Maine Shared Collections Strategy

Libraries are facing fundamental changes in user demands for new services and spaces to support the use of digital collections, and new opportunities to offer digital content through large scale e-book collections such as Google Books and the Open Content Alliance. Simultaneously, libraries feel pressures to responsibly steward sizeable, historic print collections. These challenges, together with scarce funding to build new stacks and the increasing cost of housing legacy print collections require libraries to rethink management of print collections and delivery of e-book collections to their users. Print on demand services and delivery of e-book content provide opportunities to plan for managing legacy print collections and delivery of content in new ways. These tasks exceed the capacity of any single library or organization. The MSCS is a statewide project among all the major libraries in Maine to coordinate the management of legacy print collections in a way that takes advantage of these emerging opportunities and is sustainable in the long run. See About the Project for additional information and resources