Collective collections through collective wisdom 

Collective collections—the combined holdings of multiple institutions, analyzed and sometimes even managed as a single resource—have transformed both the stewardship and impact of library collections. OCLC Research’s latest work in this field highlights a key insight into operationalizing collections at scale: collective wisdom, in the form of aggregated data and shared practitioner knowledge, makes collective collections work. Our research shows that collective wisdom in these forms supports the sustainability and strategic management of shared monographic print collections. 

OCLC Research has a long history of studies focused on collective collection analysis. The scope of this work is extensive, touching on the intersection of collective collections with a host of library strategic interests. A frequent topic addressed in this work is the role of collective collections in the cooperative management of monographic print collections – shared print programs. In a 2020 College & Research Libraries article summarizing some of our insights, we note that collective collection analysis supports local decision-making by making it system-aware: 

“The system can be a group, a consortium, a region, or even all libraries everywhere. Knowledge about the collective collection helps libraries orient their local collection management decisions—such as acquisitions, retention, and de-accessioning—within a broader context. In this sense, the rising importance of collective collections illuminates a shift in the strategy of managing collections, in which local collections are seen not just as assemblies of materials for local use, but also as pieces of a larger systemwide resource.” 

Much of the earlier work OCLC Research has done on collective collections has been of a descriptive nature, concentrating on what collective collections constructed in data look like in terms of size and scope. More recently, our emphasis has shifted to operationalizing collective collections: in other words, the practical aspects of making them a reality. For example, a few years ago we collaborated with the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) to publish a study that offered a framework and recommendations on how BTAA could move toward greater coordination of their collective print holdings. Some of our most recent work looks at how art libraries could use collaborative approaches to better support the stewardship and sustainability of their collective art research holdings.

Our research complements a similar OCLC service focus on operationalizing collective collections. Choreo Insights and GreenGlass offer analytics solutions that, among other things, provide “system aware” decision support for managing collections. WorldCat, OCLC’s vast database of information about library collections, serves as a platform for libraries to register retention commitments for materials covered by shared print programs. Resource Sharing for Groups allows groups of libraries to streamline sharing of materials within their collective holdings. These services help bring collective collections to life as a core element of collection management strategy. 

Our latest research continues the theme of operationalizing collective collections with the Stewarding the Collective Collection project. This project extends OCLC Research’s considerable body of work on the role of collective collections in shared print programs, through two strands of inquiry: 

• An Analysis of Print Retention Data in the US and Canada explores monographic print retentions registered in OCLC’s WorldCat database. This study analyzes over 100 million bibliographic records and 30 million retention commitment records covering libraries across the United States and Canada. 

• US and Canadian Perspectives on Workflows, Data, and Tools for Shared Print gathers insights from library leaders, shared print program managers, and collection, metadata, and resource sharing librarians on the key workflows associated with managing monographic shared print efforts, and the data and tools needed to support them.  

The results from the first strand of work were recently published. Findings from the second strand of work will be shared later this year. 

The grand theme uniting both strands of the Stewarding the Collective Collection project is collective wisdom, achieved through two approaches: 

• Aggregated data 

• Insights and perspectives from librarians 

Aggregated data 

Aggregated data is collective wisdom in the sense that it gathers the results of decentralized, local library decision-making, transforming it into strategic intelligence that informs future decision-making by individual libraries or groups of libraries. For example, library holdings data represents the results of acquisition/collection development decisions; similarly, the assignment of subject headings in original cataloging represents a local decision on how to describe an item’s contents. Aggregating holdings data from many libraries yields strategic intelligence by illuminating the contours and features of the collective collection, which in turn can inform both local and group-scale collection management strategies. Aggregating subject headings data in a cooperative cataloging environment can also yield strategic intelligence—for example, uncovering historical trends in descriptive practices that would benefit from new, more inclusive thinking. 

Retention commitments data reflect another form of library decision-making—in this case, the decision to commit to steward a print publication, and (usually) make a copy or copies of the publication available for sharing. This commitment may be in effect for a finite period of time, or it may extend indefinitely. Often, these commitments are made in the context of a shared print program, leading to the creation of a shared print collection consisting of materials covered by retention commitments made by the program’s participants. The aggregation of retention commitments, such as those registered in the WorldCat database, provides valuable intelligence on the current state of stewardship of the collective print collection, including retention coverage, key gaps, and unnecessary duplication evident across current commitment patterns. This intelligence, in turn, can inform future decision-making on the renewal of existing commitments, or the creation of new ones.

The gathering of collective wisdom through analysis of aggregated retention data is the topic of OCLC Research’s new study, Stewarding the Collective Collection: An Analysis of Print Retention Data in the US and Canada. Exploring the retention commitments attached to the US and Canadian collective print monograph collection, as it is represented in WorldCat, led to findings that provide insight into the current state of retention coverage, as well as priorities for the shared print community to address in the near future, such as the imminent expiration of a significant fraction of current retention commitments.

Insight and perspective 

Insight and perspective are perhaps more conventional types of collective wisdom, in that they draw from and aggregate the “personal wisdom” of individuals—in this case, librarians who have shared their experiences and hard-earned lessons learned from participating in some activity. This knowledge is invaluable for other librarians facing similar scenarios and challenges as they formulate their own decision-making. For example, recent work by OCLC Research gathered and synthesized library experiences in collaborative partnerships, in the areas of research data management and stewarding art research collections. As we note in one of these studies: 

“Our interview-based approach elicited a wealth of invaluable perspectives, insights, and advice on library collaboration that we synthesized into a set of recommendations for libraries contemplating future collaborations. . . . Effective library collaboration is art as much as science. While concepts, frameworks, and theory are important for deepening our understanding of what makes collaborations successful and sustainable, we believe that sharing practical experiences of successful collaboration is also essential.” 

We followed a similar approach for Stewarding the Collective Collection’s second strand of work, which explores workflows, data, and tools used to manage shared print collections for monographic materials. Questions addressed in the project include: 

• What are the key workflows supporting stewardship of shared print monograph collections? 

• What data and tools are currently used to support these workflows? 

• What gaps in data, tools, or other resources exist, and how might addressing these gaps open new opportunities for collective stewardship of print collections? 

To answer these questions, we gathered “collective wisdom” through individual and focus group interviews, as well as an online survey. We are in the process of analyzing and synthesizing this data, and we’ll be disseminating our findings through a variety of channels. Our hope is that these findings will provide libraries with a benchmark view of the current state of practice surrounding shared print workflows, data, and tools; help optimize practices having to do with collection evaluation and coordinated collection stewardship, both at the local and group level; and consolidate community views on data and functionality needs and priorities in the area of monographic shared print. 

Collective wisdom drives conscious coordination 

OCLC supports the gathering of collective wisdom and its transformation into strategic intelligence for libraries through a wide range of channels. Tools like Choreo and GreenGlass are one approach. Another is OCLC Research, which gathers collective wisdom through data-driven studies like its WorldCat-based collective collection analyses, but also through studies that collect and synthesize the perspectives and lessons learned from library practitioners. Many of these studies have been conducted under the auspices of the OCLC Research Library Partnership, which is itself a channel for assembling collective wisdom through its mission of bringing research libraries together around mutual interests. 

Gathering collective wisdom through these and other channels is important because it informs stewardship of collective collections, which is itself a leading example of conscious coordination. Conscious coordination is a concept OCLC Research introduced in a 2015 report, where it is defined as “a strategy of deliberate engagement with—and growing dependence on—cooperative agreements, characterized by increased reliance on network intelligence (e.g., domain models, identifiers, ontologies, metadata) and global data networks.” Stewardship strategies based on conscious coordination are marked by four key features: 

• Local decisions about stewardship are taken with a broader awareness of the system-wide stewardship context—who is collecting what, what commitments have been made elsewhere in terms of stewarding various portions of the scholarly record, and how the local collection fits into the broader system-wide stewardship effort. 

• Declarations of explicit commitments are made in regard to portions of the local collection, in which institutions acknowledge, accept, and undertake to fulfill explicit collecting, curation, and accessibility responsibilities for certain materials. Fulfillment of these responsibilities is seen as a commitment to an external stakeholder community. 

• A formal division of labor emerges within cooperative arrangements, with a greater emphasis on specialization. This will occur in the context of a broader, cross-institutional cooperative arrangement in which different institutions specialize in collecting, curating, and making available different portions of the scholarly record.  

• More specialization in collecting activity must be accompanied by robust resource sharing arrangements that ensure relatively frictionless access to all parts of the collective collection, providing mutual assurance that materials collected by one institution will be made available to other partners, and vice versa. 

Conscious coordination, as a strategy for managing collections and stewarding the scholarly record, underscores the importance of effective collaboration to meet shared objectives, as well as data-driven intelligence to fuel understanding of collective collections and how best to build, manage, and sustain them. In other words, it amplifies the need for collective wisdom—in the form of both aggregated data and collective insight and perspective—to inform decision-making and strengthen partnerships. 

Turning collective wisdom into collective impact 

Collective wisdom, in the form of aggregated data and insights from librarians’ experiences, are vital sources of intelligence that can help build and sustain shared print efforts and other types of collective collections. The Stewarding the Collective Collection project taps into the collective wisdom of the library community in the service of strengthening and sustaining shared print programs, and ultimately, amplifying the impact of both past and future investment in the collective print resource. Watch for more findings from this project throughout 2025!

Thanks to my colleagues on the Stewarding the Collective Collections project – Inkyung Choi, Lynn Connaway, Lesley Langa, and Mercy Procaccini – for their comments on a draft of this post. Special thanks to Erica Melko for her usual editorial magic!