Draft Letter of Support - phase 2

Dear, 

I’m reaching out to invite your support for an exciting opportunity to advance collaborative collection-building in libraries. NISO, PALCI, and Lehigh are co-leading an IMLS National Leadership Grant proposal as part of the Collaborative Collections Lifecycle Project (CCLP)—and we would be honored to have your institution’s endorsement.

Why Does This Project Matter?

As library budgets shrink and vendor consolidation increases, libraries and consortia face mounting challenges in strategic collection development. While cross-institutional resource sharing has become more efficient, selection and acquisitions remain fragmented and inefficient due to existing system and organizational limitations.

The CCLP Implementation Phase will build upon the CCLP cross-sector efforts (backed by 2022 IMLS National Leadership Grant) of more than 80 volunteers representing sixty-eight organizations participating in leadership and working groups (read more about the project and the CCLP prototype). This phase will focus on: 

• Implementing and testing scalable, system-agnostic middleware that help institutions align daily collection-decisions with strategic and network priorities.

• Reducing duplication, increasing collaboration, and optimizing resources for libraries, consortia, and partners.

• Supporting small publishers, university presses, and open access initiatives to create a more balanced and competitive marketplace.

Our goal is to empower libraries with a shared infrastructure that enhances decision-making, strengthens cooperative arrangements, and creates a seamless network for interoperable data sharing.

How You Can Help?

A strong set of letters of support will demonstrate to IMLS the urgency and impact of this work. If your institution or organization values improving collaborative collection-building, we would greatly appreciate a brief letter expressing your endorsement.

Your letter could highlight:

• The collection development challenges your library or consortium faces, especially in regard to sustaining cross-institutional decision-making.

• How a vendor-neutral, system-agnostic approach could improve efficiency, affordability, and resource allocation.

• Your interest in participating in usability pilots, testing, or future adoption of the framework.

How to Submit Your Letter

A template is provided for your convenience, but personalizing it with your unique experiences will make it even more impactful.

Letters should be on institutional letterhead (electronic format is fine – PDFs preferred).

Although much appreciated, there is no financial or formal commitment required—just an expression of support.

Deadline: Please submit your letter to Keondra Bailey (kbailey@niso.org) by March 7.

Your support will help drive a transformational shift in how libraries collaborate on collection-building. Thank you in advance for considering this request—I look forward to working together to create a more sustainable and strategic future for libraries.

With appreciation,

DRAFT LETTER OF SUPPORT - PHASE 1 

On behalf of project organizers, I am writing to let you know about the Collaborative Collections Lifecycle Project (CCLP), and an upcoming application for IMLS funding for which we would like to request letters of support. The project, which is being led by NISO as lead applicant, together with Lehigh University Libraries and PALCI, along with partnership from a number of our organizations represented within the library/ publishing / technology community was invited to submit a full grant proposal to IMLS by March 25.

This project began with a series of community conversations designed to identify shared collaborative collections needs throughout the pandemic and aims to build an inclusive community and the needed structures to support practical means of library collections data interoperability and sharing. 

If you are interested in seeing this project move forward with funding from IMLS, please consider writing a letter of support by March 21. 

Template Letter of Support (You are encouraged to download and modify this template as needed)

Your letters of support need not commit your organization financially or in other respects, but will provide your perspective and urge IMLS to consider funding this initiative.  Please contact me directly with any questions.

Please send your letters of support to me at jill@palci.org, with Subject line: CCLP Support.

Kind regards,

Jill Morris