FIVE COLLEGES OF OHIO MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING REGARDING SHARING OF LIBRARY MATERIALS

I. Background: Upon establishment of CONStor, the joint storage facility of the Five Colleges of Ohio Consortium, Inc., the library directors requested the creation of this Memorandum of Understanding in order to define ownership of and access to shared materials. The goal of this memorandum is to ensure that shared items, whether in CONStor or in the individual campus libraries, remain perpetually available to all members of the Five Colleges community. Decisions about CONStor usage and policies are made by the Library Committee (the library directors) of the Five Colleges with approval from the Five Colleges Board of Directors. OhioLINK and the international interlibrary loan community are secondary users of CONStor.

II. Concerning the College of Wooster, Kenyon College, Denison University, Oberlin College, and Ohio Wesleyan University campus collections, we agree that:

a. The five libraries will guarantee perpetual access to all circulating library materials, including those in CONStor, as long as the materials remain physically useable.

b. None of the five libraries will discard the last copy of any book or other type of library material, regardless of its location, without the agreement of all other member libraries. If a library does not agree, it will be given the item to add to its collection.

III. Concerning CONStor, we agree that:

a. The CONStor storage facility is a place for long-term storage of valuable but little-used library materials. It is not to be used as a way station for materials that should be discarded. Only materials in circulating condition may be placed in CONStor.

b. To maximize storage space and efficiency of operation, no duplicates will be permitted in CONStor.

c. Once a member library has deposited an item in CONStor, the other libraries may discard their copies of that item, if they choose, with the secure knowledge that the CONStor copy will always be available.

d. Materials sent to CONStor will remain the property of the original owners. The insurance for such items will be maintained by the owning libraries. If a library needs to return a stored item to its campus collection permanently, it will guarantee the other consortium libraries perpetual access to the item through OhioLINK channels, as long as it is in the circulating collection.

Approved 1/7/02 by Library Committee; 1/10/02 by Chief Financial Officers.