Phase 2: Next round of retention commitments
Work is proceeding to identify and prioritize a new set of retention commitments for Phase 2. The goal is to secure print retention commitments for HathiTrust digital monographs that did not receive a commitment in Phase 1. A total of 62 member libraries have offered to serve as prospective Phase 2 Retention Libraries.
HathiTrust has sent to OCLC Sustainable Collection Services (SCS) a data file that identifies the 2.2 million OCLC numbers of interest and the HathiTrust libraries that hold those titles. SCS is using that data to build the GreenGlass database that will be used to model the results of various decision rules being defined by the Retention Models Working Group (i.e. the desired number of print copies to retain under various circumstances).
As of August 2018, the expected timetable for Shared Print Phase 2 is:
• August - September: build GreenGlass database
• October - November: iterative retention modeling (Retention Models Working Group)
• December: retention proposals to libraries
• December - February: final retention commitments returned by libraries to HathiTrust and SCS
Recommendation to retain policy to lend physical volumes
As part of planning for Phase 2, the Shared Print Advisory Committee (SPAC) reviewed the current Access policy which requires that Retention Libraries be willing to lend the physical volume to other HathiTrust libraries. Some libraries reported during Phase 1 that they would refrain from committing to retain certain holdings if they were required to lend the physical volume. Also, the Federal Documents Advisory Committee requested a modification to the policy so that non-circulating Federal documents could be included in the Shared Print Program.
After discussing this issue over multiple meetings, SPAC recommended tabling the discussion of a near-term change to allow retention of non-circulating items for Phase 2, while leaving open the option to consider this change in the future. This decision leaves the current policy in place.
The primary reasons for postponing discussion of a change were:
• The original goal to support local collection management decisions (e.g. deselection) would not be met if libraries cannot rely on borrowing a retained copy from another HathiTrust Retention Library
• There may be significant work to identify operational issues and implement solutions, so that other libraries can know that certain committed volumes do not circulate.
Recommendation to postpone registering shared print commitments in WorldCat
OCLC has recently announced the availability of its new Shared Print Registration Service. To register retention commitments in WorldCat using this service, individual libraries need to create a text file identifying retention commitments (OCLC number and local record ID) and a template defining constant data describing these retention commitments (e.g. program name, retention period, item location).
There is an operational problem in that libraries must create and upload a separate file for each location (Holding Library Code, HLC) where retained volumes are shelved (i.e. main library, storage facility, branch library). OCLC is exploring possible changes so that all retention records for a given library could be combined in one file.
We recommend that HathiTrust Retention Libraries postpone registering their HathiTrust commitments in WorldCat. We are continuing to monitor development of this new OCLC service, and will report back with some additional documentation when we believe it is better able to support use by HathiTrust Retention Libraries.
Also, please do not use the current process documented on the OCLC website that mentions using a second symbol to identify shared print retentions. Any records added using this method would need to be converted in the future, as they do not include the “shared print flag” that will be the basis of future analytics and other OCLC enhancements.
Please note that the current HathiTrust policy does not require disclosing retention commitments in WorldCat, but does require recording them in the library’s local system.
Recruitment for Shared Print Program Officer
Interviews are underway for a Shared Print Program Officer to succeed Lizanne Payne, who has announced her plan to retire in early 2019.
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For any questions about the HathiTrust Shared Print Program, please contact:
Lizanne Payne
Shared Print Program Officer
elpayne@hathitrust.org