Data-driven workflows and the art of informational collaboration

What is collaboration? I prompted ChatGPT to create an image illustrating collaboration, and this is what it produced:

I would guess that most people would conjure up something similar if asked to mentally visualize collaboration: a group of people, in the same physical space, working together. Direct, face-to-face collaboration is indeed an important way to partner and act collectively. But for libraries, another form of collaboration may be at least as important—and impactful. It is rooted in the concept of a collective collection: “the combined holdings of a group of libraries, analyzed and possibly managed as a unified resource.”

OCLC Research has produced a considerable body of work focused on defining, describing, and thinking through the implications of collective collections. An important strand of these studies examines collective collections in the context of shared print collections, in which groups of libraries work collaboratively to steward their collective print holdings. Most recently, we released the OCLC Research report Making Shared Print Work, which gathers community insight on workflows, data, and tools supporting collective stewardship of print collections, along with perceived gaps and opportunities that, if addressed, could strengthen the future of shared print programs. This report is part of OCLC Research’s Stewarding the Collective Collection project.

Shared data powers informational collaboration

One finding we reported in the study was that, as a practical matter, many shared print collections are distributed across a network of local collections, rather than physically consolidated into one collection. Aggregation of these local collections into a collective collection occurs through a layer of data and services that sits over the distributed collections, knitting them together into a data construct and allowing them to be analyzed and managed as a cohesive whole.

A related finding from Making Shared Print Work is that data is the key to delivering value to shared print programs:

Accurate and comprehensive data is essential for effective stewardship of collective collections, such as those managed by shared print programs. Monographic shared print programs involve six core workflow categories, with collection analysis, metadata management, and verification being the most data-driven—and in some cases, the most time-intensive—activities. The importance of data to shared print workflows is amplified by the fact that these programs primarily operate as distributed collections, requiring extensive coordination of holdings, retention, and bibliographic data across multiple partner libraries. (p. 7)

In these circumstances, it is not necessarily collaborators seated in the same room that drive successful shared print partnerships, but rather, informational collaboration: collective action powered by shared information that informs local and group decision-making.

The importance of informational collaboration was reinforced again and again in our Making Shared Print Work study. The perspective we gathered from interviews and focus groups revealed the primacy of data-driven workflows in shared print programs, underscoring the role of data as the connective tissue linking distributed local collections into an overarching collective collection. Case in point: the most frequently mentioned shared print workflow by our interviews was collection analysis.

Collection analysis, at its core, is about turning bibliographic and holdings data into actionable insights. Detailed knowledge of the size, scope, and salient features of a library collection—or a collective collection—leads to informed decision-making across a wide range of stewardship activities: from weeding and storage planning, to ensuring the fit and relevance of the collection to user needs, to redressing gaps in representation and diversity in legacy holdings. To this, we can add a number of shared print-specific considerations, such as choosing to make print retention commitments within the local collection or even identifying rare or last copies of publications within the context of a group’s collective print holdings.

Informational collaboration through collection analysis

Informational collaboration fuels this type of data-driven collection analysis in a shared print context. Sharing data about local collections in the partnership builds a clearer picture of collective print holdings, which, in turn, allows for better informed decision-making at the group level, but also at the local level, where knowledge of the size, scope, and features of the collective collection provides a contextual backdrop against which local decisions can be made.

Retention commitments are a great example of how this works in practice. A recent OCLC Research study examined print retention commitments registered in OCLC’s WorldCat database. A retention commitment—an assurance that a library will continue to retain and steward a particular print volume in its collection—is vital intelligence that informs the local retention decisions of other libraries. Informational collaboration occurs when the retention commitment is registered in WorldCat: when this information is shared and analyzed across a group of libraries, each can make local de-accessioning decisions based on the assurance that at least one copy of the publication will remain available.

Data-driven analysis supported by informational collaboration helps libraries keep books in collections as well. The Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC) launched a pilot shared print program in 2016. A group-wide analysis of collective print holdings, produced using OCLC’s GreenGlass collection analysis tool, revealed the surprisingly low rate of overlap across the partner collections, with a large percentage of the collective collection consisting of publications held by only one or two member libraries. Informational collaboration in the form of sharing information about local print holdings through the GreenGlass analysis led to actionable intelligence for the group members: knowledge of the high incidence of rare or unique holdings within the group informed and optimized group-wide retention commitment strategies.

The importance of informational collaboration through collection analysis and other forms of data-driven analysis was underlined further in our Making Shared Print Work study when interviewees indicated that more was needed within shared print programs and beyond. For example, practitioners we spoke to noted a lack of systematic coordination across shared print programs, resulting in inefficiencies and duplication of effort that only become evident when the full landscape of shared print collections is taken into account. More sharing of data across shared print programs—in other words, more informational collaboration—could improve decision-making and coordination of resource allocations across the full spectrum of collective print stewardship efforts.

Data and tools are collaborative infrastructure

Collaboration requires collaborative infrastructure, the scaffolding upon which partnership can be established, sustained, and encouraged to thrive. For face-to-face collaboration—people working together in the same room—collaborative infrastructure might take the form of meeting spaces, committees, governance policies, and so forth.

Collaborative infrastructure is also needed for informational collaboration, but the nature of that infrastructure is different: databases, data exchange mechanisms, and data analysis tools that create the actionable intelligence that informs local and collective decision-making. Think of WorldCat, a database of shared information about library collections around the world. Consider also analysis tools like OCLC’s GreenGlass and Choreo Insights. Taken together, these resources—data and tools—create opportunities for informational collaboration in shared print and beyond.

Shared print programs illustrate how collaboration in libraries increasingly depends on informational collaboration that links distributed local collections into a collective collection through shared data and services. The infrastructure needed to support informational collaboration, like databases and analytic tools, complements the data-driven workflows that support shared print as well as other forms of collection stewardship. Informational collaboration provides the foundation for successful, sustained partnerships that help libraries achieve greater efficiencies and impact through scale.