ILW: About the Illinois Libraries Cooperative Collection Management Program

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About the Illinois Libraries Cooperative Collection Management Program

In 1993, the Cooperative Collection Management Committee (CCMCC) began to develop an integral facet of its statewide library collection support and development strategy - the Plan for Collaborative Collection Management. CCMCC, which includes personnel from the 27 largest libraries in Illinois, was formed in 1984 and is funded by the Illinois Board of Higher Education through the Higher Education Cooperation Act.

Collaborative collection management occurs when two or more libraries collaborate on the acquisition and/or maintenance of library materials through sharing of responsibility, expertise, and resources.

The Cooperative Collection Management Program's plan began as a response to the serious growing problems facing U.S. libraries today: sky-rocketing costs and declining collections budgets, along with the new revolution in information technology, which provides almost instantaneous access to information in all formats.

What is the program's plan for Illinois libraries?

To work together to support and develop collaborative collection management for their mutual benefit and for the benefit of the entire Illinois library constituency. Specific hopes and concerns of the program include:

To create an awareness of the practices and needs of individual library collections within the state, as well as the needs of specific groups of library-users, such as scholars, K-12 students, etc.
To create an awareness of individual library collections as they relate to the larger statewide context
To foster an atmosphere of informed discussion throughout Illinois among those concerned with the maintenance and growth of library collections
To share the electronic resources already established in member libraries, thereby taking full advantage of the capabilities of electronic information technology
To support innovative collaborative collection management projects

What are the characteristics of the plan?

The Plan for Collaborative Collection Management aims to develop and adhere to the following characteristics:

Universal benefit Any activities and projects planned must demonstrate benefit to a broad constituency
Open physical access Participating libraries must make their collections available to the primary constituents of all other consortium libraries
Local sufficiency Locally sufficient collections will not be replaced, but rather amplified by resources made available within the state
Contractual responsibility Libraries participating in collaborative projects must sign formal written agreements to which they commit their institutions
Multiple funding modes Consortial libraries will expect to provide funding from their own budgets for projects, though some centralized or external funding will be available for some projects
Selective participation; universal input Not all member libraries will actively participate in all projects, but each will have opportunity to provide input 0n ideas and direction
Creative pilots Rather than a grand, fixed plan, the program encourages pilot projects which creatively address the needs of library customers

Creative project planning is best accomplished from the specific vantages of individual libraries within their own communities. Based on its own needs and strong points, each member library has a unique perspective on the broader needs of the Illinois library constituency.

Additionally, these projects can help develop the direction of the program while it is still in its early stages; rather than making broad-based irreversible decisions, the program can test smaller-scale collaborative collection projects which, if successful, may be enhanced and modified for a larger scale.

All project proposals are developed by individual member libraries following program guidelines. They are then evaluated by all CCMCC member libraries and, once passed, funded partially by the CCMCC and/or external grants, to supplement local funding.

Specific projects include the Strategic Plan for the Cooperative Collection Management Among Illinois Academic Libraries; the Model Discipline project, which identifies key disciplines in which to pilot a collaborative approach (such as Education or Life Sciences); and individual workshops to train librarians in cooperative collection management.

It will take time for previously self-sufficient libraries to learn to rely on the resources of others to an extent, and to provide resources when called on. But such interdependence also assures that needed resources will be readily available where they might not have been otherwise.

By working together with other multitype libraries in Illinois, individual libraries will gain greater trust and planning skills, broader vision, and more attainable resources and goals. Ultimately, the consortial libraries will retain the aspects which their own communities know and rely on, but with an added safety net - the assurance that they will continue to thrive as modern strongholds of information technology and the world's rich stores of knowledge.

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Last updated: 9/7/96
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