Global Collections Support Programs

CRL supports GCC reformatting efforts for scholarly materials through vendors, with partners, and onsite for our own material. These initiatives aim to preserve facilitate discovery, and, when possible, provide open access to resources such as newspapers, journals, monographs, archival materials, digital-born, and multimedia content.

Project Scope and Eligibility

• • Projects must align with CRL’s collection strategy.
  • Projects should focus on materials that are unique or not widely available.
  • Projects should follow best practices for selection, digitization, metadata, and long-term access.

Funding and Support

CRL supports or absorbs costs related to

• • Organization and description of materials.
  • Preparatory conservation work.
  • Metadata creation.
  • Reformatting, especially for fragile materials, using existing CRL equipment or established vendors.
  • Technical infrastructure and presentation.

Other costs may be viable but require case-by-case evaluation. These include:

• • [forthcoming] Equipment purchases, either for CRL or partner institutions
  • [forthcoming] Staffing support, as additional CRL staff, partners, or contractors

Reformatting Project Proposal Guidelines

1. Narrative
   1. Title & Abstract
      1. Provide a brief description of the proposal, including its scholarly value. This should identify users for the resources and any plans of the GCC to promote the materials to users. To facilitate CRL promotion, please consider: who needs to know about this material, what do they need to know about the work, why should they be excited about content, why are we doing this now?
      2. Include bibliographic details and information on preservation efforts.
   2. Content Description
      1. Specify the format of materials (print, photographs, digital images, etc.)
      2. Specify the item type (serial, newspaper, monograph, etc.)
      3. Detail physical characteristics (size, volumes, condition).
      4. Is the material cataloged, and are records provided?
      5. Describe conservation efforts needed, and risks associated with digitization. (Will the owning library allow procedures such as loosening strings so that you can open the books wider and or cut book covers to open the material?)
      6. Disposition of material: return to owning library, deposit with CRL, or discard. If not deposit w/CRL, we’d like right to adopt if they ever discard
      7. Specify Language(s) and country (countries) of origin.
   3. Copyright & Permissions
      1. If copyrighted, who owns the content and has permission been arranged?
      2. If public domain, confirm how this was determined.
2. Budget
   1. Present estimated costs per project phase, if known.
   2. List requested funding and other anticipated funding sources, if applicable.

• Ideas for project proposals can be submitted by members across CRL through the appropriate GCC.
• The GCC conceives or receives a proposal and refines the proposal by their internal processes. The proposal must include a GCC project liaison to coordinate communication with the CRL Project Manager.
• Using the online form or PDF provided by CRL, the GCC submits the proposal for consultation with CRL staff.
• CRL staff review the work plan for logistics, projected costs, and available resources (such as staff capacity, vendor capacity, expected timeline, etc.) in consultation with the project manager and committee, as needed.
• During this project consultation CRL will work with the submitting body to confirm details and anticipate needs. During the consultation, the submitting committee can enhance, adjust, and/or confirm the proposal (as amended, if changes have been made).
• CRL will then finalize the work plan, including budget impact, and execute the project.

LINK TO PROJECT PROPOSAL FORM: Short Project Proposal for Global Collection Program.

CRL collection development includes selective purchase of physical materials as determined by our collection development policy and advisory of our Global Collections Committees. One-time or firm order purchases are single discrete purchases of items or a collection of items, often in print format such as paper or microfilm. Subscriptions are generally annual payments for material released over a certain period, such as an annual subscription to a newspaper or journal. Standing orders are like a subscription in that material is released over time, but may be released irregularly, and rather than paying for the multiple parts in advance, each volume comes with an invoice. Gifts and donations from non-CRL members are subject to the collection development policy but may also be incorporated into a project proposal.

The vision of CRL is "...a world in which the research library community harnesses collective action and the power of the CRL network to cooperatively build, steward, and share accessible and sustainable collections to advance the creation of knowledge."

One tool we use is to purchase to products and collections that are desirable enhancements to the collections of our members: few of our members own them, they are not readily available through interlibrary loan, and there is a broad anticipated researcher need. 

The Acquisitions Program permits member libraries to recommend microform and print collections for CRL purchase that meet the following criteria. 

Also, GCC can make purchase requests for collection material within their budget.

Scope and Eligibility

• To purchase materials within budget, scope, and collection guidelines.
• Projects should focus on materials that are unique or not widely available, including CRL guidelines for not acquiring materials held by 5 or more members.
• The proposal should be for a one-time purchase without ongoing costs, such as hosting fees.
• The proposal should be for material processed and preserved per routine overhead.
• The proposal should be for a collection, series, or run of a title or multiple titles, not single-title, single-volume purchases.
• Purchase should be from a vendor on file with which CRL has an established relationship. Adding vendors are addressed under separate policy and could precede a purchase proposal.
• Materials should come with MARC records, but material requiring local metadata work will be considered at the discretion of available capacity.

Funding and Support

CRL will support purchase proposals within these guidelines:

• Proposals may be aggregated as part of an ongoing program of planned purchases, subject to ongoing prioritization.
• Proposal approvals within one fiscal year will align with available funding within the budget for that year.
• Larger and more complex proposals may be included in multi-year budget planning.
• The program will evolve in response to changing needs and usage. 

Process

• Submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis.
• Pending purchases will be reviewed annually in the Spring by a committee TBD.
• Submissions highlighting previously identified gaps will be given priority. (collection assessment forthcoming). 

The vision of CRL is "...a world in which the research library community harnesses collective action and the power of the CRL network to cooperatively build, steward, and share accessible and sustainable collections to advance the creation of knowledge."

One tool we use is to subscribe to titles that are desirable enhancements to the collections of our members: few of our members own them, they are not readily available through interlibrary loan, and there is a broad anticipated researcher need. 

The Acquisitions Program permits member libraries to recommend microform and print collections for CRL purchase that meet the following criteria. 

Also, GCC can make ongoing order purchase requests for collection material within their projected budget.

Scope and Eligibility

• To purchase materials within budget, scope, and collection guidelines.
• Projects should focus on materials that are unique or not widely available.
• The proposal should be for a collection, series, or run of a title or multiple titles, not for single-volume purchases.
• The proposal could include a subscription for physical material processed and preserved per routine overhead.
• Proposals for one-time purchases with ongoing costs, such as hosting fees, are discouraged but may be considered, provided the purchase includes self-hosting or other preservation provisions.
• Purchase should be from a vendor on file with which CRL has an established relationship. Adding vendors are addressed under separate policy and could precede a purchase proposal.
• Materials should come with MARC records, but material requiring local metadata work will be considered at the discretion of available capacity.

Funding and Support

CRL will support subscription purchase proposals within these guidelines:

• Projected annual materials budgets will cover both ongoing commitments, planned firm order expenditures, and project funding.
• These commitments will be subject to ongoing annual review and approval.
• Proposal approvals may be aggregated or delayed as part of an ongoing program of planned purchases.
• The program will evolve in response to changing needs and usage. 

Process

• Submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis.
• Pending purchases will be reviewed annually in the Spring by a committee TBD.
• Submissions highlighting previously identified gaps will be given priority. (collection assessment forthcoming). 

Donations and Gifts of Funds

1. CRL does not accept unsolicited financial gifts or financial donations directly related to collections. Grants resulting from CRL initiation/solicitation may be used. Other types of financial transactions are subject to other policies, not addressed here.

Donations, Deposits, and Gifts of Library Collection Material

1. A gift is a voluntary and unconditional transfer of printed materials to the library wherein the donor relinquishes all rights; CRL gains full ownership and can decide how to use or dispose of the material. We would be under no obligation to keep the materials permanently or use them in a specific way. Per a case review of each offer against our Collection Development Policy, CRL will accept selected gifts from other research libraries or institutions, with a legal deed of gift.
2. A donation is distinct from a gift in that it may be considered by the donor to have tax-deductible implications, require acknowledgment, and/or come with conditions or stipulations. CRL does not accept donations to our collection that would come with explicit or implied conditions or restrictions unless coordinated as a project with an explicit agreement outlining conditional commitments leading to full ownership. An example would be the donation of print material conditional on digitizing the material and providing the donor with digital copy.
3. A deposit is (technically) a temporary transfer of materials, wherein the donor retains ownership rights while the library houses and maintains the materials, but CRL does not accept custody of collection material for members or non-members that retain ownership of said material. However, historically, “deposit” is the terminology used to describe the transfer of material from a member to CRL and CRL members continue to add content to the CRL collection using the terminology of “deposit” which we mean to be interpreted as a deposit without restriction including transfer of ownership. Any material added to the CRL collection, by any name or process, becomes the property of CRL.

Key Differences at a Glance

Donations and Gifts of Library Services

CRL may partner with member or non-member institutions for services as part of a documented agreement related to a specific project. Such agreements would be time-bound and/or project-limited with mutual obligations outlined.