CDL, CRL, & HathiTrust Collaboration for Shared Print Infrastructure

In June, California Digital Library (CDL), the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), & HathiTrust affirmed their commitment – first announced in January 2020 – to take the lead in building on the last decade of shared print efforts to realize an interconnected and open infrastructure that embeds shared print more completely in library services and operations. 

We are happy to share the text of that affirming announcement (below) and the framing document of the collaboration (Principles, Vision, Mission and Assumptions ) with our colleagues in the UC and WEST communities .

Moving into the second half of 2020, the three organizations will be working with the community to explore possible  “quick wins” (short term projects that contribute to the larger vision), sharing a complete communication plan, and establishing a website where any and all can learn about the work and ways to get involved. 

Please reach out to CDL Shared Print Program Manager, Alison Wohlers, with any questions (alison.wohlers@ucop.edu). 

CDL, CRL, & HathiTrust Collaboration for Shared Print Infrastructure, Announcement, June 2020:

The future of print collections is shared. Embedding shared print within the lifecycle of library collections promotes equity of access, enriches the scholarly record, and increases opportunity for research and teaching. A well-developed, collaborative, and interoperable infrastructure ensures we will realize the full potential of our networks and their collective collections.
 
This is why we were proud to announce at the Print Archive Network Forum in January 2020, that the California Digital Library (CDL), the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), and HathiTrust (HT), with the support of the Rosemont Shared Print Alliance and the Partnership for Shared Book Collections, will work together to build on a decade of collaboration, innovation and expertise to define a new phase of shared print built on open and interconnected infrastructure.
 
This collaborative effort is emerging from the rich background of local and regional shared print programs’ expansion, interconnection, and technical innovation. We see an opportunity for our three organizations (CDL, CRL, and HT) to step into a facilitative leadership role, to gather the threads of the broader community’s considerable efforts and to advance shared print’s transition to a new phase of integration and interoperability.
 
This new phase coalesces the regional work into a strategic national effort. Working together in a coordinated fashion, we can assemble, preserve, and make accessible a more expansive and diverse shared collection for the scholarly community.
 
Over the last two months, CDL, CRL, and HT have met regularly and outlined a mission, vision, principles and assumptions to serve as anchors, or touchpoints, to ensure that this work reflects the values and needs of our broader community. You can find these in the attached document. Each of these draws on the combined expertise of our three organizations, as well as the work of the Rosemont Shared Print Alliance and the Partnership for Shared Book Collections. We welcome comments or questions. Please feel free to reach out to Alison Wohlers (alison.wohlers@ucop.edu), Amy Wood (wood@crl.edu), or Heather Weltin (weltin@hathitrust.org).
 
We want this effort to remain embedded in the community it is meant to serve and we want to engage that community meaningfully in the work. Therefore, we are developing a communications strategy that sets out an intentional course of action in the area of both internal and external communications to highlight this project’s priorities, values, achievements, services, and activities that are planned through 2020 and beyond.
 
Together we will achieve a shared print collection that in its scale and breadth represents the future of sustainable collection development and management. Our organizations look forward to going on this journey with the rest of the shared print community.
 
Sincerely,
Greg Eow, President, Center for Research Libraries
Mike Furlough, Executive Director, HathiTrust
Günter Waibel, Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director, California Digital Library