NCSU Libraries has been collaborating with library systems in the Triangle and around the world to save millions of dollars and give the N.C. State students and faculty members more access to academic resources.
Overall, these partnerships have increased N.C. State’s total collection from about 4 million volumes to 16 million because library systems can share journal subscriptions and collectively bargain for lower prices, according to Greg Raschke, Associate Director for Collections and Scholarly Communication Administration.
Among these collaborations is the Triangle Research Libraries Network, which is a collection of shared academic materials started by Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill. N.C. State joined in the 1950s, followed by North Carolina Central University.
Today, the TRLN gives students and faculty members access to thousands of journals at a fraction of the cost, according to Raschke.
“When we negotiate with the TRLN, we get a better price, and we save several hundred thousand dollars a year,” Raschke said. “It provides a larger array of resources that we otherwise couldn’t provide.”
Though N.C. State partnered with other libraries for decades, these collaborations have been especially useful in the wake of recent budget cuts.
“It certainly helps all the way around with lessening the effect of budget cuts,” Raschke said. “Whether we have a budget increase or decrease, it helps because you have access to these resources either way. These collaborations are well established, so it certainly makes it better for anyone in any type of budget environment.”
The dues for each school in the TRLN are relatively equal, Raschke said, but because NCSU Libraries has a smaller budget than libraries at Duke or UNC-CH, N.C. State gets a particularly good deal.
“Duke has the largest collections budget, Chapel Hill has second largest, we have third largest, then Central has the lowest,” Raschke said. “In that sense, it’s definitely a benefit. We bring in more and send less out.”
Another important collaboration, NC LIVE, is an online library system started by representatives from the UNC-System, the NC Public Library Directors Association, the State Library of North Carolina and the N.C. Community College System 15 years ago.
“Librarians could see what was coming, and we saw a real opportunity that if we worked together with all libraries in the state, we could acquire materials together and make them available to everyone,” said Susan Nutter, vice provost and director of NCSU Libraries.
Supplemented by funding from private universities and three state appropriations, NC LIVE was able to acquire about $30 million worth of resources for about $5 million, Nutter said.
Most public libraries and community colleges in the state could rarely afford enough for an extensive general collection before, Nutter said.
“NC LIVE really extended our buying power and brought more resources to faculty and students across the state,” Nutter said.
Though budget reductions caused N.C. State to cut its NC LIVE budget by $23,000 this year, Nutter said the state-wide collaboration has softened the impact of budget cuts.
“NC LIVE has certainly helped us,” Nutter said. “If we lost it, we could really be in difficult situation.”
Similar to the TRLN, the collective nature of NC LIVE helps keep costs low.
“If we had three different vendors to choose from [when buying materials], they normally get one sale in for the whole state because NC LIVE covers everybody,” Nutter said. “They very much want to have that sale, and that really helps us in negotiating.”
N.C. State is also involved with HathiTrust, a digital library based at the University of Michigan that includes about 100 other institutions, Raschke said.
Raschke and Nutter said the success of these collaborations will most likely result in a growing number of partnerships.
“Libraries have been working together a lot since late 1990s, and I think we’ll see these partnerships expanding,” Raschke said.
