UK libraries share digital collections to satisfy customer demand on budget.

All six library systems were already using cloudLibrary and saw cloudLink as a way to vastly expand their collection while remaining on budget. Sarah Hernik of Reading says, “We’re quite a small library. We saw cloudLink as a fantastic way to provide our customers with ebooks and eAudio at a fraction of the cost of purchasing our own collection.”

The six systems vary in size, as do their digital collections. Prior to joining cloudLink, the collection sizes ranged from 600 titles to around 5,000 in the largest. Though each library was enthusiastic about expanding the titles available to their customers, there was, understandably, some concern that the smaller libraries would benefit more than the largest. That worry has proven to be unfounded. From April to July, even the largest libraries have discovered that a full 57% of their customer’s digital materials are coming from outside their own borough.

cloudLink works really well. Titles that interest small audiences become more cost-effective when we are able to share them with other library users.
-Cheney Gardner, Library Development Manager

With cloudLink, libraries can maintain both private and shared collections while providing priority access to their own materials for their own users. The increased collection reduces hold times for popular items, as more copies are available, but it also provides a greater variety of titles. “Our customers are benefitting from borrowing titles we hadn’t purchased,” says Cheney Gardner, Library Development Manager of Richmond. “cloudLink works really well. Titles that interest small audiences become more cost-effective when we are able to share them with other library users.” By joining cloudLink, the shared collection size has risen to over 16,000 titles. That figure represents a ten-fold increase for the smallest libraries and a three-fold increase for even the largest.

“Loans of our stock have gone through the roof. It’s given our customers access to a wider range and larger number of titles than we could ever hope to be able to do with the size of our materials budget.” says Peter Aldridge of Peterborough.

Overall, cloudLink has been a brilliant success for all six Public Authorities, and they are eager to encourage other libraries to link with them to expand everyone’s collection even farther.

“We really like cloudLink and think it is a great development in eLending!” says Sarah Hernik.