Related product Collections Management

Overview

CARLI works to meet the diverse information needs of faculty, students and other library patrons in Illinois by encouraging cooperative library activity in order to make the best use of all available resources.

Alma Analytics Training and Resources for Collection Development

In 2020, the CARLI Collection Management Committee identified, reviewed, and selected training resources on how to use Alma Analytics to better inform collection development decisions. The resources are in four subcategories: Introduction, Reports, More Detailed Help, Additional Resources.

View the Alma Analytics Training and Resources for Collection Development >>

Archives Report

In 2022-2023, the CARLI Collection Management Committee surveyed CARLI Members about their resources and challenges related to their institutional archives. This 2023 Archives Survey Report summarizes the results of that survey.

Ebook Program

CARLI is thrilled to announce a program to provide full-text access to ebooks for all CARLI Governing Members that began in FY2021.

Learn more about the Ebook Program >>

Last Copy Program

The CARLI Last Copy Program seeks to preserve the last copy of monographs within the Illinois academic and research library community. This project allows any CARLI library that seeks to withdraw a "last copy" monograph to donate it to another CARLI library that will retain the title for resource sharing in Illinois. Libraries interested in offering materials will complete a simple web form to initiate the process.

Learn more about the Last Copy Program >>

Monograph Vendor Contracts

CARLI is please to share with members that contracts with both GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO and Midwest Library Service are now in place for all Governing Members to use.

These contracts provide discounts for physical monograph purchases. Please contact  if you would like the terms of the contracts. 

CARLI is not acting as an agent for the vendors. If you are interested in making book purchases from these vendors, please contact the vendors directly.

Open Access Materials Collection Program

As part of its FY18 annual project, the CARLI Collection Management Committee (CMC) developed guidelines for an Open Access eBook Collection Pilot Project in FY2019. The goal of the pilot project was to test procedures for adding records for scholarly and stable open access eBooks to the I-Share catalog. The pilot identified collections that non-I-Share libraries may wish to add to their local catalog. The steps laid out in these guidelines enable CARLI to create a central repository of open access eBook records meeting the needs of the majority of members.  The collection will be managed and maintained by CARLI staff and committees.

This pilot phase focused on open access eBooks that have records available in OCLC WorldShare Collection Manager Knowledge Base. Following a pilot phase, this policy was updated to include a broader range of open access materials. In future years the CMC should look for ways to encourage member libraries to suggest materials to be added to OA collection, including materials that require original cataloging.

Learn more about the Open Access eBook Collection Pilot Project >>

Open Educational Resources

With the leadership of the CARLI Open Educational Resources Task Force and its membership in the Open Textbook Network, CARLI develops resources and training for member libraries to provide guidance for their local OER efforts including open textbooks.  In Fall 2017, the Task Force surveyed the CARLI membership on this topic. View the survey results.

The Open Illinois Initiative web pages, developed by the OER Task Force, offers a guide for librarians to general and specific materials including Background Readings; Training Resources including Illinois Higher Education Data, Presentations/Webinars and a Getting Started Toolkit; Organizations; Professional Development; Member OER Sites; Sites Organized by Academic Discipline; Creative Commons; Creating Open Resources; Social Media, and links to Repositories for Courses, Textbooks, and Other OER Materials.

View the Open Educational Resources >>

Preservation Resources

With the leadership of the CARLI Preservation Working Group, CARLI develops resources and training for member libraries to provide guidances on both curatorial and preservation matters for collections.

The Preservation Webliography, developed by the Preservation Working Group, offers a comprehensive guide to general and topical resources and materials including Assessment Planning, Audio-Visual Preservation (Analog and Digital), Book Repair and Conservation, Digital Preservation and Digitization for Preservation, Disaster Planning and Response, Grants and Development, Legal Issues, Library Binding, Mold, Pests and the Environment, Protective Enclosures and Storage, Special Collections and Archives, and Training.

View the Preservation Webliography >>

Recommendation: Number of Copies in I-Share

In 2011, the CARLI Board of Directors asked the Collections Working Group to study the current distribution of monographic titles in the I-­Share database, and to determine whether an optimal number of monograph copies available for Universal Borrowing in I-­Share could be reasonably established.

Based on the usage figures of multiple copies, the availability of the I-Share system for identification of titles, the reliability of the state­wide delivery system for borrowing, and, the need for greater accountability and cost efficiency with limited resources, the Board issued a recommendation that five (5) circulating copies of any edition of a UB­-eligible monographic title are adequate to meet the routine resource sharing needs of the students, faculty and staff of all I-Share participating libraries.

This recommendation is provided for guidance to member libraries; it is not a comprehensive and enforceable policy of CARLI.

Learn more about the Number of Copies in I-Share Recommendation >>

Sample DEI Language Used in Collection Development Policies

As part of the Collection Management Committee's charge to embed CARLI’s commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in its work, the CMC is sharing this resource to assist CARLI members who wish to review and update their Collection Development Policy to incorporate DEI language and priorities.

View Sample DEI Language Used in Collection Development Policies

Shared Serials Storage

CARLI is finalizing an agreement with the Western Regional Storage Trust (WEST) for a distributed shared print journal storage program. Interested CARLI member libraries will be able to opt into WEST membership through CARLI’s Selection System beginning with the Spring 2024 selection cycle. The first available start date of the service is July 1, 2024.

Weeding Ebooks - Recommendations

In 2021, the CARLI Collection Management Committee reviewed the literature available on weeding ebooks and synthesized the information into recommendations that members may use as they review their library owned ebooks for retention.

View the Committee's Recommendations >>

Collections Management Presentations & Webinars

In these recorded presentations, members of the Collections Working Group and librarians from CARLI members share their knowledge and information about collection analysis (series of 4 webinars) and weeding (series of 3 webinars).

Past Initiatives

Book Digitization Initiative (on hiatus)

CARLI has partnered with the Open Content Alliance to provide a digitization opportunity for Illinois academic and research libraries. The CARLI/OCA Book Digitization Initiative provides funding to support the conversion of materials from physical formats to electronic/digital formats in order to make them more readily accessible for resource sharing. The initiative expands digitized collections providing optimal access to, and preservation of, unique materials in Illinois.

This project has been put on hiatus. CARLI is funding a Newspaper and Yearbook Digitization Project at this time, and the Book Digitization Initiative will resume once that project is complete.  

Learn more about the Newspaper and Yearbook Digitization Project >>

Center for Research Libraries (CRL) Membership Subsidy

In September 2008, the CARLI Board of Directors approved a partial subsidy for CARLI libraries interested in becoming members of the Center for Research Libraries, providing participating CARLI libraries with access to more than 4.5 million publications, archives, and collections and one million digital resources to supplement their own humanities, science, and social science holdings.

Learn more about the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) Membership Subsidy >>

Collections Enhancement Awards

The Collections Enhancement Awards Program comprised two awards programs: the Access and Analysis Awards, and the Collaborative Digitization/Collection Partnerships Awards.

Learn more about Collections Enhancement Awards >>

Five College Library Depository

CARLI's agreement with the Five College Library Depository ended on June 30, 2016 as a result of budget reductions that CARLI was asked to implement for fiscal years 2016-2018. The agreement, initiated in May 2011, provided access to a print repository of scholarly journals. Please send an  with any questions.

Prior to June 30, 2016, all CARLI libraries were affiliate members of the Five College Library Depository through an agreement completed in 2011. Managed by the Five College consortium of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Five College Library Depository provides member libraries who subscribe to the digitized collections, access to a the physical volumes of the journals the of the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, the American Psychological Association, and the Institute of Physics, as well as those journals included in JSTOR and Project Muse.

Learn more about the Five College Library Depository >>

Patron Driven Acquisitions Projects

E-Books Pilot Project (Concluded)

Learn more about the E-Book Patron Driven Acquisitions Pilot Project

CARLI Owned Ebook Statistics

Ebook Patron Driven Acquisitions (PDA)

Print Materials

In February 2012, CARLI launched a Patron Driven Acquisitions (PDA) project to provide needed materials in the humanities and social sciences that have not been purchased by any I-Share library. This project builds on a successful pilot project with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010.

CARLI worked with YBP to identify print titles in the Humanities and Social Sciences that were published after 2011, and that were not currently owned by I-Share libraries. Requests for items covered under the PDA project are processed as rush orders and are expected to reach the requestor within a few days of their request being placed.

Learn more about the Patron Driven Acquisitions Project for Print Materials >>

Purchase on Demand Pilot Project

The I-Share Purchase-on-Demand pilot project built on the I-Share resource sharing tradition by exploring options for providing ready access to recent monographs that were not held by I-Share libraries or that had limited availability.

Learn more about Purchase on Demand Pilot Project >>