November 7, 2002
Contact: John F. Helmer, Orbis Executive Director (541-346-1835/e-mail:
jhelmer@darkwing.uoregon.edu) or Pam Mofjeld, Cascade Coordinator
(206-685-1607/e-mail: mofjeld@u.washington.edu)
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - In a private-public collaborative
venture, two successful academic library consortia have agreed to merge
and create the Orbis Cascade Alliance.
Over the next nine months, representatives of the new
alliance will draft necessary agreements. They expect to hold their
first library directors’ meeting next spring and merge catalogs next
summer. The new arrangement will serve faculty, staff and more than
174,000 full-time students enrolled at 26 member colleges, universities
and community colleges throughout Oregon and Washington, including
Central Washington University.
Services of both organizations will be combined to greatly
expand information available to students, faculty and staff, allowing
them to search and request library materials owned by member libraries
from a database of 22 million books, sound recording, films, maps and
more.
As an aid to quick delivery, the consortium will continue to
administer a courier service providing daily pick-up and delivery of
library materials at 60 libraries in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
“Building on a decade of working together on an informal
basis, it is wonderful to see Orbis and Cascade combine forces to form
such a powerful collective,” says Patricia Cutright, chair of the Orbis
consortium.
Virginia Steel, chair of the Interinstitutional Council of
Chief Librarians that oversees the Cascade consortium, adds, “Academic
libraries in the Northwest have benefited greatly from these consortia.
Working together will double the resources available to our patrons
and set the stage for new collaboration on many fronts.”
The Orbis Cascade Alliance will also strengthen cooperative
purchase programs and bring shared expertise to the purchase of
databases, electronic journals, electronic books and other digital
library materials.
“This is a win-win situation for both Orbis and Cascade,”
says Pam Mofjeld, Cascade coordinator. “More resources, delivered more
efficiently to more patrons throughout the region. This is a great
step forward for teaching and research in Oregon and Washington.”
Founded in 1993 with funds provided by the Meyer Memorial
Trust, the Orbis library consortium has grown from five to 20 members
in the last 10 years. The Cascade consortium was founded in 1995 and
offers similar services to CWU and Washington’s five other public
baccalaureate institutions. Although separate organizations, Orbis and
Cascade have historically collaborated on a number of projects.
“The Orbis Cascade Alliance is an outstanding example of the
impact made possible when private and public institutions collaborate
on a regional basis,” notes John F. Helmer, Orbis executive director.
“Libraries are natural collaborators as well as early adopters of the
best that informational technology has to offer. Working together, we
are building on collaborative success to bring a broader base of print
and electronic resources to faculty and students in the Northwest.”
