In this session we seek to highlight how institutions on both sides of the Atlantic are dramatically reframing approaches to a core library resource: our print collections. We can better engage, inform, and inspire the communities we serve by reimagining not only the collection management practices that underlie the content we present, but also the presentation of our print collections in our buildings.
First, we will touch on the shared print collection--one of the elements in the collections spectrum as defined by Lorcan Dempsey--which really has come of age in the past 15 years. Especially in the United States, regional consortia have made impressive progress in sharing the responsibility for the curation, preservation and availability of our legacy print collections. Using both options of a shared storage facility and contractual arrangements, research libraries in the U.S. are optimizing the use of expensive library space without endangering the accessibility of collections in a serious way. As Rick Lugg observed recently: "As a library community, we have made tremendous progress in securing the collective print book collection."
Securing that collective print book collection is not just an American mission. In several European countries the same dual strategy of shared storage facility and contractual arrangements is applied to safeguard nationally the availability of as diverse a print collection as possible and at the same time to share this burden collectively against the lowest possible costs. Much like regional consortia within the United States, different national approaches demonstrate different characteristics and have different strengths and weaknesses. This presentation will map out European peculiarities and similarities as compared with the U.S. approach, and explore how policies on both sides of the Atlantic reinforce each other.
Moving from the network scale to the local context, we will share how two academic libraries are taking advantage of shifting user expectations around library spaces and resources to explore how their collections are positioned as services in spaces and across formats and access models. Although Arizona State University and The Claremont Colleges are two very different environments for research, teaching, and learning, the libraries at both institutions have taken up the challenge of rethinking print collections for our audiences over the past several years, aware of the changing yet still vital role print plays in the academy today. In this presentation, we will examine provocative conversations about the future of print in the digital age, share what we are learning from our local investigations of research behaviors and library collections operations, offer ideas for engaging stakeholders, and consider new approaches to print collections in our respective programs. We will also initiate an open discussion about positioning print collections as services and what other libraries are doing to increase engagement with print.
