About

The future of print collections is shared. Embedding shared print within the lifecycle of library collections promotes equity of access, enriches the scholarly record, and increases opportunity for research and teaching. A well-developed, collaborative, and interoperable infrastructure ensures we will realize the full potential of our networks and their collective collections.

This is why the California Digital Library (CDL), the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), and HathiTrust (HT), will work together to build on a decade of collaboration, innovation and expertise to define a new phase of shared print built on open and interconnected infrastructure. This collaborative effort is emerging from the rich background of local and regional shared print programs’ expansion, interconnection, and technical innovation. We see an opportunity for our three organizations (CDL, CRL, and HT) to step into a facilitative leadership role, to gather the threads of the broader community’s considerable efforts and to advance shared print’s transition to a new phase of integration and interoperability.

This new phase coalesces the regional work into a strategic international effort. Working together in a coordinated fashion, we can assemble, preserve, and make accessible a more expansive and diverse shared collection for the scholarly community.

Together we will achieve a shared print collection that in its scale and breadth represents the future of sustainable collection development and management. Our organizations look forward to going on this journey with the rest of the shared print community.