Abstract
The Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries (CUWL) provides a forum and structure for library information planning within the University of Wisconsin (UW) System. The Council represents UW libraries on 13 two-year campuses, 11 four-year campuses and two research campuses and engages in activities such as cooperative planning and purchasing, materials delivery, training, and more. The Council’s shared collection development budget has remained flat for a number of years, and inflationary increases have forced cutbacks. That materials budget is administered by CUWL’s Collection Development Committee (CDC).
The CDC has created and maintained a shared electronic collection for almost 15 years. In order to continue collaborating and expand resources, the CDC is looking at alternative and innovative ways to increase flexibility and expand buying power in spite of years of flat budgets. As a part of that process, CUWL and the CDC are reviewing resource sharing patterns among libraries, purchasing habits across the system, traditional materials delivery services, overlap studies, the benefits and drawbacks of cooperative purchasing, bill back models for shared collections, budget realignment, and the group is taking a fresh look at how they do business. The presenters will share methods for systemwide data analysis, techniques for getting all functional areas involved in the collection and analysis of data, and they will discuss how to leverage that data to make forward-thinking decisions. The group is encouraged by how well received this work has been and by new opportunities for innovation and collaboration.
Too Little Is Not Enough
The Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries (CUWL) provides a forum and structure for library information planning within the University of Wisconsin (UW) System. The Council represents UW libraries on 13 two-year campuses, 11 four-year campuses and two research campuses and engages in activities such as cooperative planning and purchasing, materials delivery, training, and more. The Council’s shared collection development budget has remained flat for a number of years, and inflationary increases have forced cutbacks. That materials budget is administered by CUWL’s Collection Development Committee (CDC).
The CDC has created and maintained a shared electronic collection for almost 15 years. In order to continue collaborating and expand resources, the CDC is looking at alternative and innovative ways to increase flexibility and expand buying power in spite of years of flat budgets. As a part of that process, CUWL and the CDC are reviewing resource sharing patterns among libraries, purchasing habits across the system, traditional materials delivery services, overlap studies, the benefits and drawbacks of cooperative purchasing, bill back models for shared collections, budget realignment, and the group is taking a fresh look at how they do business. The presenters will share methods for systemwide data analysis, techniques for getting all functional areas involved in the collection and analysis of data, and they will discuss how to leverage that data to make forward-thinking decisions. The group is encouraged by how well received this work has been and by new opportunities for innovation and collaboration.