and 852.
  • MSCS partner libraries now have the option to safely de-accession certain copies, based on trust and retention commitments made at the group level.
  • A governance structure for the post-grant activities of the Maine Shared Collections Cooperative has been developed, documented in a Memorandum Of Understanding, and approved by the partner institutes.
  • Ebook-On-Demand and Print-On-Demand service delivery models have been developed, with 1.3 million public domain HathiTrust records loaded into the union catalog MaineCat, with links to HathiTrust, Google Books, and Print-on-Demand options.
  • MSCS partners Colby College and the University of Maine became the first institutions in Maine to join the HathiTrust. The partnership will provide their patrons with increased levels of access to materials in the digital collection including: full download access to public domain titles, special access to materials under Section 108 of U.S. copyright law, and access to in-copyright works for users with print disabilities. The University of Maine also worked with the HathiTrust to create a “Maine Collection” of Maine related items in the HathiTrust.
  • The work of MSCS has been widely publicized both on its own website and Twitter feed, but also at regional, national, and international professional conferences, in journals, publications, news feeds, and the local press.