CHICAGO COLLECTIONS CONSORTIUM
http://chicagocollections.org/
The University of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago. The
Newberry Library. Chicago is home to these and more first-class cultural
institutions. But rather than visiting each individually in turn throughout the
research process, those at the Chicago Collections Consortium have another idea
altogether. The Consortium seeks to unite the cultural institutions of the
greater Chicago area under one umbrella. Scholars, students, and the interested
general public, with the aid of the Consortium, may soon search Chicago’s
premiere collections all at once.
The Chicago Collections Consortium was founded in early 2011
as a collaborative effort between Chicago’s leading cultural institutions.
Following its first public exhibition at the Harold Washington Library in the
fall of 2015, the Chicago Collections Consortium has truly entered the city
scene. According to their mission, “Chicago Collections is a consortium of
libraries, museums, and other institutions with archives that collaborate to
preserve and share the history and culture of the Chicago region.” The
collaboration’s vision seeks to increase academic and pubic access to Chicago
archives and cultural resources through research, educational programming, and
open access-based projects. Governed by a Board of Trustees, three standing
committees, and eight advisory committees and working groups, the Consortium’s
leadership is drawn from member institutions within the Chicago Collections
Consortium.
MEMBERSHIP
The Chicago Collections Consortium consists of fourteen
Governing Members: the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago History Museum, the
Chicago Park District, the Chicago Public Library system, Chicago State
University, Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University, the Illinois Institute
of Technology, Loyola University Chicago, the Newberry Library, Northwestern
University, Roosevelt University, the University of Chicago, and the University
of Illinois – Chicago. In addition to these Governing Members, the consortium
also includes Participating Members at the Alliance Francaise, the Chicago
Zoological Society, the Hemingway Foundation, Lake Forest College, Northern
Illinois University, the Oak Park Public Library, the School at the Art Institute
of Chicago, and the Theater Historical Society of America.
The Consortium is divided into four levels of membership.[1]
Governing Members are institutions deemed to hold “significant collections
relevant to the Chicago region and/or its residents.” Dues for governing
members are $6,000 annually. Participating Members are institutions with
smaller holdings relating to Chicagoland and its residents. Alternately, a
participating member institution might also hold significant collections about
Chicago and Chicago residents, but is prevent by geography or other limiting
factors from participating fully. Participating Members pay $2,400 in annual
dues. Additionally, institutions might join at the Associate Member level.
Associates are typically smaller cultural institutions (such as a historical
society) that holds significant collections, but is otherwise constrained from
contributing at a higher level. In dire financial circumstances, the Chicago
Collections Consortium may request Associate Members to aid in Consortium-level
fundraising in order to offset the annual $300 dues. Finally, the Partners
Program is a membership level designed for commercial organizations or private
collections that cold significant collections related to Chicagoland and its
residents. These dues are $5,000 annually.
Annual dues are determined through the projected growth and
sustainability of the organization and its role within the Chicago Collections
Consortium. Member institutions that are heavily involved in Consortium
projects may receive adjusted fee levels. Member applications are reviewed by
the Chicago Collections Membership Committee, which consists of staff members
at the Chicago Public Library, Columbia College Chicago, the Newberry Library,
Northwestern University, the Chicago Zoological Society’s Brookfield Zoo, and
the Alliance Francaise de Chicago. All applications are approved by the Chicago
Collections Board of Directors, which consists of directors and leaders of the
Consortium’s Governing Member institutions. Applicants must confirm that their
organization is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, willing to support the
Chicago Collection’s mission and vision, able and willing to support programs,
willing to abide by institutional bylaws, financially able to pay annual dues,
and maintains collections clearly related to the greater Chicago area and its
citizens.
So, what is the benefit of joining the Chicago Collections
Consortium? The Consortium invites applicants to join the organization in order
to accomplish larger projects as a collective, such as the Explore Chicago
Collections citywide digital tool, that a single institution would be unable to
tackle on its own. The Chicago Collections Consortium is also a powerful tool
for facilitating awareness and access to Chicago’s premiere cultural
institutions and collections. With increased exposure through collaboration and
the Portal project, Chicago’s cultural institutions are intended to become easy
to identify, search, and locate.
PROJECTS
The Chicago Collections Consortium is currently focusing on
four primary projects. The first was the Consortium’s first public exhibition
as a collaborative organization. The exhibit, entitled “Raw Material:
Uncovering Chicago’s Historical Collections,” ran at the Chicago Public
Library’s Harold Washington Library from August 7-November 15, 2015.[2]
The exhibition featured a 1937 map of the Brookfield Zoo, courtesy of the
Chicago Zoological Society, and drawings of a Picasso sculpture by John
Fischetti, courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, and also featured a
corresponding speaker series.
The Chicago Collections Consortium is also deeply committed
to digital tools. The University of Illinois at Chicago Library currently leads
the latest, and perhaps largest, of the Consortium’s projects: an online
searchable portal to the collections of the Consortium’s fourteen governing
members. The portal, named Explore Chicago Collections, will offer the ability
to conduct a one-click search of the fourteen institutional collections. Users
will find lists of archival content, manuscript collections, and digitized
materials through the search portal. This tool is intended to facilitate
digital research as well as aid users in identifying where in Chicago their
desired research materials are located.[3]
Hand in hand with the digital tool, the Chicago Collections Consortium is
tasked with the formation of a governing structure in order to monitor,
continue, and grow the project with time. With time, Explore Chicago
Collections aims to supplement its search functions with digital exhibits,
library guides, and educational materials.
The Explore Chicago Collections project is funded primarily
through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation totaling $61,000. The
grant was awarded to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees on behalf of
the Library.[4]
That major funding has been awarded to the appointed Consortium member
institution in charge of the digital project rather than the Consortium itself
gives moment for pause. Should the project succeed or fail, will it remain tied
to the Chicagoland collaboration? Or might it become annexed into the already
impressive collection of library and information science-related
accomplishments at the University of Illinois?
Members of the Chicago Collections Consortium have also
collaborated in order to create a cooperative reference network. The virtual
reference desk answers queries about member collections and facilitates their
access and use. At the moment, the program works actively with teachers and
students participating in the Chicago History Fair through the Chicago Metro
History Education Center.[5]
With time, perhaps, the reference center might broaden its scope and serve
users outside of the Chicago Public School system.
The Consortium is also committed to seeking new collections
and members for its institutions. Aided with additional members, the Consortium
intends to continue sponsoring topical exhibitions and education and community
events.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Chicago Collections Consortium is off to an auspicious
start. Already the Consortium has laid significant groundwork for a major
digital project, a boundary-crossing reference network, and successfully
launched its first exhibition. The Consortium appears to have a well-organized
governing body with board and committee members evenly representing all member
institutions from participating museums, archives, libraries, and zoos. The
organization’s primary challenge, it seems, will be sustaining involvement from
all institutions as a collective. As individual member institutions assume
leadership positions, as the University of Illinois Libraries at Chicago have
done with the Explore Chicago Collections portal project, it may become
difficult to balance project leadership and funding with organizational
leadership. Despite this challenge, however, the Chicago Collections Consortium
appears to be successfully meeting its intended projects and goals at a steady
pace.
Perhaps the lesson to learn from the Consortium, then, would
be one of pacing and breadth. With enough members, the Consortium’s board and
eleven committees are easily filled with representative of member institutions.
In this way, the Chicago Collections Consortium may regularly meet without
overtaxing any one institution or individual. Perhaps it is through this
organizational framework that projects have grown simultaneously at a steady
pace without running into an overscheduled and overworked wall. As the Chicago
Collections Consortium continues to grow in ambition, project scope, and
membership count, it will be interesting to note the upcoming strengths of the
collaboration.
[1]
“About, Mission, and Vision,” Chicago
Collections, January 2016, http://www.chicagocollections.org/about.
[2]
David Free, “Chicago Collections opens inaugural exhibition.” College & Research Libraries News
76, no. 8 (September 2015): 414.
[3]
David Free, “Chicago Collections launches Explore Chicago Collections digital
portal,” College & Research Libraries
News 76, no. 11 (December 2015): 574.
[4]
“Major Grant Awarded to the Chicago Collections Consortium to Provide Access to
Chicago Collections,” CBMR Digest 27,
no.1 (Spring 2014): 20.
[5]
Scott Walter, “It Takes a City: Chicago Collections Brings Collaboration to the
Next Level,” ILA Reporter 34, no. 1
(February 2016): 25.
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