About the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation

The Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation (IPLC) is a voluntary union of 13 sovereign academic libraries: Brown University, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Stanford University, and Yale University.

Mission

For the benefit of current and future scholars globally, the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation leverages our collective assets to improve discovery of and access to information, and its innovative use at scale for the creation of new knowledge, and exercises collective action and leadership in helping shape the discourse around scholarly communication, and the outcomes of that discourse.

Strategic Priorities

  1. Collaborative Resource Sharing & Discovery
  2. Collaborative Collection Development & Management
  3. Collaborative Leadership & Advocacy in the Scholarly Communication Ecosystem

Programs & Initiatives

IPLC Program: A University Librarian-approved collaborative, ongoing effort of the partnership with significant resources (e.g. dedicated Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation staff) beyond existing staff of member institutions.

IPLC Initiative: A University Librarian approved collaborative effort managed by the staff of the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation’s member institutions.

Background

The Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation had its genesis in another partnership: namely, that between Columbia, Penn, and Yale to develop the highly successful BorrowDirect resource-sharing service. BorrowDirect went live in Fall 1999. In 2002, the partnership expanded to 7 member institutions, with the addition of Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Princeton. In 2011, the partnership grew again, to 9, with the addition of Harvard and MIT. Between 2013 and 2016, it grew to include its current thirteen institutions, with the addition of the University of Chicago, followed by Johns Hopkins, Duke, and Stanford.