Collections and the Future of Resource Sharing Working Group

Background

The OCUL Collections and the Future of Resource Sharing Working Group was struck in 2018 with a mandate to discuss and recommend strategic directions for OCUL resource sharing within the broader context of collections. The group’s June 2020 report for directors contained a number of recommendations including that OCUL pause in planning for the end-of-life and potential replacement of RACER to consider larger issues of collection management and resource sharing, along with other intersections and developments in the collections landscape.

The group recommended that membership on the working group be expanded to include representation from appropriate relevant OCUL working groups and communities, and that the terms be expanded to develop a strategic plan for fulfilment within OCUL that expands beyond traditional ILL to include e-books, streaming video, special collections, archives and on-demand digitization, within the context of shared print/digital programs, preservation, open access, digitization initiatives, and new library service platforms (Alma and others) within OCUL and beyond.

Purpose

The purpose of this group is to plan for end-of-life of RACER, defining requirements for a system or infrastructure that can meet OCUL’s requirements for resource sharing under an expanded definition of ILL that considers e-book lending, controlled digital loans, on demand digitization, emerging resource sharing models such as the Omni AFN, and shared print programs and digital repositories such as TUG, Keep@Downsview, North/Nord (CARL’s national shared print network project), and HathiTrust.

Membership

  • Co-chair - Samantha Gibbon, Waterloo
  • Co-chair - Amy Greenberg, Scholars Portal
  • Janice Adlington, McMaster
  • Scott Gillies, Laurier (Nord/North OCUL representative)
  • Heather McMullen, Queen's
  • Nicole Nolan, Brock (OCUL-IR)
  • Joanne Rumig, Carleton (OCUL Resource Sharing Community)
  • Lynne Serviss, McMaster (OCUL Resource Sharing Community)
  • Caitlin Tillman, Toronto
  • Anika Ervin-Ward, OCUL Interim Executive Director (ex officio)

Established 2018