This presentation was provided by Jill Morris of PALCI, during the NISO event "The Power of Library Consortia: How Publishers and Libraries Can Successfully Negotiate," held on April 17, 2019.

1. Libraries Redefining Sharing in an Increasingly
Complex Consortium Environment
Jill Morris
Executive Director, PALCI
April 17, 2019

2. About PALCI
69 Academic and Research Libraries in PA, NY, NJ, WV
Now serving more than 500,000 students
A 501(c)3 nonprofit
Our roots are in resource sharing
Member-funded
2.5 Staff FTE
Many libraries have multiple consortial citizenships

6. Evolving eBooks Activities
Ownership-Focused
● 2 Aggregator-based Demand Driven
Acquisitions programs
○ Purchase on 1st access
● 1 Demand Driven Acquisition
program
○ Purchase after reaching “significant
use” threshold
Access-Focused
● ProQuest Ebook Central Subscription to
170k titles + Historic Newspaper Purchase
○ PALCI-wide, 68 Member Libraries
● EBSCO eBooks Subscription to 200k titles
+ Magazine Archive Purchase
○ 34 Member Libraries
● JSTOR Evidence Based Acquisitions
Backlist eBooks
○ 40 Member Libraries

8. Collections Summit, January 2018
● Defining “Collective Collections”
○ 25 representatives from: 2 committees, Board Members, and guests, with Roger Schonfeld,
Ithaka S+R as Outside Advisor
● Examine our environment and diverse library needs
● Identify successes and challenges
● Articulate shared values
● Begin prioritizing strategic shared collections activities over the next 3-5 years
○ Proposal for a new PALCI eBooks Strategy

9. Shared Collections Values
PALCI Members believe in....
1. Trust as the foundation of our collaboration, working on each
other’s behalf with
a. candor,
b. open debate,
c. good faith, and
d. the consortium’s best interests.
2. Engaging and investing purposefully in the shared success of the collective, robust sharing of our
resources of all types, and the deepest collaboration possible.
3. Honoring and leveraging the diversity of our PALCI Community, with 68 institutions characterized
by differences in institutional size, mission, demographics, expertise, collections, programs, and
approaches, while acting in our collective best interest.
4. Innovating and creating for our greater good, made possible by sharing risk.

10. The Proposal:
A New PALCI eBooks Strategy
Key Assumptions and Definitions:
1. Elements of good citizenship: We won’t always benefit equally, or in the same way.
2. Ownership preferred, but access may be “good enough” for some Members.
3. “Anchor institutions” have already made or committed significantly to the purchase
of specific content or collections.
4. The diversity and size of our PALCI Membership gives us strong buying power.
Developed by Angela Carreno & Bill Maltarich (New York University)

11. The Proposal:
A New PALCI eBooks Strategy
Principles:
1. Leverage existing PALCI anchor institution expenditures/commitments
to expand access.
2. Prioritize aggregated collections via a single PALCI eBook channel to
improve user experience and discovery.
3. Consider a print component for a holistic approach when possible.
4. Target publishers: mainstream and niche.

12. Why Consortia?
New models are needed to meet modern user needs and budgets
Publishers/Aggregators need to understand our collective needs
Opportunity to share risk
Opportunity to share rewards
Efficiencies
Scale

13. Idea → Implementation
1. Ownership + Access
2. Predictability for BOTH Publishers AND Libraries
3. Portability of Content
4. Dual Access via Aggregation
5. Full eBook ILL rights
6. Print Discounts
a. Print On-Demand
b. Traditional Print Purchasing

14. Pilot: SAGE Knowledge eBooks
PALCI-wide purchase of backlist with multi-year frontlist commitments
Ownership for all libraries
Unlimited access, DRM-free
Full eBook ILL rights
Assessing:
- Impact on use and resource sharing within our consortium
- Impact on print purchasing patterns
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15. Questions?
Jill Morris
jill@palci.org
@jillianemorris