Making Shared Print Work: Insights on Workflows, Data, and Tools

Libraries have invested deeply in building and sustaining collective collections—the combined collections of a group of libraries, analyzed or managed as a single collection—that safeguard access to the scholarly and cultural record. Managing collections at a group scale presents opportunities to manage materials more efficiently, reduce duplicative collecting, make local collection strengths visible to larger audiences, and obtain valuable intelligence to inform local collection management. But sustaining those investments requires more than shared infrastructure; it requires a shared sense of purpose rooted in collaboration, a key understanding of how shared print has evolved to meet current challenges, and a vision for its future potential.  

Making Shared Print Work examines community-based insights into key workflows, data sources, and tools used in shared print work initiatives, along with the gaps and opportunities identified to evolve how we manage these programs in practice. These insights highlight how shared print data and infrastructure can better support collection evaluation, evidence-based decision-making, and coordinated stewardship across institutions and networks. The findings discussed in this report, in turn, identify areas of opportunity and prioritization as shared print’s operational infrastructure continues to evolve.

Drawing on insight gained through interviews and survey data, the findings in this report provide insight into:

• Key workflows supporting the effective stewardship of shared print monograph collections
• Data and tools currently used to support these workflows
• Perceived gaps in data, tools, or other resources
• Opportunities for collective stewardship of print monograph collections, if these gaps are addressed

The findings are presented as a set of key takeaways, providing timely, practical insights that matter most to libraries involved in shared print programs, as well as perspectives on how they may evolve to improve the efficiency and value of collective print stewardship. The key takeaways explored in this report include:

1. Data is the key to delivering value to shared print programs.
2. Shared print tools should be integrated with local collection management workflows.
3. Collection analysis is already a key shared print workflow, but there is room to expand its scope and value.
4. Tools and functionalities are needed to streamline workflows and fill gaps.
5. Challenging conditions impacting shared print workflows can be mitigated with data-driven and programmatic solutions.
6. Messaging and advocacy are needed to shift perceptions and secure support for collective collections.

This work is part of Stewarding the Collective Collection, a multi-part OCLC Research project exploring the operationalization of collective collections in a shared print context.

Download US Letter .pdf

Download A4 .pdf

Quick links

• Short URL: oc.lc/making-shared-print-work
• DOI (US letter): doi.org/10.25333/s1fy-fn12
• DOI (A4): doi.org/10.25333/2cgw-f214

Related pages and projects

• Stewarding the Collective Collection
  
• Stewarding the Collective Collection - Workflow, Data, and Tools