The future of cooperative collections and repositories

Abstract

PurposeThe history of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) during the last decade is one of adaptation and innovation, driven by the need to keep pace with a rapidly changing world. CRL is a cooperative collection development enterprise, created in the age of print. Today we are confronting entirely new paradigms of information exchange and access brought about by digital media and the internet. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the past decade has been a time of re‐engineering CRL services, re‐orienting operations, and forming partnerships to put vital new capabilities at the disposal of academic and independent research libraries in the CRL community. In short, it is a narrative of how one organization recast its role from a centralized repository to a collection development and preservation community.Design/methodology/approachThe paper takes the form of a study of the changing roles of collection‐building consortia based on the ten‐year recent history of CRL.FindingsTo ensure the survival of primary source collections, consortia must pursue a strategy that seems counter‐intuitive in today's “just in time” world: a strategy not based solely on current interest and demand. Collection‐building efforts like CRL must act on behalf of future generations of researchers and stakeholders, or abdicate their responsibility as stewards of knowledge.Originality/valueThe paper gives a perspective on the appropriate roles of library consortia and repositories in the current research libraries sector, vis‐à‐vis preservation, collection development.