Center for Library Initiatives A Partner on Cross-Consortial Grant Award

Center for Library Initiatives A Partner on Cross-Consortial Grant Award

Center for Library Initiatives A Partner on Cross-Consortial Grant Award

Sep 10, 2010, 16:34 PM

The Committee on Institutional Cooperation is one of four partners on a National Leadership Collaborative Planning Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services that will fund the beginning of a national conversation that may lead to the development...

The Committee on Institutional Cooperation is one of four partners on a National Leadership Collaborative Planning Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services that will fund the beginning of a national conversation that may lead to the development of a collaborative strategy for archiving and retaining book collections.

LYRASIS, the nation’s largest regional membership organization serving libraries and information professionals, is spearheading the effort, in conjunction with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL); the California Digital Library (CDL); and the CIC.

The grant will fund the convening of the top minds from research libraries across the country to develop a collaborative model for managing monographs (books) that would allow the protection of unique materials as well as facilitate better use of space in libraries.

“Being part of a national conversation will help our schools make better decisions with what we want to do regionally,” said Kimberly Armstrong, deputy director of the CIC’s Center for Library Initiatives.

Faculty and staff from four CIC member university libraries, in addition to CIC CLI director Mark Sandler and deputy director Armstrong, will attend. Reports from the October ‘think tank’ event will be made available in early 2011.

Successful collaborative solutions for long-term retention of journal, newspaper, and government document collections have set the stage for this conversation. Due to the complexity of monograph collections, it has been a difficult topic to address.

“We’re thrilled to be working with (CDL) and LYRASIS,” Armstrong said. “It’s a neat opportunity to work across consortial lines for everyone to achieve a common good.”