Updates from beyond WEST: Shared Print at the 2013 Charleston Conference

At the Charleston Conference, two shared print groups, the Maine Shared Collections Strategy (MSCS) and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation’s (CIC) Shared Print Repository, presented on their projects, goals and activities.

In “Data to Decisions: Shared Print Retention in Maine,” Becky Albitz (Collection Management, Bates College) and Deb Rollins (Collection Services, University of Maine) discussed the analysis of collections data from nine institutions in the Maine shared print initiative. Albitz and Rollins outlined the history of collaboration behind the Maine project and spoke to how MSCS’s unique membership (including both public and academic libraries) raises interesting challenges and opportunities. The presentation outline can be found on the conference website, and the MSCS has shared their presentation slides and handout on their website.

Rebecca Crist (Library Project Manager, Committee on Institutional Cooperation) and Sherri Michaels (Head of Collection Management, Indiana University) spoke about the CIC’s shared print initiative in their session, “Shared Print on the Move: Collocating Collections.” Crist and Michaels discussed the CIC’s approach to establishing a shared storage system for interested CIC members, their reasons for creating a repository rather than securing holdings in place, and the associated opportunities and costs. The presentation outline and slides can be found on the conference website.