With the active support and encouragement of the university administrations, Columbia University Libraries (CUL) and Cornell University Library (CUL) are building a transformative, enduring partnership that will see a broad integration of resources, collections, services, and expertise between the two library systems. This partnership will be deep and lasting, taking advantage of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
The collaboration will return savings to our respective institutions while increasing productivity and minimizing redundant operations. It will improve the quality of collections and services offered to campus constituencies, redirect resources to emerging needs, make each institution more competitive in securing government and foundation support, and generate additional revenues. This collaboration will attract the interest of other partners, while also modeling the way that collaboration in new areas could take place in the future.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded $385,000 to the two libraries to support the development of this innovative partnership. The specific goals during the two-year proposal period include:
- Improve the quality of collections and services and expertise available to key constituencies through joint innovative activities and the redirection of resources.
- Lay the foundation for a permanent selective integration between the Columbia University Libraries and the Cornell University Library.
- Achieve significant integration of operations, services, collections, and resources within three years, and establish a fiscal and governance framework for managing integration, initially between Columbia and Cornell.
- Achieve significant cost savings through shared services, joint collections, and the elimination of redundancy, to respond to budget reductions and the need to invest in emerging priorities.
- Collaborate in the pursuit of generating new resources.
- Co-invest in critical under-supported areas and innovative new services for the universities.
- Build understanding and support for the 2CUL collaboration among stakeholders at both universities, including library staff, university administration, faculty and students, and other university divisions.
- Share experiences and findings from this initiative with the broader higher education and library communities. Provide a blueprint or example for other such collaborations.
If you have questions about 2CUL, you can contact the communications team using this form.