About Membership
PALCI’s membership is diverse – consisting of academic and research libraries of all types within our region.
Today, PALCI consists of more than 70 academic and research libraries, private and public, in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia. Member institutions range from small liberal arts colleges to publicly funded universities to ARL institutions and the State Library of Pennsylvania. Libraries in PALCI have holdings in excess of 36 million volumes and a combined FTE of over 550,000 students and faculty.
Membership Criteria & Values
PALCI’s primary mission is to enable cost-effective and sustainable access to information resources and services for academic libraries in Pennsylvania and surrounding states.
Membership Eligibility Indicators
Requirements
- Located in Pennsylvania or contiguous state
- 4-year/baccalaureate+ nonprofit academic institution OR nonprofit research library
- At least one full-time library employee with an accredited advanced degree in library science or an equivalent related advanced degree, as well as
- An integrated library system (ILS) or equivalent system that is able to interface with PALCI’s EZBorrow resource sharing platform
Other Membership Application Success Indicators
- Collections and/or other resources to share with fellow PALCI partner institutions
- Sufficient staff, budget, technology infrastructure, and resource capacity to enable active engagement, sharing and participation in programs, services, events, community/networking activities, and governance
- Alignment with PALCI values
- Interest in innovation and community-owned infrastructure
- A willingness to participate, collaborate, innovate, and partner to the fullest extent possible
- Institutional support
PALCI Values
We welcome applications from those who share PALCI values of excellence, transparency, innovation, and respect for diversity and privacy in order to earn and maintain mutual trust. PALCI strongly encourages applications from institutions that represent individuals from diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to diversity in race, ethnicity, culture, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, geographic location and career stage.
Participation in PALCI
Participation in PALCI requires collaboration and commitment to the consortium. Partners agree to play an active part in PALCI, including but not limited to, the provision of consultation, advice, and expertise to colleagues at other PALCI Partner Libraries; support for staff participation in PALCI forums, workshops, and continuing education opportunities; and support for appropriate staff to serve on PALCI committees, task forces and working groups.
Criteria
PALCI Members are defined in Section 4.1 of the Bylaws as the libraries of not-for-profit, accredited, academic degree-granting institutions and other research libraries in Pennsylvania and contiguous states that are able to contribute resources from their library’s collections that are of interest and value to the membership.
