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The Orbis Cascade Alliance is a library consortium composed of public and private colleges, community colleges, and universities in the
Northwest.
Central Oregon Community College
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Services The Orbis Cascade Alliance provides a range of services to member libraries, and to other libraries in the region. Chief among these are the Summit union catalog, Summit Borrowing, database licensing and courier services. Summit union catalog The Summit union catalog is a consolidated, merged catalog of holdings from member libraries and the Center for Research Libraries. Summit can be reached at summit.orbiscascade.org Summit Borrowing Summit Borrowing is a patron-initiated borrowing service that provides 48-hour delivery of materials from the union catalog: a collection of over 27 million books, sound recordings, films, videotapes, etc. Summit is a fully integrated database that is easy to use and features continually updated circulation information. Thus, with a single search, a patron can quickly determine what member libraries own and which items are currently available. Through Summit Borrowing, faculty, students, and staff at member institutions have on-site and automated borrowing privileges at any Orbis Cascade Alliance library. This service is made possible by the Alliance's Innovative Interfaces INN-Reach union catalog computer system coupled with a courier network. Summit Borrowing requests exceeded 269,000 last year. Center for Research Libraries Orbis Cascade Alliance provides direct patron-initiated borrowing for patrons from CRL-member libraries through the Summit union catalog. Courier service Orbis Cascade Alliance administers a membership program to provide courier service for libraries in the region. The daily service covers 62 dropsites in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, serving 244 public, school, college and university libraries. Orbis Cascade Alliance Electronic Resource Purchasing Orbis Cascade Alliance purchases and licenses digital resources such as electronic journals, commercial databases, and reference tools. Purchasing through a consortium allows Orbis Cascade Alliance to pool technical and licensing expertise and uses the advantage of a large group for negotiating low prices and favorable terms. A list of current Orbis Cascade Alliance licensing projects is available on the Web. Conferences & workshops Orbis Cascade Alliance hosts workshops plus a number of more extensive conferences such as Copyright for Educators, Instruction Day, Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge, Summer Meeting, Millennium Technical Forum, and the 11th meeting of the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC). Potential new services Orbis Cascade Alliance is actively investigating new services and activities including: a Regional Library Services Center (high-density storage plus other services), Web access to local government data, Cooperative collection development, and development of new technologies that aid the sharing of journal articles. |
1299 University of Oregon
www.orbiscascade.org
voice 541 / 346-1883 email:
orbiscas@uoregon.edu Last updated: August 8, 2005 |
Budget and Annual Membership Fees The Orbis Cascade Alliance budgets about $3 million per year. Most of this amount reflects fees for electronic resources, courier service, conferences and other services funded by participating libraries. A general operations budget covers staff positions; hardware, software, and maintenance expenses for the union catalog and borrowing system. The operations budget is funded by fees from Orbis Cascade Alliance member institutions, administrative fees paid by non-member libraries, and interest income. Beyond the operations budget, specific services are offered on an optional, or voluntary basis; those services and other projects are self-supporting. Orbis Cascade Alliance receives no state funding, although public institutions in Oregon and Washington receive a special allocation that partially offsets membership fees. The University of Oregon serves as host and fiscal agent. The annual membership fee is determined according to a 60/40 formula in which 60% of recurring expenses is weighted by student FTE and 40% is divided equally among all members. As the consortium grows, the operations budget increases marginally but the broader membership base typically results in lower annual fees for each member library. Governance and Administration Orbis Cascade Alliance is governed by the Council, of library directors. The Executive Committee consists of five elected members of Council. Orbis Cascade Alliance Council also appoints a number of standing committees and ad hoc task forces as needed. The consortium employs a staff consisting of an Executive Director, Resource Sharing Program Manager, Electronic Resource Program Manager, Projects Manager, Resource Sharing Assistant, and Administrative Assistant. The Executive Director reports to the Council. |