Assessing the Potential for a National Print Repository: Results of an Australian Overlap Study

This paper reports on research assessing the potential space savings that can be made if Australian academic libraries implement a national repository for the storage of legacy print collections. The paper includes data derived from a collection overlap study based on members of the CARM (CAVAL Archival and Research Materials) Centre in order to estimate the impact of a fully implemented national repository. It includes a calculation of the shelf and floor space that libraries might potentially retrieve for other The pressure to minimise long-term storage costs has led libraries to embrace ways in which the expenses associated with remote storage can be further reduced. This has been achieved in two ways. Firstly, by the implementation of increasingly high-density forms of storage; and secondly by libraries collaborating in order to share the costs associated with acquiring, managing and maintaining a storage facility. The result is a steady rise in the number of collaborative or federated facilities, sometimes referred to as print repositories.2 The use of print repositories not only reduces the space and cost pressures associated with long-term print storage, but it can also benefit users by optimising the efficiency of discovery and delivery of low use print material. This has led to the implementation of national print repositories in several European countries,3 and to other countries implementing increasingly broadly-based regional repositories. Despite the apparent benefits to be gained from federated print storage, there are, however, issues that to date have prevented this solution from being implemented in Australia. Some of these issues are related to the relationships between the nation's research libraries and their access to government funding for research infrastructure;4