What is a MSCC Retention Copy?

As you look at a results list after searching the Bates library catalog, you may notice a new note—MSCC Retention Copy.  This note has no impact on your ability to check and out and use this title, but it is important. MSCC stands for Maine Shared Collection Cooperative, and this note indicates that Bates has agreed to keep that book in our collection for the next 15 years as part of a state-wide cooperative print book retention plan. Why 15 years?  This is the initial commitment, as we see how the emerging national network of print retention plans develops.

The eight largest libraries in Maine—Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, University of Maine-Orono, University of Southern Maine, the Maine State Library, Portland Public Library, and Bangor Public Library—were awarded a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to develop a plan to ensure the availability within the state of currently-owned print books published before 2003.  This plan is intended to protect the state’s research resources even as libraries remove unused copies from their own collections. In this first phase Bates has agreed to retain approximately 130,000 books, because only one or two of the participating libraries has a copy.  The Maine Shared Collections project is the only print retention project that includes public libraries, and is intended as a model for print retention programs as they develop throughout the county.

For more information, take a look at the MSCS website: http://www.maineinfonet.net/mscs/