Managing the collective collection - print books in maine
1. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Managing the Collective
Collection – print books
in Maine
Right-scaling stewardship
Maine InfoNet E-Collection Summit , 24 May 2013
Constance Malpas
Program Officer
OCLC Research
@ConstanceM
With thanks to Brian Lavoie & Thom Hickey, OCLC Research
2. The world’s libraries. Connected.
A ‘system-wide’ perspective on libraries
Shift: local group
collections
service provision
infrastructure
management strategies
• Data intensive analyses
• Frameworks for decision making
• Building a shared evidence base for collective action
http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/swo.html
3. The world’s libraries. Connected.
• Core business functions of the library are moving
to supra-institutional scale
• Network technologies, shift to digital
accelerating this trend
• Print management functions (among others)
increasingly organized at group scale
• Appropriate scale of cooperative action will vary,
dependent on available infrastructure
Sourcing and scaling (Dempsey, Lavoie)
4. The world’s libraries. Connected.
North American print book resource
as of January 2011:
45.7 million distinct publications
889.5 million total library holdings
49,790,608 924,617,036
North American print book resource as of
January 2013:
49.8 million distinct publications (+9%)
924.6 million total library holdings (+4%)
5. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Distribution by library type varies across regions
43%36% 34%35%
Data current as of January 2011
6. The world’s libraries. Connected.
ARL total holdings: 357,419,468
ARL total print book holdings: 232,610,958 (65%)
ARL print book titles: 33,355,216
http://www.arl.org/arl/membership/members.shtml
~73% of North
American print
book collection
Asset
v
Data current as of January 2013
7. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Selected Public Library Coverage
Regional Print Book Collections
NYPL: 21%
Georgia Public Library : 6%
Dallas Public Library : 11%
Los Angeles Public Library : 12%
San Francisco Public Library: 7%
St. Louis Public Library:
5% of ‘extra-regional’ collection
Cleveland Public Library: 10%
Data current as of January 2011
8. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Mega-regions & Library Consortia
Orbis-
Cascade
CIC
ASERL
SCELC
MINITEX
Boston
Library Cons.
NERL
OCUL
TEXSHARE
GWLA
LOUIS
9. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Right-scaling stewardship: assessing group-scale options
Charlanta
could secure 67% of regional collection
ChiPitts
could secure 58% of regional collection
NorCal
SoCal
could secure 28%-47% of regional collection
Data current as of January 2011
10. The world’s libraries. Connected.
[Title goes here]
?
Print books in Maine:
• 1,964,419 titles (distinct editions)
• 3,691,823 Maine library holdings
• 1.88 avg. holdings per title in Maine
• 147 avg. holdings per title in WorldCat
Data current as of January 2013
Scope of regional print book resource (titles) has increased 3% since 2011
Size of collection (holdings) has increased 4%
Density of collection (holdings / title) has scarcely changed
Extra-regional duplication of Maine collection has decreased
still
v
11. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Print Books in Maine: holdings by library type
Majority of regional print book inventory
is held by academic libraries
N = 3.69 M print book holdings in Maine
12. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Print Books in Maine: institutional infrastructure
… yet, academic libraries represent a
small part of regional ecosystem
N = 127 library holding symbols in WorldCat
Traditionally, stewardship
responsibility concentrated here
13. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Right-scaling Stewardship: the challenge for Maine
Few institutions with preservation capacity or mandate,
a collective collection that is widely duplicated elsewhere:
… 99% of collection is duplicated in Bos-Wash mega-region
… 68% of collection is held by >99 libraries in WorldCat
… 37% of collection is duplicated in HathiTrust Digital Library
limited options for redistribution of stewardship in state,
What part of regional resource should be managed at institution scale?
at group scale, via MSCS?
at regional scale, through partnerships with BosWash consortia?
at network scale, by leveraging Web-scale infrastructure like HathiTrust?
14. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Scale Matters: Assessing Preservation Risk
>90% of regional
resource held by <5
libraries in Maine
3% of regional
resource held by <5
libraries in WorldCat
15. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Regional resource is concentrated in a small number of libraries
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
UNIV OF MAINE AT ORONO
BOWDOIN COL
BATES COL
COLBY COL
BANGOR PUB LIBR
UNIV OF SOUTHERN MAINE
PORTLAND PUB LIBR
MAINE STATE LIBR
MAINE CARD SERV AG, MAINE STATE LIBR
CURTIS MEM LIBR
UNIV OF MAINE AT PRESQUE ISLE
UNIV OF MAINE AT FARMINGTON
UNIV OF NEW ENGLAND
UNIV OF MAINE AT MACHIAS
MAINE MARITIME ACAD
UNIV OF MAINE AT AUGUSTA
UNIV OF MAINE AT FT KENT
BANGOR THEOL SEMINARY MOULTON LIBR
HUSSON UNIV
UNIV OF MAINE, SCH OF LAW
COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC
UNIV COL OF BANGOR LIBR
UNIV SOUTHERN MAINE LEWISTON AUBURN COL
MAINE STATE LIBR BOOK-BY-MAIL
SAINT JOSEPH'S COL LIBR
CENTRAL MAINE COMMUN COL
MAINE COL OF ART LIBR
SOUTHERN MAINE TECH COL LIBR
Library Coverage of Maine Print Book Collection
N = 1,964,419 titles
Data current as of January 2013
MSCS institutions alone cover 1% to 34%
of regional print book collection
The Right Stuff?
16. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Print Books in Maine: cooperative infrastructure
*analysis excludes Bangor Theological Seminary (BTF)
Collective collection of 8 MSCS partners*
accounts for 85% of print books in Maine
N = 1.96M print book titles in Maine
What part of this collection
represents a distinctive
shared asset worthy of
MSCS investment?
?
Who is responsible
for the rest?
17. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Cooperative Infrastructure – network scale
Data current as of May 2013
May 2011
Title – level duplication in collections
18. The world’s libraries. Connected.
• Typically, selection for local preservation prioritizes
unique or rare holdings
• Shared print preservation initiatives are an opportunity to
direct investment toward ‘group-scale’ priorities
• Widely-held titles that maximize collective benefit
• Dual format titles that minimize preservation risk, maximize
access
• Topical collections that represent shared institutional interests
• Cooperative print preservation should maximize
coherence of shared collection
Re-selecting for shared stewardship
19. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Where to Draw the Line (redux)
• Titles that have circulated or are likely to
• Local priority / protection
Relatively low yield
*analysis excludes Bangor Theological Seminary (BTF)
Data current as of May 2013
20. The world’s libraries. Connected.
• Analysis based on scope of local holdings, relative to
other topics in collection, and coverage of extant literature
represented in WorldCat
• Potentially useful as an indicator of shared patterns of
institutional investment
• Represents content that is distinctive within institutional
context, distinctive within group distinctive within system-
wide context
• Preservation strategy that recognizes existing centers will
minimize disruption to library system, maximize
coherence of collective collection
‘Centers’ of collection strength
21. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Places: Maine; Maine—Auburn; Maine—Bangor; Maine – Baxter State
Park; Maine--Cumberland County; Maine—Hallowell; Maine—
Lewiston; Maine—Pemaquid; Maine – Portland; Maine--Mount
Desert Island; Barsetshire (England: Imaginary place)
Persons: DeGier, Rinus (Fictitious character); Dowling, Father
(Fictitious character); Grijpstra, Henk (Fictitious character);
Kelly, Homer (Fictitious character); Maitland, Antony (Fictitious
character); Ramage, Nicholas (Fictitious character);
Organizations: Colby College; Maine Missionary Society; United
States.--Army.--Maine Infantry Regiment, 20th (1862-1865); Boston
Red Sox (Baseball team)
Topics: Jazz
Shared strength: ‘centers’ held by 2 or more MSCS
*analysis excludes Bangor Theological Seminary (BTF)
Public libraries collect most widely in popular fiction
Local history, local publications and authors
22. The world’s libraries. Connected.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Library Coverage of Works related to Maine [fst01204270]
N = 54,303 works
MSCS partners are the major repositories
of literature related to Maine
Data current as of May 2013
23. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Centers reflect institutional priorities, faculty interests
Large number of holdings
related to Irish
literature, specialization of
Colby scholar, Prof. JF
Carens
Perhaps collected to supported
work of Prof CJ
Weber, prominent Hardy
scholar
…may represent holdings that Colby will want to protect
24. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Centers reflect historical collecting priorities
Bangor Public Library holds large
number of historical posters
…may represent holdings that Bangor & Portland Public will want to protect
Portland Public Library
has a significant collection of
‘altered’ artists’ books from joint
project with Maine College of Art
25. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Identifying potential partners
cooperative collection management, cataloging expertise, course development
etc.
26. The world’s libraries. Connected.
• North American library system is loosely integrated:
reliant on ad hoc resource-sharing partnerships with
some cooperative governance exercised at group or
consortium level
• Ongoing shift to digital formats, disintermediation of
information provision are contributing to ‘dis-
integration’ of traditional library organization
• Preserving, maximizing coherence of library system
is key to ensuring continued vitality of library value
proposition
Maximizing coherence
27. The world’s libraries. Connected.
Thanks for your attention.
Constance Malpas
malpasc@oclc.org
Hinweis der Redaktion
Asked to provide an update on research related to print management – will provide some context, touch on two recent projects and try to weave in some locally relevant findings.May 24, 2013 9:00 - 9:30 Vendors present to talk to participant during breakfast9:30 - 10:45 Intro and Keynote - October Ivins, Ivins e-Content Solutions11:00 - 12:00 Constance Malpas, OCLC Office of Research & JeremyYork, Hathi Trust 12:00 - 1:00 Lunch with a time for vendors to also talk to librarians 1:00 - 2:45 Short vendor presentations- Each vendor has 12minutes to showcase either product/content (conducted like a lightninground) Vendors invited Include: Overdrive3MFregalIngramEbsco,Baker & TaylorEbrary/EBLProject MuseJSTOR 2:45 - 3:15 Chance for audience to talk to vendors3:15 - 3:30 Wrap up/lessons learned - October Ivins
Asked to touch on current OCLC research as it relates to print management – need to say a few words about the context for our interest in shared print.A change in scale at which library functions are organized.
Touch briefly on theme – or meme – that structures a lot of our work, i.e. sourcing and scaling. General idea here is that contours of library service bundle are changing – many activities that used to be sourced and organized ‘internally’ are now being sourced externally – from commercial providers or from library cooperatives.Appropriate to be discussing this work at Econtent symposium, as shift to digital formats is a major driver in reconfiguration of library organizations. Shift to digital increases disintermediation of libraries from information svc provision, enables broader externalization of discovery and delivery.So impact on print management is an area of focus – traditionally a major part of library activity but increasing ‘reorganized’ at group scale. This raises the question of what scale is appropriate – University system level? consortium level? State level? Infrastructure includes technical infrastructure but also policy and organizational infrastructure
Some of our recent work has focused on understanding the distribution of print books on a regional scale. This is important because many shared print management efforts are being organized on a regional level, though the scale of cooperation varies considerably.Showed this picture last year, won’t dwell on it except to note the extraordinary asymmetries in distribution of resource – what has changed? Total number of titles has increased, and total number of holdings – but at different rates, resulting in net decrease in avg holdings per title, from 19.5 to 18.6.Maine libraries largely part of unincorporated ‘extra-regional’ zone, which accounts for the 3rd largest aggregation of print books in North America – nearly 16M titles.
Didn’t discuss this last time… Typically, addressing academic audiences so emphasis is on the large inventory in college and university libraries – but public libraries have significant stake in print book management.Avg about 28% -- but some notable outliers, including the ‘unincorporated’ territories outside of mega-regions.
Every mega-region has one or more ARL institutions that might be expected to take up some share of regional print preservation.And ‘unincorporated’ extra-regional areas includes several. But not in Maine.But would be a mistake to conclude that the 120+ ARL libraries all want to be in the print book business. Print is a diminishing part of expenditures, accounts for a diminishing part of usage, and is something many university libraries would like to ‘manage down’ – we’re not going to see the 65% figure increase over time.
Foreshadowing importance of Portland and Bangor Public Libraries in Maine regional stewardship
Instead, need to focus on existing consortium infrastructure – and there is at least some of this in every mega-region. We have recently been looking at degree to which existing consortia represent an appropriate scale for shared stewardship. Have looked at ASERL, SCELC and CIC. And today we’ll have an opportunity to say something about MSCS.
What we’re finding is that existing consortia offer potentially useful scaffolding for shared print – though they represent only a fraction of libraries in each region, they provide substantial coverage. The variability in coverage is not just a measure of consortium size or scope, but also the underlying features of the regional collection. So in ChiPitts we see what may seem a surprisingly low level of coverage (given that it includes 13 major ARL libraires) – and this is because public libraries are an important part of the ChiPitts library landscape.
We’re rebuilding our print books data set for some additional research, so can update this audience of the state of the regional print book collection.Things have changed – but Maine is still cool.A number of possible reasons for decreased duplication of Maine collections – could be that ME libraries are acquiring titles that other libraries simply haven’t set holdings on yet; could be that record merges will result in holdings being restored; etc. Duplication is still significant so not a major source of concern – but worth keeping an eye on, to the extent that Maine relies on external partners.Pepper, A. (Grassie) . (190). What Maine offers and why Maine is cool. Portland, Me.: Maine Central Railroad. [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t76t0t58w]
A look at the regional resource as it is distributed across libraries in state.Not an unusual distribution – partly a reflection of low activity of public libraries setting holdings in WC (so holdings are undercounted).
In absolute numbers, other kinds of libraries trump academic libraries in ME – concentration of stewardship responsibility.
What options are available in regions with limited institutional infrastructure for stewardship?Leverage external networksDeepen reliance on cooperative digital archives
Here’s a vivid illustration – even a garishly colored one – of why scale matters in assessing preservation risks. If you could find the right four….but diffusion of holdings makes this challenging.
Here’s a way to begin to think about institution and group scale approaches. These are the top 30 or so institutional print book collections in Maine . The current MSCS partners are called out in red. Looks pretty good …Deb – are you up for preserving 34% of the print books in Maine?
Collectively the power of this group to affect change in ME libraries is very great – recall that even large consortia like ASERL cover less than 70% of mega-regional resource. Part of what makes Maine cool is the inclusion of public libraries in the shared print strategy.But simply asserting that the 9 MSCS libraries should hang on to everything they’ve already got is not a strategy. A lot of sorting out to be done.
If you know anything about my past work you will know that I think a strategy that ignores the availability of digital surrogates and digital preservation in print management is wrong-headed.I used a picture like this last year, so I’m including a refreshed version.Not much has changed here….leave it to Jeremy to say more about what Hathi can offer.
Close with a few quick words about selection for shared print, including some new OCLC Research that we hope will useful in this context.Uniqueness not a reliable indicator of value (local or shared)Centers analogous to ‘local protection’ priorities – Maine as go-to sourceBut this leaves aside the question of how to maximize benefit across library community – Maine will be special, and it will have preserved some rare material of unknown value…who will preserve the core? Is that a problem another group will solve?
Did this last time too…with different thresholds. Adjusted here after looking at current MSCS strategy which focuses on titles with <10 holdings in WorldCat.
Topics that are especially prominent in local collection:Size of cluster: how important is topic to institution, relative to other topics in collectionCoverage: how significant holdings are as a measure of extant literature on topicKnowing where Centers exist is important if they are to preserved.
These are some areas where MSCS collections are collectively strong – more than one library has either many holdings or a high percentage of known titles.
MSCS are ideal partners if preserving literature related to Maine is a primary goal of the MSCS project – Portland Public Library boasts a collection that is comprehensive as that in the Library of Congress.
We believe that shared centers may prove useful for identifying shared preservation interests – a way to identify partners.
In closing, want to observe that we shouldn’t let pragmatic shared print interests obscure the importance of preserving and even maximizing coherence in the system-wide collection. Our present system is only loosely coordinated and it is only becoming less so. We should be focused not just on understanding how the library system is currently organized, but how it might be better organized.Coherent = well organized