Memorandum of Understanding SCELC Shared Monograph Collection

Project Goals

To create and maintain a distributed, cost-effective shared collection of monographic works. Creating this shared collection will ● ensure that circulating copies are retained within the group and readily accessible to group participants as well as other libraries; ● provide participating libraries the opportunity to make local collection management decisions based on the assured availability of copies; ● identify unique print items within the collections of participating libraries for potential special attention; ● engage SCELC libraries in a collaborative collection management program that will provide valuable experience against the day when larger-scale regional and national programs may mature to include the copies SCELC has retained.

I. The Shared Print Agreement

A. Participation

Libraries may join the shared print agreement for monographs by signing this Memorandum of Understanding and adhering to its terms. After an initial cohort of libraries have entered into the agreement and established retention commitments, additional libraries may join on an annual cycle.

B. Duration

Libraries agree to work together collaboratively to meet the project goals for the fifteen years of the retention commitment. Review of the operation, financing, implications, number of titles covered, responsibilities of participating libraries, and terms of the agreement will occur at fiveyear intervals from inception, or when a request for review is made by a simple majority of the participating libraries, the SCELC staff, or the SCELC Board in consultation with SPOG (Shared Print Operating Group--see section I D).

C. Release from the agreement

If a library chooses to withdraw from this agreement, it must provide written notice to SCELC’s Executive Director and SPOG a minimum of one year prior to withdrawing. A waiver of the oneyear term may be granted by the SCELC Executive Director at the recommendation of SPOG in such cases as a disaster, financial exigency, or institutional mandate. The institution requesting withdrawal will work in good faith with the remaining participants to address the resulting implications for the partnership, including ongoing access to materials and the possibility of donating to another participant retained volumes it no longer wishes to care for.



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D. Governance and staffing

The SCELC Executive Director and SCELC staff or the Executive Director’s designee will administer the fiscal, policy, and governance aspects of the program and will be responsible for relations of the program with vendors, contractors, other shared print agreements, the SCELC Board, and the SCELC membership.



A Shared Print Operations Group (SPOG), reporting to the Executive Director and consulting with such other SCELC committees as Resource Sharing, will implement, maintain, assess, develop, create technical specifications for, and recommend changes to the shared print program. A librarian from one of the participating libraries will serve as Chair of SPOG; the Chair will be identified and serve according to policies and procedures SCELC observes for staffing all committees; the Executive Director or their designee from the SCELC staff, committees, or Board, will serve ex-officio on SPOG. SPOG will meet on a schedule they determine and will report to the Board at least once per year. Signatories to the agreement will meet once a year to review progress with SPOG.

E. Financing

SCELC has funded the initial phases of work, including determining the feasibility of creating a shared print agreement and hiring a collection analysis vendor and consultants.

Participating libraries and SCELC will support the costs of maintaining and expanding the agreement as specified in the SCELC budget and, as desirable, according to a cost-sharing formula established through SPOG by member libraries. Such costs may include administrative and collection analysis costs on a cycle agreed by SPOG and SCELC. SCELC will underwrite the operation or elaboration of the program at a level recommended by the Executive Director and approved by the Board.

Libraries that join the agreement will absorb the costs of retaining materials, keeping and sharing records for them, contributing staff time to maintaining and developing the program, and sharing volumes with the library community. Retaining libraries will not initially receive credits or payments for making retention commitments, but, as the program matures and the participating libraries assess its operation, the program may find it beneficial to acknowledge retaining libraries monetarily for their commitments, developing enhanced services around retained volumes, etc.

II. The retained monograph collection--terms and conditions

A. Retained volumes

1. Retention scenarios In their discussions, which concluded in December 2015 with the approval of this MOU, the SCELC Shared Print Working Group agreed that candidates for retention from the general, circulating monograph collections of the participating libraries will be identified through collection analysis based on publication date, the uniqueness/overlap of holdings, as determined

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by symbols attached to OCLC records, and circulation statistics. In their initial discussions, the SCELC Shared Print Working Group decided to retain a) all unique holdings (held in one library only); b) all copies, when there are holdings in 2 or 3 libraries only; c) 3 copies, in cases where there are more than 3 title holdings within the group retained at the 3 libraries whose copies have circulated the most. The group of libraries that implements the shared print agreement will revisit this decision and may affirm these or set new retention parameters, which may change again as the agreement evolves or or adds new members. 2. Ownership and location a. Libraries may review their assigned retention list and decide not to keep certain volumes. SPOG will develop and discuss with participants decision parameters for not retaining assigned title holdings. b. Retained copies remain the property of the library that agrees to retain them. Retention titles will be housed at the expense of that library in facilities operated or shared by the owning library or rented from and managed by third-party providers.

c. A library may offer to donate materials to another library for retention. Materials which are relocated will become the property of the library that receives them. d. Retaining libraries agree not to sell, discard, donate, or otherwise relinquish ownership or control of any of the candidates for retention prior to the implementation of the retention date among all participants except to transfer materials to another participant or with permission of SPOG. e. If a library has multiple copies of a retained title, it may retain or withdraw duplicates and keep only one copy. f. Libraries must have the capacity to share materials and commit to a lending turnaround time determined by SPOG in order to qualify for retaining copies. Their capacity to share requires a library system and staff to make loans. g. Contingent on a recommendation by SPOG or the review process described at section I B of this agreement, a new collection analysis will be undertaken five years after adoption of this agreement. The analysis will enable evaluation of the effectiveness of the program and will inform additional rounds of retention commitments as desired. h. This agreement does not require any participating library to discard any materials.

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3. Disclosure Libraries will disclose in their local catalog their retention commitments according to recommended OCLC practice and protocols developed by SPOG. Libraries will also disclose their commitments in WorldCat according to recommended OCLC practice and a time table developed by SPOG so that SCELC members and libraries around the country may be aware of them in making collection management decisions. 4. Retention period The initial period for retention is 15 years, subject to the provisions of sections I B and I C of this agreement. In the 15th year of the agreement, participants will agree to renew, revise, or dissolve the agreement. 5. Maintenance of volumes

a. Libraries will maintain, house, conserve, and make available the titles on its retention list in printed form for the duration of this agreement.

b. Libraries will meet reasonable expectations of climate control for their collections and take appropriate local steps to protect their retention titles from discard.

c. Libraries are strongly encouraged, but not at the outset required, to verify the existence of, to inventory, or otherwise to audit their collection for the titles on their retention lists according to protocols and on a schedule SPOG will develop.

d. Libraries will have in place review procedures, repair/replacement decision parameters, and record-keeping protocols for damaged or lost materials. Libraries will follow generally accepted workflows and standards for identifying, repairing, and replacing retention list titles.

e. If a library chooses not to replace a lost or damaged retention list title or if it replaces a retention title with another edition, it will notify the other participant libraries annually through an agreed notification mechanism. This will allow other participants or the group as a whole to determine if they want to take further replacement actions. It also provides a mechanism by which the group can monitor and assess losses to the shared collection.

6. Circulation

a. Retained copies will circulate for an extended loan period determined by SPOG. No effort will be made initially to identify and monitor a preservation copy.

b. All titles will be searchable in OCLC and local catalogs and will be available for resource sharing through the retaining library’s current policies and channels.

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B. Financial responsibilities



Participating libraries will pay SCELC on an annual basis for membership in the agreement and for using the services that make it possible according to a cost-sharing formula that libraries, through SPOG, and SCELC develop and periodically review. Failure to pay annual costs will be treated in the same way that SCELC treats such situations as the payment of annual membership dues. . By signature below, I acknowledge having read and understood this Memorandum of Understanding and agree to enter the SCELC shared print agreement and be bound by its terms and conditions.

Institution / Library Name _________________________________________________________________________ Signature _____________________________________ Date ______________________ Name _______________________________ Title________________________________

Optional Second Signature of Senior Administrator of the Institution



Signature _____________________________________ Date ______________________ Name _______________________________ Title________________________________ January 2016; rev. July 2016

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