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Update from the CDL, CRL & HT Collaboration – First Small Project to Realize Open, Collaborative Infrastructure for Shared Print + Webinars!

Earlier this year in July, we shared news with the WEST membership that California Digital Library (CDL, administrative host for WEST), the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), and HathiTrust released a set of framing documents that would guide their collaborative work to realize open infrastructure to support shared print as an integral part of contemporary collection management and development. 

Now we are happy to share that the three organizations have embarked on their first collaborative project: a freely available, web-accessible tool that will enable any library to compare lists of serial holdings with serial retention commitments in PAPR in order to distinguish, in the local list, what has been retained and what has not.

This project embodies the intention of the CDL, CRL & HT collaboration not to rebuild, but to build upon and connect the resources and capabilities that already abound in our community. This project is possible because of the cumulative efforts of many: the original work undertaken by CRL and CDL, funded by the Mellon Foundation, to conceive and develop PAPR; subsequent contributions by WEST in developing the AGUA graphic interface and on-the-fly reporting capability; and, as an added bonus, the collaboration aims to open up a new dataset for comparison: HathiTrust’s digital serials.

What does this mean for WEST and its members? 

As noted above, this project builds upon previous work from across shared print innovators, including WEST. Therefore, WEST, with the full support of its Executive Committee, is a contributor to this project and will be credited as such. 

For WEST members, allowing our work to be a part this community project presents a near-term opportunity to continue our program’s leadership role in the shared print community and to come together with other libraries to manage and preserve print at scale. This project also presents long term opportunities to improve and expand the capability without additional cost to WEST members (i.e. incorporating additional data sets for comparison, expanding the formats addressed, adding functionality to the existing comparison query). Said another way, we invite the creativity and resources of a much larger community to make future iterations of shared print comparison tools we currently use even better. 

This small project is only the first step in the collaborative effort to realize new infrastructure for shared print that is open, interconnected, and interoperable. This project meets an immediate need, but is also a stepping stone to fulfill a bigger vision. 

We are excited to invite WEST members to attend a webinar series hosted and presented by the CDL, CRL, HathiTrust Shared Print Collaboration to set the stage and introduce the tool. 

 

Schedule of Webinars:    

Introduction to the Collection Comparison Tool for Serials and Journals 

November 10, 4 p.m. ET, 3 p.m. CT, 1 p.m. PT 

Register in advance for this meeting: 

https://UCOP.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAkce-sqDkvE9XBJpdeMZzdtSYOTDvbXsIH   

 

Connecting Print to Digital Using the Collection Comparison Tool for Serials and Journals 

December 10, 4 p.m. ET, 3 p.m. CT, 1 p.m. PT:  

Register in advance for this meeting: 

https://UCOP.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYkcuirrz4sHdb0dnkYET6X09YMFNZx4Lq2  

 

Demonstration of Collection Comparison Tool for Serials and Journals 

January 13, 4 p.m. ET, 3 p.m. CT, 1 p.m. PT:  

Register in advance for this meeting: 

https://UCOP.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tc-CgrTsjE9Mqh9gP4QVaTFOxM9T21-kT  

 

Webinars will be recorded. 

Please feel free to reach out to Alison Wohlers (alison.wohlers@ucop.edu) with any questions or comments you may have.