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Boston Library Consortium

{{short description|American non-profit charitable organization}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = Boston Library Consortium, Inc.

| formation = {{start date and age|1970}}

| logo = File:Boston_Library_Consortium_logo.png

| type = 501(c)(3), charitable organization

| tax_id = 04-2605198

| location_city = Franklin, Massachusetts

| location_country = United States

| revenue = US$815,818 (2022)

| expenses = US$762,730 (2022)

| staff = 5

| website = {{URL|https://blc.org}}

| region = New England

| membership = 26

| leader_title = President

| leader_name = Mary Piorun

| leader_title2 = Executive Director

| leader_name2 = Charlie Barlow

| abbreviation = BLC

}}

The Boston Library Consortium (BLC) is a library consortium based in the Boston area with 26 member institutions across New England.

Membership and governance

The Boston Library Consortium is a consortium of twenty-six institutions: sixteen in Massachusetts, five in Connecticut, one in New Hampshire, one in Rhode Island, and two in Vermont. The Internet Archive is an affiliate member.{{Cite web |last=Freeland |first=Chris |date=2021-04-20 |title=Internet Archive Joins Boston Library Consortium |url=https://blog.archive.org/2021/04/20/internet-archive-joins-boston-library-consortium/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420141103/http://blog.archive.org/2021/04/20/internet-archive-joins-boston-library-consortium/ |archive-date=2021-04-20 |access-date=2022-01-19 |website=Internet Archive Blogs |language=en-US}} Member institutions represent a mixture of liberal arts colleges, research universities, public and private higher education institutions, special libraries, and public libraries. New members may join the BLC if they are based in the northeastern United States and if their application is approved by a two-thirds vote of the board of directors. The BLC is funded through membership dues.{{Cite web|title=Prospective Members|url=https://blc.org/prospective-members|url-status=live|website=Boston Library Consortium|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117182240/https://blc.org/prospective-members |archive-date=2021-01-17 }}

The BLC is administered by an Executive Director and governed by a board of directors. Each member institution of the BLC is represented on the Board by the chief librarian of its principal library. According to its bylaws, the consortium's purpose is "to share human and information resources so that the collective strengths support and advance the research and learning of the members’ constituents."{{Cite web |date=March 14, 2014 |title=Bylaws |url=https://blc.org/bylaws |access-date=December 11, 2019 |website=Boston Library Consortium}}

Members

Current members include the following institutions:{{Cite web |title=About Boston Library Consortium |url=https://blc.org/page/about-blc |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=Boston Library Consortium |language=en}}

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History

The BLC was founded in 1970 and officially incorporated in 1977, consisting originally of five institutions. It had grown to twelve institutions by 1993, seventeen by 2014, and nineteen by 2019. Former members include Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).{{Cite journal|last=Walsh|first=Jim|date=1993|title=Effective Library Networking: Local Depository Networks|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GOVPUB-GP3-1d3a8fbdcde821b4fa589e812de90701|journal=Administrative Notes: Newsletter of the Federal Depository Library Program|volume=14|issue=18|pages=12–13|via=GPO}} The BLC partnered with the Faxon Company to launch development of a union list of serials in 1982.{{Cite journal |last=Schaffner |first=Ann C. |date=1985-02-28 |title=Implementation of the Faxon Union List System by the Boston Library Consortium |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J123v09n03_06 |journal=The Serials Librarian |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=45–62 |doi=10.1300/J123v09n03_06 |issn=0361-526X|url-access=subscription }} BLC executive directors have included Hannah Stevens as of 2000,{{Cite journal |last=Leiding |first=Reba |date=June 2000 |title=Understanding the licensing landscape: Highlights of the ACRL preconference |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14649055.2000.10765660 |journal=Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services |language=en |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=285–287 |doi=10.1080/14649055.2000.10765660 |issn=1464-9055|url-access=subscription }} Barbara Preece as of 2002,{{Cite web |last=Gula |first=Lori |date=2002-10-18 |title=UNH Admitted to Elite Library Consortium |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/215507917.pdf |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=University of New Hampshire}} Melissa Trevvett as of 2010,{{Cite web |date=July 9, 2010 |title=Trevvett Joins Boston Library Consortium |url=https://www.crl.edu/news/trevvett-joins-boston-library-consortium |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=Center for Research Libraries}} Susan Stearns from 2014 to 2020,{{Cite web |date=2013-10-28 |title=BLC's Executive Director Selected |url=http://www.blc.org/news/blcsexecutivedirectorselected |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131028210301/http://www.blc.org/news/blcsexecutivedirectorselected |archive-date=2013-10-28 |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=Boston Library Consortium}} and Charlie Barlow since 2020.{{Cite journal |last=Galloway |first=Ann-Christie |date=November 2020 |title=People in the News |url=https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/24694/32528 |journal=Colleges and Research Libraries News |volume=81 |issue=10 |pages=518}}

Activities

Major BLC areas of activity include resource sharing and professional development. The BLC runs a "BLC Leads" program to foster leadership development among member library staff,{{Cite web|url=https://blc.org/blc-leads|title=BLC Leads|website=Boston Library Consortium|access-date=December 11, 2019}} a reciprocal borrowing agreement through which faculty and other patrons affiliated with any member library can borrow materials for free from other member libraries,{{Cite web|url=https://blc.org/consortium-card|title=Consortium Card|access-date=December 11, 2019}} a shared virtual catalog and rapid delivery of materials between libraries to fulfill patron requests,{{Cite book|title=Library Science and Administration: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications|publisher=IGI Global|year=2018|isbn=9781522539148|location=Hershey, PA|pages=716|chapter=The Boston Library Consortium and RapidR: Partnering to Develop an Unmediated Book Sharing Module}} cooperative purchasing of scholarly resources,{{Cite web|url=https://blc.org/services/e-resource-licensing|title=E-Resource Licensing|website=Boston Library Consortium|access-date=December 11, 2019}} and hosting of communities of interest to foster discussion and collaboration among member libraries.{{Cite web|url=https://blc.org/communities|title=Communities|website=Boston Library Consortium|access-date=December 11, 2019}} Past activities included cooperative collecting and sharing of materials in select subject areas, such as women's studies.{{Cite journal|last=Soete|first=George J.|date=August 1998|title=Collaborative Collections Management Programs in ARL Libraries|journal=ARL SPEC Kits|volume=235|pages=33|hdl=2027/mdp.39015042760267}}

In 2007, the BLC partnered with the Open Content Alliance (OCA) to digitize BLC member libraries' out-of-copyright print collections and make them freely available online through the Internet Archive.{{Cite journal|last=Free|first=David|date=November 2007|title=Boston Library Consortium and Open Content Alliance to provide digitized books|journal=College & Research Libraries News|volume=63|issue=10|pages=624–25|doi=10.5860/crln.68.10.7886|doi-access=free}} To fund this initiative, the BLC and its members pledged more than $845,000 over two years.{{Cite journal|last=Hafner|first=Katie|date=October 22, 2007|title=Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web|journal=New York Times|pages=A1, A18|id={{ProQuest|433697758}}}} This partnership made the BLC the first large-scale consortium to embark on a self-funded digitization project with the OCA.{{Cite journal|last=Albanese|first=Andrew|date=October 15, 2007|title=BLC, OCA Join in Digitization Effort|journal=Library Journal|volume=132|issue=17|pages=15–16|id={{ProQuest|196830139}}}}

In 2014, the BLC, along with the Orbis Cascade Alliance and other groups, advocated against a publisher price increase on e-books, which they feared would negatively impact academic library budgets.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/College-Libraries-Push-Back-as/147085|title=College Libraries Push Back as Publishers Raise Some E-Book Prices|last=Wolfman-Arent|first=Avi|date=June 16, 2014|website=The Chronicle of Higher Education|access-date=December 11, 2019}}

From 2014 to 2023, the BLC administered the Eastern Academic Scholars' Trust (EAST), a collective collection initiative across more than one hundred academic libraries throughout the eastern United States.{{Cite journal|last=Kraft|first=Bob|date=November 2016|title=Curating Collective Collections--Protecting the Scholarly Record: Shared Print at Scale|url=https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7541&context=atg|journal=Against the Grain|volume=28|issue=5|pages=88–91}}{{Cite web |date=2023-06-12 |title=BLC and EAST Announce Successful Transition of EAST into Independent Organization - EAST Libraries |url=https://eastlibraries.org/member_resource/blc-and-east-announce-successful-transition-of-east-into-independent-organization/ |access-date=2024-01-07 |language=en-US}} EAST member libraries have committed to retaining over six million volumes.{{Cite web|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/a-library-without-books-universities-purging-dusty-volumes/|title=A library without books? Universities purging dusty volumes|date=2018-02-09|website=The Seattle Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-11}} EAST's purpose is "preserving the print scholarly record and ensuring its availability for scholars, students and faculty." Under BLC auspices, the EAST initiative received startup grants totaling $1.5 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Davis Educational Foundation in 2014–2015. The BLC provided EAST with staffing and administrative support, technical infrastructure, financial services, and general oversight. By 2018, EAST had become self-supporting through institutional membership fees.{{Cite web|url=https://eastlibraries.org/purpose-history|title=Purpose & History|website=Eastern Academic Scholars' Trust|access-date=December 11, 2019}} In June 2023, EAST became an independent nonprofit organization.

Since 2021, the BLC has pursued a program for controlled digital lending.{{Cite web |last=Barlow |first=Nathan Mealey, Michael Rodriguez, Charlie |date=2021-10-25 |title=Guest Post - The Library Technology Market’s Failure to Support Controlled Digital Lending |url=https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2021/10/25/guest-post-the-library-technology-markets-failure-to-support-controlled-digital-lending/ |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=The Scholarly Kitchen |language=en-US}} In 2022, the Davis Educational Foundation awarded the BLC a grant of $215,000 to "accelerate the implementation of controlled digital lending as a mechanism for interlibrary loan."{{Cite web |date=January 13, 2022 |title=CDL Accelerates at the Boston Library Consortium: Will Expand Interlibrary Loan |url=https://www.niso.org/niso-io/2022/01/cdl-accelerates-boston-library-consortium |access-date=2024-01-06 |website=National Information Standards Organization}} In 2023, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a U.S. federal government agency, awarded the BLC a National Leadership Grant for Libraries totaling $249,221 to "support and scale a reusable and sustainable solution enabling controlled digital lending as a component of libraries’ interlibrary loan services."{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=LG-254935-OLS-23 - Boston Library Consortium, Inc. |url=http://www.imls.gov/grants/awarded/lg-254935-ols-23 |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=IMLS |language=en}}

In October 2023, the BLC became the new fiscal sponsor of Project ReShare, a community of libraries, consortia, information organizations, and developers that has been developing and implementing open-source software for library resource sharing since 2018.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-10-12 |title=Project ReShare Selects Boston Library Consortium as its Fiscal Sponsor |url=https://projectreshare.org/2023/10/12/project-reshare-selects-boston-library-consortium-as-its-fiscal-sponsor/ |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=Project ReShare |language=en-US}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{Official website|https://blc.org}}
  • [https://eastlibraries.org/ Eastern Academic Scholars' Trust]

{{Authority control}}

Category:Organizations established in 1970

Category:Library consortia in Massachusetts

Category:Library consortia in Connecticut

Category:Library consortia in New Hampshire

Category:Library consortia in Rhode Island

Category:Library consortia in Vermont

Category:Library consortia with members in multiple states

Category:Organizations based in Boston

Category:Cooperatives based in Massachusetts