OhioLINK’s Formative Milestones: Part II, 2003–2022

Abstract

OhioLINK, one of the leading academic library consortia in the US, marks its 30th anniversary in 2022. This paper, the second of two parts, reviews the organization’s history through selected formative milestones and provides observations about the evolution of the consortium from its current executive director, revealing the importance of expanding cost-effective and easy access to scholarly resources, economies of scale, pushing technology, and a focus on the user.

Keywords:

• OhioLINK
• consortia
• consortium
• Ohio
• academic libraries
• higher education
• technology

 

This is part two of a two-part series on the OhioLINK library consortium which focuses on organization milestones between 2003 and 2022. Part one, which appeared in the previous JLA consortia column, included how OhioLINK was established as well as milestones from its formation to 2003.

2003–2004: Partnerships established with Ohio school and public library organizations

In the continued effort to expand Ohioan’s access to library resources of all kinds, OhioLINK joined a partnership called Libraries Connect Ohio (LCO) in 2003 and SearchOhio in 2004.

A collaboration between OhioLINK, INFOhio (the K–12 library consortium), and OPLIN (the Ohio Public Library Information Network), LCO was formed to provide equitable statewide access to electronic content and information that would assist students at all educational levels (Fredericka and Schwelik, 2011). Its goals are that (1) every school, regardless of size, location, or fiscal resources, has equal access to available online materials; (2) students have a consistent set of online resources available; and 3) educators have access to a broad range of online materials to support curricula. (OPLIN, 2022).

Funded through contributions from the partner organizations and federal LSTA funding through the State Library of Ohio, LCO licenses a suite of databases and other resources for statewide use. Initially referred to as The Statewide Core Electronic Information Collection (SCEIC), it is now known as the Ohio Web Library. Although there is one search platform that brings all LCO procured content together, the resources are integrated into the electronic collections of each of the participating libraries.

SearchOhio is a group of 44 Ohio public libraries and OhioLINK committed to sharing their circulating physical materials through two connected INN-Reach systems. Items are transported across the state utilizing a statewide library courier service. Like the OhioLINK Central Catalog, the SearchOhio system allows unmediated, online requesting for residents of Ohio and delivery of books and other library media within a matter of days (SearchOhio, 2022).

The program has proven extremely popular. Between FY2016 and FY2020, 24% of print items borrowed from OhioLINK libraries were from public library patrons (OhioLINK, 2020).

Effect

Statewide content negotiations via Libraries Connect Ohio have increased OhioLINK’s economies of scale and negotiation power. It also benefits K-12 libraries and public libraries in the same way. If every school, college, university, and public library were to individually purchase Libraries Connect Ohio resources, either in print or electronic forms, the cost would be untenable.

These partnerships have provided OhioLINK users with access to millions of additional resources, in both electronic and print resources. The programs also increase access points for OhioLINK users by providing more library locations where users can pick-up items shared within the network. Students from OhioLINK institutions also use SearchOhio to borrow assigned course materials that academic libraries don’t traditionally purchase in large quantities, such as required reading for English classes and popular business texts. Lastly, circulating academic library materials are now available for scholars and researchers not associated with any academic institution.

Middle- and high-school students participating in Ohio’s College Credit Plus program (which allows them to earn college credits and high school credits simultaneously) have easier access to appropriate research resources through their local school library, which gives them experience working with scholarly resources before entering college (INFOhio and OhioLINK Special Task Force, 2008).

2007: Creation of a multi-publisher e-book collection and platform

Observing that members were purchasing fewer print books and more e-books locally, and that these resources could not be shared among OhioLINK members (due to complex digital licensing agreements), OhioLINK focused on replicating the successes of its well-used Central Catalog and the Electronic Journal Center (EJC) by building a collection of shared unlimited access e-books, the Electronic Book Center (EBC) (Sanville, 2007).

Content for the EBC is negotiated directly with publishers and typically includes the publisher’s entire front list or a large subset of their collection. Modeled after the EJC procurement strategies, OhioLINK provides and manages its own platform for members’ use while the content can also be accessed by users via the vendor’s platform.

In recent years, the high-usage EBC collection warranted a redesign to bring the platform in line with consumer expectations for user experience and system requirements for security and stability. In 2021 the EBC migrated to a customized BiblioBoard platform. BiblioBoard’s platform offers digital accessibility and mobile compatibility, as well as features that students rely upon such as user-friendly browsing, searching, note-taking, and bookmarking (OhioLINK, 2021).

Effect

By 2018, it had become clear that although OhioLINK had a strong technical team, its small staff size limited the capacity to appropriately maintain a variety of custom platforms while also keeping up with user expectations. User experience had changed significantly since OhioLINK developed the EBC in 2007. Students’ expectations are now shaped by ubiquitous consumer technology, such as Netflix, Amazon, and mobile apps, as well as e-book platforms provided by public libraries. There was still value in providing a locally loaded reading platform as proven by platform usage. To meet OhioLINK user needs in the most cost-effective and efficient way, OhioLINK collaborated with BiblioBoard for a customized vendor-maintained platform.

Collection development for shared e-books has had a lasting impact on how OhioLINK members purchase both print and electronic books as well as how they work. Collection development librarians often take advantage of OhioLINK members’ aggregated expertise and its highly collaborative community. Communicating via list-servs, meetings, and in-person meetings, librarians often use their OhioLINK network to ensure they are making the best collection development decision for the consortium and their libraries (Wisneski, 2008).

While OhioLINK e-book collections offer more content for less money than individual libraries would pay if they purchased titles on their own, it is also true that dwindling library budgets has meant local funds intended to purchase titles that support specific local academic needs have been shrinking. In times of budget reductions, our libraries tend to make cuts to their monographs. No one solution will fix this issue, and OhioLINK committees continue to discuss the challenges and search for solutions that balance OhioLINK-provided resources with local collection needs.

2011: Ohiolink becomes part of OH-TECH, Ohio’s higher education technology consortium

In 2011, the Department of Higher Education created a new consortium designed to streamline technology operations. OH-TECH would be comprised of OhioLINK, the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), which provides high-performance computing and educational cyberinfrastructure, and OARnet, which provides Ohio's education, health care, public broadcasting and government communities with a high-speed fiber-optic network and other technology solutions. OhioLINK, while a library-focused organization, is very much seen as a technology organization in line with its fellow OH-TECH members, reducing costs to the state by providing more efficient and effective ways for Ohio to use technology to reduce the cost of higher education (Ohio Department of Higher Education, 2011).

William Studer’s “OhioLINK: A Concise History,” written for OhioLINK’s 10-year anniversary in 2002, almost foretold the virtues of such an organization. “It’s when you merge use of these state-of-the-art technology resources—OSC, OARnet and OhioLINK—that you can offer combined computing and telecommunications power and information services that lead the nation” (Studer, 2002, p. 16).

Effect

While OH-TECH was created to provide efficiencies for higher education for the state of Ohio, it has brought three organizations together that negotiate for and provide services through technology, facilitating broader thinking about how we could benefit both the State and Ohio citizens. The mere act of discussing our technology goals and objectives has helped each of our organizations look at access outside the scope of our own organizations. As OhioLINK considers future needs for more secure remote access, our OH-TECH partners will provide significant advantage as we design and implement such a program.

OH-TECH includes a sizeable Shared Infrastructure (SI) department that manages support, development, system administration, and security for OhioLINK, OSC, and OARnet. The centralized OH-TECH SI staff has brought a broader and more expansive level of technological expertise to OhioLINK and its members. The Log4j vulnerability identified in December of 2021 is an example of the effectiveness of the OH-TECH collaborative IT structure for OhioLINK. It would have been extremely difficult under OhioLINK’s former structure to quickly remediate any vulnerabilities while also maintaining access to resources.

2014: Ohiolink takes on centrally cataloging e-books, taking some of the burden from short-staffed libraries

In 2013, then Executive Director Gwen Evans, made the decision to overhaul OhioLINK cataloging workflows by switching to what the organization now refers to as “cataloging from the center.” Prior, OhioLINK relied on volunteers from member institutions to catalog shared resources. The “shared work” concept served the organization well when journal and databases were the only resources procured by OhioLINK. However, as the number of e-books OhioLINK purchased was increasing, the amount of records members needed to produce outgrew the hours that could be shouldered by volunteer member catalogers. This was particularly problematic as the growing need was matched by staff reductions in technical services departments. The situation resulted in delays loading records into the Central Catalog—thus delayed access for users (Flynn & Kilkenny, 2017).

The “cataloging from the center” program started in earnest in 2014, when OhioLINK hired a full-time cataloger. Working from vendor-provided records, the OhioLINK cataloging staff (which expanded to 2 FTEs in 2018) brings records for shared acquisitions up to an OhioLINK record standard, established by OhioLINK’s Database Improvement and Discoverability Policy Team. In addition, OhioLINK cataloging staff shares records with member institutions via an FTP site, loads them into a centrally managed ILS as well as to the Central Catalog, manages corrections, and works through record projects as needed (Flynn & Kilkenny, 2017).

Effect

The “cataloging from the center” program has had many positive effects for OhioLINK and its members. By providing high quality, full-level records for their local use, OhioLINK reduces member technical services workload. Since not all libraries can do authority control, it ensures the best catalog record for each title displays. For our members, having the records loaded quickly means faster access to OhioLINK procured resources for their users (Flynn & Kilkenny, 2017).

Perhaps the most unforeseen positive effects of the program occurred within the central offices. The program plays a large role in our e-book claiming process, functioning as a check point for delivery and access to OhioLINK procured content. Recognition of missed records for content we’ve purchased ensures our members receive access to all the content for which we have paid. In addition, with records loaded to a single central office ILS rather than stored in folders as separate MARC batches, we are able to recognize record inconsistencies and execute “clean-up” projects, which in turn makes the resources more easily discoverable in OhioLINK’s Central Catalog.

Over Fiscal Year 2021, OhioLINK’s catalogers loaded 82,440 authority records, provided 280,391 catalog records, and updated 16,036 records (OhioLINK, 2022).

2017–2018: Ohiolink begins affordable learning Ohio

After joint planning with OhioLINK library deans and directors and significant collaboration with OhioLINK members, OhioLINK developed Affordable Learning Ohio, a multi-faceted approach to lowering the cost of college for Ohio higher education students.

OhioLINK takes a pragmatic approach to textbook affordability by offering a range of options that try and reach the most faculty and students through inclusive access textbooks (discounted and immediately available through the institutions), Open Educational Resources or OER (high-quality, adaptable teaching materials), and library-owned materials (such as e-books and e-journal articles).

The initiative began when OhioLINK joined the Open Education Network (OEN) in 2017. OEN membership offered consortium members discounted OEN memberships as well as access to the Open Textbook Library and workshops about open educational resources. The OEN membership also led to the establishment of a group of Affordable Learning Ambassadors who advocate locally and regionally for the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) and to educate other librarians and faculty about the benefits of using OER and library provided resources as course materials (Bendo & Evans, 2019).

In another major state initiative, Affordable Learning Ohio also provided technology support and expertise to the Ohio Open Ed Collaborative, a program that received a $1.3 million grant from the Ohio Department of Education to develop twenty-two course content packages using OER and other no-cost materials including shared OhioLINK library content to reduce the cost of textbooks for high enrollment courses (Bendo & Evans, 2019).

Recognizing that OER content and its supporting materials take time to create and be adopted by faculty, OhioLINK negotiated and secured groundbreaking statewide wholesale price agreements with major textbook publishers for inclusive access e-books. The agreements offer pricing discounts for member institutions and include extended access rights to the content (Evans, 2018). Inclusive access agreements in tandem with OER adoption efforts, help provide a range of options for faculty as they decide on materials for their courses and are often the least time-consuming curriculum change for faculty while still providing savings for students (Bendo & Evans, 2019).

Effect

OhioLINK’s hybrid approach to affordable learning has more impact at scale. While OER adoption results in the biggest cost reduction for students, inclusive access scales faster to reduce costs for more students across more disciplines.

For the Fall 2018, Spring 2019, and Fall 2019 semesters, just over 93,000 students saw an aggregated reduction of $14,251,649. $3.6 million in savings from courses using materials from the Ohio Open Ed Collaborative (OER and library procured content), and $14.2 million from Inclusive Access textbooks (Evans & Schonfeld, 2020).

OhioLINK and member libraries continue to see a growing interest in OER and library provided materials for course use. In early 2022, OhioLINK announced a mini-grant program to Ohio faculty which assist them in locating and adopting OER and library provided materials for one of their identified courses. Twenty-nine faculty members from 15 different OhioLINK institutions applied for the program. As a result of these mini-grants, 4,000 Ohio college students could, in aggregate, save as much as $300,000 on textbooks in the Spring 2022 semester alone. Those savings compound every semester as faculty continue to use these materials.

2020: Ohiolink envisions the integrated library system and concludes that the market hasn’t kept up with libraries’ needs

In 2018, under the leadership of then Chair of OhioLINK’s Library Advisory Council Coordinating Committee, Xuemao Wang (Vice Provost for Digital Scholarship, former Dean and University Librarian at the University of Cincinnati) formed the “Transforming the ILS” working group, which hired Ithaka S + R to lead strategic discussions about library systems (OhioLINK, 2020). The work of the task force culminated in the white paper “It’s Not What Libraries Hold; It’s Who Libraries Serve. Seeking a User-Centered Future for Academic Libraries” that outlined ideas to improve our current systems with the intent of generating discussion and innovation in the ILS marketplace (Evans & Schonfeld, 2020).

Effect

The paper’s reception was favorable with discussions on social media, an unusually high click-through rate from Ithaka S + R’s direct mail campaign, and a significant number of downloads and with a notable number from Elsevier, EBSCO, and ProQuest (OhioLINK, 2020). Published just before ALA Midwinter 2020, attendees were eager to discuss the paper and complimentary of OhioLINK’s leadership.

The white paper served as an influential piece of thought leadership that lit a spark in the library community and continues to drive OhioLINK’s path forward for how it plans to manage and share resources.

2020: Ohiolink suspends network print lending due to the global COVID pandemic and secures Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funding to provide institutions with additional resources for teaching and learning

The pandemic had a substantial impact on OhioLINK’s resources and services. Due to campus closures, OhioLINK suspended the print lending program from March through early August 2020—the first time in its history. Working closely with an ad hoc Resumption of Print Lending Project Team and the Intercampus Services Policy Team, OhioLINK adjusted policies to bridge the service suspension and create a meticulous plan to bring the print lending network back-up. This exceptionally challenging and complex project required an enormous amount of planning and collaboration (OhioLINK, 2022).

In December 2020, OhioLINK received $2.5 million from the Ohio Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds through the Ohio Department of Higher Education. The funds were used to purchase digital resources for OhioLINK institutions, such as streaming video and e-books, to supplement online research, as well as provide instructional support for a wide range of curricula, including physical and applied science courses that traditionally have not been taught online (OH-TECH, 2020).

Effect

While OhioLINK libraries are supported by a strong core collection of electronic resources, the suspension of print lending underscored the large amount of print materials that are not yet available in electronic format. The inability to access print materials in a network of libraries that built their collections together for almost 30 years posed a distinct challenge. While OhioLINK’s library community was able to lean on the organization’s highly collaborative nature to find creative solutions to provide needed resources over the pandemic, it became clear that work still needs to be done within the library and publishing communities to ensure electronic access to scholarly resources.

The resources procured with GEER funding built stronger working relationships among OhioLINK office staff, member library staff, and faculty. In particular, it facilitated an active engagement campaign to faculty for course-adoptable resources that opened up a new avenue for OhioLINK and its members to engage with faculty on other initiatives, such as Affordable Learning Ohio.

Conclusion

In this second of a two-part article which covers 2003 through 2022, the identified OhioLINK milestones include the creation of a multi-publisher e-book collection and platform, becoming part of Ohio’s higher education technology consortium, offering shared cataloging services, efforts to reduce the cost of course materials, envisioning library ILS systems, and the suspension of print lending.

Looking back over 30 years of operations, it is easy to identify principles that thread through the organization’s formative milestones and see progress built on big ideas, empirical learning, and community engagement. At its most fundamental, OhioLINK activities are driven by the principles of providing access—better and more—in cost-effective, equitable, and expedient ways.