The number of individuals working on a collaborative purchase should be limited; however, it may be necessary to have a large team involved behind the scenes to make the process work smoothly.
This article will describe the key processes and strategies the two campus libraries adopted to achieve this goal and recommended best practices pertaining to: coordinating and developing a collaboratively minded team, devising shared goals and expected outcomes, identifying and properly prioritizing relevant e-resources, building interlibrary and vendor relationships, and establishing negotiation and licensing strategies suited towards collaborative purchases.
Following the conclusion of the year-long ERMP project, the Duluth campus has the responsibility of initiating collaborative purchases because of their current budget constraints.