International Coalition of Library Consortia

Orbis Cascade Alliance
Website: http://www.orbiscascade.org

Brief description

The Orbis Cascade Alliance is a consortium of private and public institutions of higher education in Oregon and Washington. The Alliance has a core membership of 36 colleges, universities, and community colleges and serves a larger group of approximately 280 institutions in the Northwest through one or more of the following major program areas: Summit union catalog with reciprocal borrowing: 433,117 items borrowed annually (FY08). Courier service: one to two-day delivery of over 300,000 packages per year in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Electronic resources: annual savings or increased access valued at $8 million each year. Northwest Digital Archives providing enhanced access to thousands of archival and manuscript collections in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington through a union database of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids. Conferences & workshops: resource sharing, collection development, instruction, copyright, digital reference, and electronic resource management systems.

Legal structure

University-supported (formal)

Primary functions

• Collections sharing
• Electronic content licensing
• Interlibrary loan/document delivery
• Storage Facilities
• Training
• Union lists/shared online catalogs

Number and type of member libraries

36, Academic