Research interests in African Studies range from anthropology to zoology, with source material produced in an array of languages -- indigenous, colonial European and Arabic. To support this research, the Library of Congress collects and catalogs material from 29 African countries, and both UCLA and UC Berkeley participate in their Cooperative Acquisiton Program. This year, for the first time, UCLA and UCB created a shared collection development approval plan, taking advantage of the new integrated library system and fulfillment network to provide a richer and more diverse information ecosystem to students, faculty and independent scholars.

COVID-19 has exposed fissures, frictions, and tensions in library resource sharing models. Will we convert this crisis into an opportunity for collectively determining international collections and their access? This panel examines new and old models for collaboration to ensure that the UC Libraries’ international collections responsibly retain their “distinctiveness”—and their excellence, as we head deeper into the future.