- Canadian libraries hold 31% of titles and 6% of print book inventory in the overall North American print book collection. The Canadian print book resource represents a distinctive asset within the broader North American system. - 92% of the North American print book collection is concentrated in 12 major economic regions, with 40% of Canada's print books distributed outside of these regions, posing challenges for cooperative stewardship. - Regional consortia provide opportunities for coordination at a supra-institutional level to leverage networks and manage the collective print book collection.

1. A view of the Canadian library resource in WorldCat
Constance Malpas
Program Officer, OCLC Research
28 May 2014
OCLC Canada Symposium
#CLAVic14
Understanding the Collective Collection

2. …des bibliothèques de feu…
Disposition, dispersal of
scholarly record,
cultural record
‘A six heures du soir,
en son domicile…
rue de Seine no. 10
‘distant reading’

3. 3
coherence at ‘network’ scale
Libraries – locus of curation
culture, context, connections
de-centered, disintermediated

4. 4
System-wide perspective
characteristics of the
collective library resource
Explore
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intelligence to inform
library decision-making
impact of global library
cooperative

5. Collective collection -
5
a regional perspective

6. 6
“Coverage
requires
cooperation”
31%
31%
North American Print Book Landscape, January 2011
Canadian libraries
hold 31% of titles in
North American print
book collection

7. 7
31%
Canadian libraries
hold 6% of total
North American print
book inventory
6%
North American Print Book Landscape, January 2011
Avg. 3 holdings per
title in Canada

8. 8
North American Mega-regions
12 zones of highly integrated economic activity
Cascadia
Chi-Pitts
Tor-Buff-chester}Canada/US

9. 9
Relative size of regional print book collections
92% of North American print
book collection concentrated in
12 mega-regions
40% of Canadian print
book resource distributed
outside of mega-regions
6% not duplicated in
any other region

10. 10
Top Concentrations of Print Books outside of Mega-regions

11. Implications
• Canadian print book resource represents distinctive
asset in broader North American system
• Diffuse distribution of inventory across ‘extra-regional’
zones presents challenges for cooperative stewardship
• Opportunities to leverage networks of mutual interest
in existing mega-regions (Cascadia, Chi-Pitts, Tor-Buff-
chester)
• Regional consortia (BCI, CAUL, COPPUL, OCUL…) are
natural nexus for above-the-institution and supra-
provincial coordination
11

12. Network intelligence – Shared print
12

13. >266M library holdings in WorldCat
Shared Print Collections
• Cooperative stewardship of
aggregate print resource
• Part of broader trend toward
‘group-scale’ library
operations
• >30 active shared print
groups in North America
• 9 major groups registering
shared print holdings in
WorldCat
13
Shared Print Titles in WorldCat
April 2014

14. 14
Group Infrastructure
31 ‘presumed stewards’ of
cultural/scholarly record
collective collection: >21M titles
the ‘right scale’ for cooperative action?
BCI, CAUL, COPPUL,
OCUL, BCLC, TAL, …

15. 15
Regional Infrastructure
10 SPAN archive holders preserving >1K serial titles
(>60K vols.) on behalf of 23 regional partners
group-scale confederation within a larger network

16. 16
Median duplication = 14% of collection
Based on Shared Print collections registered in WorldCat as of 30 April 2014.
Network effects . . .

17. 17
Regional Infrastructure
5 proposed archive holders preserving last
copies on behalf of 21 provincial partners
#thinkingoculy
Single holding in group of 5: est. 5M titles
Single G5 holding in WorldCat: est. 400K titles
5 partners
~7M titles
OCUL
>10M titles

18. 18
Median duplication = 17% of collection
Based on Shared Print collections registered in WorldCat as of 30 April 2014.
Network effects . . .

19. Cultural identity in the global library resource
19

20. 20
http://www.stanford.edu/~jcx/448b/a3/
‘Very proud’ to be Canadian

21. 21
Cultural associations
Jamie McCaffrey ‘Eco Art Canada-Maple Leaf’ CC-BY-2.0

22. 22
Topics most frequently associated with Canada
in the global publication record:
Based on analysis of FAST and VIAF headings in WorldCat, March 2013; weight reflects holdings.

23. 23
20 most comprehensive collections
related to:
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
UNIV OF ALBERTA
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA
TORONTO PUB LIBR
MEMORIAL UNIV/NEWFOUNDLAND
UNIV OF MANITOBA
UNIV OF BRITISH COLUMBIA LIBR
MCGILL UNIV
SIMON FRASER UNIV
UNIV OF NEW BRUNSWICK, FREDERICTON
LIBRARY OF PARLIAMENT
UNIV OF VICTORIA, MCPHERSON LIBR
UNIV OF OTTAWA
CARLETON UNIV
UNIV OF CALGARY LIBR
UNIV OF SASKATCHEWAN LIBR
DALHOUSIE UNIV, KILLAM LIBR
UNIV OF NEW BRUNSWICK
UNIV OF WATERLOO LIBR
WESTERN UNIV
UNIV OF GUELPH
Canada
Total related works in WorldCat = 590,640
Academic
National/Gov’t.
Public

24. 24
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
TORONTOPUBLIBR
LIBRARYANDARCHIVESCANADA
UNIVOFALBERTA
UNIVOFBRITISHCOLUMBIALIBR
MCGILLUNIV
SIMONFRASERUNIV
UNIVOFCALGARYLIBR
MEMORIALUNIV/NEWFOUNDLAND
DALHOUSIEUNIV
UNIVOFVICTORIA
UNIVOFNEWBRUNSWICK
UNIVOFMANITOBA
MCMASTERUNIV
YORKUNIVLIBR
UNIVOFTORONTOROBARTS
UNIVOFSASKATCHEWAN
UNIVOFWATERLOOLIBR
LIBRARYOFCONGRESS
YALEUNIVLIBR
HARVARDUNIV
Canada United States
Canadian Literature
Total Works in WorldCat = 3,906
20 most comprehensive collections
related to:
Canadian libraries US libraries

25. 25
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
HARVARD UNIV, HARVARD COL LIBR
UNIV OF ALBERTA
NEW YORK PUB LIBR
YALE UNIV LIBR
STANFORD UNIV LIBR
UNIV OF MAINE AT ORONO
UNIV OF TORONTO ROBARTS LIBR
MCGILL UNIV
UNIV OF OTTAWA
PRINCETON UNIV
YORK UNIV LIBR
TORONTO PUB LIBR
UNIV OF SASKATCHEWAN LIBR
BRITISH LIBR REFERENCE COLLECTIONS
UNIVERSITE DE MONTREAL
CONCORDIA UNIV LIBR
UNIV OF MANITOBA
UNIV OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
BIBLIO ET ARCHIVES NAT DU QUEBEC
French-Canadians - Ethnic identity
Total works in WorldCat =139
20 most comprehensive collections
related to:
Québec
Other provinces
Outside of Canada

26. 26
Le Canada en perspective
c’est fromidable
https://twitter.com/Wheeler/status/467087167400210432
• collective library resource embodies
distinctive cultural heritage
• diffuse, asymmetrical distribution of
print inventory presents a challenge for
cooperative stewardship
• group-scale initiatives leverage
existing networks of mutual interest
• managing collective collection requires
conscious coordination of effort at
different scales

27. Thanks for your attention.
Merci de votre attention.
©2014 OCLC. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Suggested attribution:
“This work uses content from [presentation title] © OCLC, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/”
malpasc@oclc.org
@ConstanceM
27