ReCAP, the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium, Inc., is a 501(c)3 not for profit corporation that preserves the collections of its member libraries and empowers its members to share their research materials and still be available to readers for into the future. ReCAP was incorporated in the year 2000 to enable its members to "further their needs for library storage and retrieval, and related collections and information management."
With over 15 million items currently in its care, ReCAP operates the world's largest library and archives preservation repository and provides daily print and digital delivery of these materials to its member libraries and to libraries around the world through interlibrary loan. The storage environment at ReCAP is highly optimized for preservation of library and archival collections. ReCAP's storage modules provide more than four times the longevity of conventional library stacks and its inventory control systems prevent any loss of materials.
The ReCAP members are engaged in a major shared collections initiative that has identified millions of items at ReCAP that will be kept in perpetuity and shared among ReCAP members, and will allow the partners to cooperate on extensive collection and preservation efforts for the printed record. The software that makes this possible is released under an Apache 2.0 open source license, and the planning and policy documents are available under a Creative Commons license.
ReCAP is committed to sustainable preservation in many ways - through its care of collections, its use of sustainable energy sources and maintenance of a conservation landscape, its cooperative business models, and through partnerships that explore opportunities to optimize and improve library collections management.