University Times

Pitt and Carnegie Mellon still are exploring potential collaborations between their library systems, although a final report, originally due in June, has been delayed until this fall. (See University Times, Dec. 4, 2014.)

According to Dean Ronald Larsen of the School of Information Sciences, who chairs the review committee with CMU Dean of University Libraries Keith Webster, the group has been meeting through the spring and summer “to identify opportunities of mutual benefit to enhance collections and services to our students, faculty and staff.”

Larsen said in the spring Pitt and CMU librarians held an interactive idea workshop led by Sheila Corrall, an iSchool faculty member, and surveyed faculty on both campuses.

The committee has shared its interim findings with both universities’ provosts, Larsen said. The focus thus far has been on “those areas where collaboration holds the potential for expanding access to scholarly resources (for example, jointly licensing some electronic collections and expanding the breadth of physical collections by sharing acquisition priorities) and where economies of scale accrue from joint investment (for example, shared off-site storage),” Larsen said in a written statement. “The committee is also exploring the potential value of collaboration in areas of emerging importance, such as research data management.”

During the Pitt-CMU library talks, the search to replace University Library System head Rush Miller, who retired Dec. 31, was suspended, as was the CMU search for a director of collections and information access services for its libraries. Fern Brody is listed on the ULS website as interim director.

—Marty Levine