Developing a Statewide Print Repository in Florida: The UCF Experience with FLARE

Abstract

Many academic libraries are struggling with collections size reaching or exceeding building capacity. Meanwhile, the movement of twenty-first-century libraries calls for user-centered space. The combination of these two factors has challenged libraries to identify ways to eliminate physical collections without losing access to content. The academic libraries in the State of Florida, including the University of Central Florida (UCF), have discussed and developed plans for a shared print repository for several years. For the past few years a statewide Shared Storage Task Force was convened with representation from the state university libraries, and eventually formed the Florida Academic Repository (FLARE) under the leadership of the University of Florida. In 2012, FLARE received the first large shipment from a participating library, the University of Miami. After a few months of active planning, UCF implemented its project preparing materials to send to FLARE and is poised to be the next library contributing to FLARE. As presented, the UCF FLARE project requires tremendous coordination and collaboration within the multiple units in the Technical Services Division at UCF and with the external FLARE Team in Gainesville. Policies and procedures were developed with guidance from the FLARE Team, and internal workflow was designed to ensure accurate processing. This presentation focused on providing an overview of the FLARE project with a specific focus on the UCF experience in selecting and processing materials. Statewide Shared Storage in Florida: Realizing the Benefits of Cooperation The University of Central Florida (UCF) is one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The John C. Hitt Library, as the first building on campus, is quickly approaching its capacity for both collections growth and user space. Options such as expansion, renovation, and on-site storage had all been explored. But due to funding limits or logistic issues, none had materialized. At the same time, many of UCF’s peer institutes in the State of Florida have been facing the same dilemma. That was how the idea of shared storage was born. Early discussions about a statewide shared storage project go back several years and may well have originated when the Collection Planning Committee for the State University Libraries in Florida created a task force to review the “Six Key Challenges for the Future of Collection Development” as presented by Ross Atkinson at the Janus Conference held at Cornell University in 2005. After months of planning and discussion, this committee presented slightly edited versions of the original Janus Challenges, and the name “Janus in Florida” was given to the new initiatives that included creation of separate task forces to address each of the six major challenges. One of the major challenges in this initiative was a shared print repository. A new committee was formed to explore the idea of a shared facility. Initial discussions revolved around location, building specifications, financial support, collection parameters, resource sharing, circulation policies, and the inclusion of a state-ofthe-art conservation lab. Early plans to house a digitization unit within the storage facility turned out to be forward-thinking and advantageous given the current importance of balancing print repositories with digital access to the print content when possible. As planning and design moved toward physical location, the