Seminar C. Collaborative Collection Development: The New Imperative

Abstract

The 2010 report of the OCLC Research survey of special collections archives showed that only 5-6% percent of the responding academic and research libraries have formal collection development collaborations in place. One of the report’s recommendations was to define they key characteristics and desired outcomes of effective collaborative collection development, as well as to identify barriers that limit such arrangements. This seminar will explore this challenge, which is based on the premise that increased collaboration in collection development would benefit the scholars from whom we acquire special collections. The speakers will, in turn, examine current trends in collective collections for general library materials and the implications for special collections; an array of collaborative projects recently funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities; and characteristics of the collaborative Marcel Breuer archive project led by Syracuse University.