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

…des bibliotheques de feu…

Disposition, dispersal of

scholarly record,

cultural record

‘A six heures du soir, en son domicile…

rue de Seine no. 10

‘distant reading’

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coherence at ‘network’ scale

Libraries – locus of curation

culture, context, connections

de-centered, disintermediated

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System-wide perspective

characteristics of the collective library resource

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intelligence to inform library decision-making

impact of global library cooperative

Collective collection -

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a regional perspective

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“Coverage requires

cooperation”

31%31%

North American Print Book Landscape, January 2011

Canadian libraries

hold 31% of titles in

North American print

book collection

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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

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North American Mega-regions

12 zones of highly integrated economic activity

Cascadia

Chi-Pitts

Tor-Buff-chester} Canada/US

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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

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Top Concentrations of Print Books outside of Mega-regions

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

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Network intelligence – Shared print

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>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

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Shared Print Titles in WorldCatApril 2014

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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, …

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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

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Median duplication = 14% of collection

Based on Shared Print collections registered in WorldCat as of 30 April 2014.

Network effects . . .

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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

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Median duplication = 17% of collection

Based on Shared Print collections registered in WorldCat as of 30 April 2014.

Network effects . . .

Cultural identity in the global library resource

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20http://www.stanford.edu/~jcx/448b/a3/

‘Very proud’ to be Canadian

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Cultural associations

Jamie McCaffrey ‘Eco Art Canada-Maple Leaf’ CC-BY-2.0

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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.

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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

CanadaTotal related works in WorldCat = 590,640

Academic

National/Gov’t.

Public

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5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

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Canada United States

Canadian LiteratureTotal Works in WorldCat = 3,906

20 most comprehensive collections

related to:

Canadian libraries US libraries

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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 identityTotal works in WorldCat =139

20 most comprehensive collections

related to:

Québec

Other provinces

Outside of Canada

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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

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

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