HATHITRUST
A Shared Digital Repository
The HathiTrust Print
Monograph Archive Planning
Task Force
Print Archive Network Forum
ALA 2015 Annual Meeting
June 26, 2015
Thomas H. Teper
AUL for Collections & Technical Services
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Hathi’s Mission & Goals
• Mission: To contribute to the common good by
collecting, organizing, preserving,
communicating, and sharing the record of human
knowledge
• Goals: To stimulate redoubled efforts to
coordinate shared storage strategies among
libraries, thus reducing long-term capital and
operating costs of libraries associated with the
storage and care of print collections. (one of
seven)
The Print Monographs Archive
Planning Task Force
• Ballot Initiative passed at the 2011 HT
Constitutional Convention
– “To develop a print monographs archive
corresponding to volumes represented within the
HathiTrust”
• HathiTrust Board of Governors approved
appointment of a PSC-designed task force to
begin planning in June 2014
– Conference calls and face-to-face meetings from
June 2014 – March 2015.
Ballot Initiative Called For….
• A print archive founded on formal
agreements…
• Agreements that would establish retention
commitments…
• Provision of financial support to the
designated repositories…
• The initiation of a formal planning process…
Among the issues we examined…
• Exploration of the model needed to identify and preserve
print resources
• Qualifications of participating repositories
• Analysis and identification of appropriate content for
inclusion in the archive
• Additional criteria for participation, such as geography,
repository type, breadth of contribution, institutional
commitment…
• Retention periods
• Discovery, access policies, and service models
• Business and financial models
• Roles and relationships among HT and other libraries and
organizations engaged in collaborative management of
print collections.
Task Force’s Founding Assumptions
• The archive will mirror the monographic holdings of
the HT digital archive…;
• The archive will be distributed for security purposes…;
• The archive will be persistent and preserve the print
record…;
• The archive will be governed, managed, further
developed, and financially supported by the Trust, not
by a subset of members;
• The archive’s existence represents a “new paradigm by
which research libraries and other academic libraries
can develop shared reliance on a scholarly print record
that is collaboratively stewarded and supported as a
public good.”
Highlights from our proposal…
• Defines the character of the repository as…
– A collection that mirrors HT’s monographic
holdings, is distributed and “light”
– A repository that is governed, managed, and
supported by the HT as a whole, not a subset of
members
– A repository that is relatively lightweight and
focused on lowering barriers for early
participation
Highlights from our proposal…
• Defines the development of the repository
as…
– A phased process that seeks, in phases one and
two, to launch the repository and match
commitments for 50% of the titles
– A process that, in phase three, will build out the
infrastructure, including more advanced access
services
– A process that, in phase four, will seek to
operationalize services to support continued
growth.
Highlights from our proposal…
• Defines the national role of the repository as…
– Providing leadership in the area of monographic,
print retention.
– Supporting the development of the technical
infrastructure necessary to disclose commitments
and discover content.
– Providing services to members that support their
efforts to make local collection management
decisions
Goals of Our Proposal
• The repository will convey our collective intent to
preserve our published monographic heritage.
• The repository will serve as the foundation for
making local retention/withdrawal decisions.
• The program will provide members with tools to
support collection management/development
decisions.
• The program will provide transformative services
to users.
• The program will provide the means to establish
prospective retention and digitization
commitments for newly published literature.
Highlights of the Thirteen
Recommendations…
• Establish a Shared Print Monographs Program.
• Seek retention commitments for at least 50% of the monographs in the
HathiTrust corpus within one year after completing the setup phase for
the program.
• Hire a Shared Print Program Manager (SPPM) to convene a Shared Print
Operating Committee (SPOC) and establish appropriate reporting
relationships for said individual and committee.
• Develop the repository in a series of phases over the next five years:
– A preliminary startup phase for hiring the program manager and
establishing the SPOC as well as the policies, governance, and financial
structures to support implementation.
– A first year of making key technical decisions around repository
analysis, retention commitments, and disclosure techniques with a
goal of supporting a 50% retention level.
– A subsequent three or four years to expand repository commitments
and enhance resource sharing and access services
PSC Response
1) Seek community input
2) Establish a Shared Print Operating Committee (SPOC).
3) Initiate discussions with potential Archive Holders.
4) Assess the probable scale of retention commitments.
5) Initiate discussions with OCLC.
Conclusion
• Our proposal is grounded in a set of assumptions:
– We believe that collaborative management of print is
important
– We believe that libraries need to preserve ongoing access
to the print record
– We believe in sharing and providing enhanced access.
• By working together, the Task Force members believe
that Hathi’s nation-wide organization can reshape the
collections landscape, redefine how libraries manage
collections, and support member institutions as they
seek to meet the changing needs of the readers and
scholars they serve.
Read the Report and Provide Feedback
• The Report:
http://www.hathitrust.org/files/sharedprintreport.pdf
• Feedback: print-archive-comments@hathitrust.org
Thank You