All Together Now: Planning for Shared Print Archiving at Canada's Western Universities

The Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries is a consortium of twenty-two university libraries in western Canada. Planning for a regional shared print archive has included the formation of several task groups, the engagement of a project consultant, and local development of a holdings registry tool. The original impetus for the project was to clear maximum shelf space at member libraries quickly. The planning challenge that has emerged is to design a project that meets this short-term regional need for repurposed space in member libraries, while building in scalability to address a broader preservation mandate, and that allows linking to related initiatives in other jurisdictions.