SPEC Kit 345: Shared Print Programs · 13
representing hundreds of thousands of volumes. The
aggregate shared print resource for monographs is
difficult to estimate but ranges somewhere between
5 to 8 million volumes.2 According to a recent un-
published report by OCLC Research at ALA Annual
2014 Las Vegas, the shared resource as expressed in
retention commitments in OCLC corresponds with
more than 270 million records, possibly representing
duplicate holdings.
The scale of shared print has evolved beyond prep-
aration of title lists indeed, it now requires deeper
catalog, discovery, resource sharing, and analytics in-
tegration such that participants and non-participants
can understand what is in the collective collections.
The momentum of shared print efforts has built in the
last three years, with six new shared program agree-
ments in 2012 and more reported in planning stages.
Investments
The figures presented in this section are intended to
describe a broad scope of investment in shared print
programs. Funding models vary widely, with impor-
tant in-kind contributions in some programs, making
it potentially difficult to fully account for investments.
To the extent programmatic budgets could be iden-
tified, they are reported here. In addition, average
annual participation fees for individual ARL librar-
ies are reported to provide a picture of investment
at the institutional level. These program-level and
institutional-level figures may represent the first at-
tempt to quantify overall investment in shared print
programs they may prove useful benchmarks for
general planning purposes as new programs emerge
and as more libraries consider participating in them.
It may be useful to recapture these figures in a few
years to better understand the investments in print
collection restructuring.
It may also be useful to note that only one shared
print program indicated budget-supported plans to
acquire new content for prospective shared print pur-
chases. Consequently, the investments in this section
represent investments in cooperative collection man-
agement for retrospective collections, not prospective
collaborative purchasing.
The median budget reported by 14 of the shared
print programs is just over $400,000 annually. These
shared print coordinators reported overall program
budgets ranging from zero to more than a million
dollars per year. Many factors, including the number
of participating institutions, the size of the collec-
tion to be analyzed, the size of collection processed
for retention, the location of holdings, and level of
service expected lead to wide variability in pro-
gram budgets. Also, in some cases, the program is
integrated in an existing consortium’s functions and
shared costs of the program are indistinguishable
from overall consortium budgets (e.g., OhioLink or
TRLN). In several other cases, program budgets had
not yet been determined.
To better understand the level of investment from
an institutional perspective, ARL libraries were asked
to report annual fees for shared print programs for
three years to identify a three-year average annual
expenditure. Over the past three years, 32 of the re-
sponding libraries spent on average approximately
$14,280 per year in direct member fees for shared print
programs. Some twenty-one libraries reported pay-
ing no direct fees for participation in shared print.
Twenty-three libraries pay fees to one or more shared
print collaborations.
It may be useful to contrast this with annual fees
for participation in digital preservation and other
trusted services. ARL members were also asked
to report annual member fees for five services—
Portico, CLOCKSS, LOCKSS, HathiTrust, and Digital
Preservation Network—to identify a three-year aver-
age annual expenditure per service. Over the past
three years, the 38 responding libraries spent on av-
erage $8,700 to $53,980 annually per service on di-
rect member fees to participate. While such services
are not alike and provide different capabilities, they
are part of a landscape of shared services focused on
shared retention and future access to content, often
attending to similar content and on a similar scale as
shared print programs (e.g., journal backfiles). Like
shared print programs, such services are also often
governed above or across existing library consortia.
Ecology of Stewardship and ARL Libraries as
Archive Holders
When considered as a peer community, ARL librar-
ies are well engaged in shared print programs and
representing hundreds of thousands of volumes. The
aggregate shared print resource for monographs is
difficult to estimate but ranges somewhere between
5 to 8 million volumes.2 According to a recent un-
published report by OCLC Research at ALA Annual
2014 Las Vegas, the shared resource as expressed in
retention commitments in OCLC corresponds with
more than 270 million records, possibly representing
duplicate holdings.
The scale of shared print has evolved beyond prep-
aration of title lists indeed, it now requires deeper
catalog, discovery, resource sharing, and analytics in-
tegration such that participants and non-participants
can understand what is in the collective collections.
The momentum of shared print efforts has built in the
last three years, with six new shared program agree-
ments in 2012 and more reported in planning stages.
Investments
The figures presented in this section are intended to
describe a broad scope of investment in shared print
programs. Funding models vary widely, with impor-
tant in-kind contributions in some programs, making
it potentially difficult to fully account for investments.
To the extent programmatic budgets could be iden-
tified, they are reported here. In addition, average
annual participation fees for individual ARL librar-
ies are reported to provide a picture of investment
at the institutional level. These program-level and
institutional-level figures may represent the first at-
tempt to quantify overall investment in shared print
programs they may prove useful benchmarks for
general planning purposes as new programs emerge
and as more libraries consider participating in them.
It may be useful to recapture these figures in a few
years to better understand the investments in print
collection restructuring.
It may also be useful to note that only one shared
print program indicated budget-supported plans to
acquire new content for prospective shared print pur-
chases. Consequently, the investments in this section
represent investments in cooperative collection man-
agement for retrospective collections, not prospective
collaborative purchasing.
The median budget reported by 14 of the shared
print programs is just over $400,000 annually. These
shared print coordinators reported overall program
budgets ranging from zero to more than a million
dollars per year. Many factors, including the number
of participating institutions, the size of the collec-
tion to be analyzed, the size of collection processed
for retention, the location of holdings, and level of
service expected lead to wide variability in pro-
gram budgets. Also, in some cases, the program is
integrated in an existing consortium’s functions and
shared costs of the program are indistinguishable
from overall consortium budgets (e.g., OhioLink or
TRLN). In several other cases, program budgets had
not yet been determined.
To better understand the level of investment from
an institutional perspective, ARL libraries were asked
to report annual fees for shared print programs for
three years to identify a three-year average annual
expenditure. Over the past three years, 32 of the re-
sponding libraries spent on average approximately
$14,280 per year in direct member fees for shared print
programs. Some twenty-one libraries reported pay-
ing no direct fees for participation in shared print.
Twenty-three libraries pay fees to one or more shared
print collaborations.
It may be useful to contrast this with annual fees
for participation in digital preservation and other
trusted services. ARL members were also asked
to report annual member fees for five services—
Portico, CLOCKSS, LOCKSS, HathiTrust, and Digital
Preservation Network—to identify a three-year aver-
age annual expenditure per service. Over the past
three years, the 38 responding libraries spent on av-
erage $8,700 to $53,980 annually per service on di-
rect member fees to participate. While such services
are not alike and provide different capabilities, they
are part of a landscape of shared services focused on
shared retention and future access to content, often
attending to similar content and on a similar scale as
shared print programs (e.g., journal backfiles). Like
shared print programs, such services are also often
governed above or across existing library consortia.
Ecology of Stewardship and ARL Libraries as
Archive Holders
When considered as a peer community, ARL librar-
ies are well engaged in shared print programs and
