Category: Latest News

The following message was sent by the TRLN Executive Committee to the staffs of the member libraries on March 17, 2025.

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Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to inform you of some changes to the future direction of the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN). 

Since its founding in 1977—and with roots dating back to cooperative collecting agreements in the 1930s—TRLN has played an essential role in bringing together the library systems of Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State, and NC Central Universities. Together, we have extended our collective impact, contributing to the growth and sharing of library resources. 

Over the years, many of our staff have attended professional development workshops organized by TRLN, presented at TRLN’s Annual Meetings, and contributed to the implementation of TRLN Discovery and Project ReShare, allowing users to find and access materials from our member libraries quickly and easily. As the oldest library consortium in the U.S., TRLN has built a distinguished legacy of innovation, collaboration, and capacity building in the library profession. 

However, today’s digital-first landscape calls for a shift in strategy so that the consortium can remain effective and sustainable.

In 2024, the TRLN Executive Committee engaged an external consultant to conduct an in-depth operational review of the consortium. That review involved extensive stakeholder engagement with library staff at all four institutions, focusing on TRLN’s fundamental strengths as well as opportunities to reprioritize. The review also took into account the upcoming transition to Alma by all four library systems, with new tools that could take the place of TRLN Discovery as a next-generation unified discovery platform. 

Informed by this review, the Executive Committee has agreed to refocus TRLN’s strategy and structure. The result will be a smaller, more streamlined organization that prioritizes the activities TRLN is uniquely positioned to advance:

• Resource sharing among member libraries 
• Print courier service between member libraries
• Communities of practice among the staff of member institutions
• Maximizing collaboration within Alma during and after each institution’s transition to the same library enterprise system

This new strategic direction will be supported by a TRLN team of just one or two individuals, still based at Duke, operating in more of a coordinating role. To oversee and assist with this transition over the next 12-18 months, the TRLN Executive Committee has appointed Sue Baughman, former Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), to serve as a consultant. More information about TRLN’s new structure will be available in the coming months, and we encourage you to consult the FAQ on TRLN’s website for additional details.

At this time, we want to express our sincere gratitude to TRLN Executive Director Lisa Croucher, Applications Developer Genia Kazymova, and Program Administrator McKenna Lakin for their dedication and contributions to TRLN over the years. We are committed to providing them with all the support they need as they transition away from TRLN in the months ahead. 

While this is a new direction for TRLN, we are confident that it will enable our libraries to better serve our campus communities in a rapidly changing information landscape. We remain committed to building upon the successes of TRLN, including the shared print initiatives, courier service to facilitate resource sharing, and shared resource discovery platforms.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we shape this new chapter for TRLN. We look forward to our continued partnership in support of the evolving needs and goals of our campus communities now and in the future.

Sincerely,

María R. Estorino
Vice Provost and University Librarian, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Greg Raschke
Senior Vice Provost and Director of Libraries, North Carolina State University

Joseph A. Salem, Jr.
University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs, Duke University

Theodosia T. Shields, Ph.D.
Director of Library Services, North Carolina Central University

1. What changes are coming for TRLN in 2025?

In 2024, the TRLN Executive Committee engaged an external consultant to conduct an in-depth operational review of the consortium. Informed by this review, the Executive Committee has decided to refocus TRLN’s strategy and structure. The result will be a smaller, more streamlined organization, prioritizing activities where TRLN can provide the greatest impact:

• Resource sharing among member libraries
• Print courier service between member libraries
• Communities of practice among the staff of member institutions
• Maximizing collaboration within Alma during and after each institution’s transition to the same library enterprise system over the next several years

This new strategic direction will be supported by a TRLN team of one or two individuals, still based at Duke, who will operate in a coordinating role. To oversee and assist with this transition over the next 12-18 months, the TRLN Executive Committee has appointed Sue Baughman, former Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), to serve as a consultant.

2. Will the existing request and delivery services from the TRLN libraries be affected by these organizational changes?

All of the existing borrowing and lending services for library patrons will continue uninterrupted. As the libraries transition to the Alma integrated library system over the next several years, there may be some changes in the catalog search interfaces and other minor operational aspects of these services. The libraries will communicate these changes in advance to their university communities.

3. Will the TRLN institutions’ collaboration and cooperation on print materials retention and shared offsite storage continue?

Yes, these initiatives will continue as a high priority for TRLN.

4. What is the future of TRLN Discovery (collaborative software development project for the shared catalog)? 

If all four TRLN libraries migrate to the Alma integrated library system as planned over the next several years, they may adopt Ex Libris’ Primo application as the discovery layer for searching their combined collections, replacing TRLN Discovery. Key staff members from TRLN and the four institutions will develop a comprehensive technical and service plan for any such transition, looking at both short- and longer-term scenarios.

5. Will the TRLN Working Groups and Interest Groups continue?

Yes, active Working Groups and Interest Groups are welcome to continue to meet and work together. The TRLN website will continue to be available as a place for these groups to post and share information. In addition, TRLN will provide a home for new communities of practice bringing together staff of member institutions.

6. Will the TRLN institutions continue to collaborate on professional development activities for their staff? 

No. Developing, sponsoring, and hosting professional development activities will not be in scope for TRLN. Staff members are encouraged to take advantage of the professional development opportunities offered by other regional and national consortia and organizations such as ASERL and the many online and onsite conferences and meetings that are available locally, regionally, and nationally in their areas of interest and specialty. 

7. Will there be a TRLN Annual Meeting in 2025?

No. Convening an annual meeting will no longer be part of TRLN’s core mission.

8. Will the 2025 Library Technology Career Jumpstart Program still take place?

No. Due to the organizational changes that will affect TRLN’s ability to host the program, the previously scheduled Library Technology Career Jumpstart Program will be canceled. We understand that this may be disappointing news, especially to those who have already applied, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We will provide further updates as soon as possible.

ASERL, GWLA, and TRLN issue news release on comments on CASE Act.

In response to COVID-19, we have made a few changes to upcoming TRLN events, which may be transitioned to a virtual format, postponed, or cancelled. In addition to limited operations on our campuses, The Frontier, a frequent meeting space for TRLN interest groups and working groups, is closed through March 27. 

As we continue to monitor COVID-19 and communicate with TRLN library staff, we will update event pages with the most current information. The events listed below have been updated.

Electronic Resources Management Working Group Meeting, March 20 rescheduled for March 27

Professional Development Meeting, March 23 

Kristin Antelman Sustainable Scholarship Discussion, March 26

Library Management Skills Institute I: The Manager, May 5-7

At this time, no changes have been made for the Annual Meeting on July 31.

 

TRLN campus updates in response to COVID-19:

• Duke University: https://coronavirus.duke.edu 
• Duke University Libraries: https://library.duke.edu/about/coronavirus 
• Duke Medical Center Library: https://mclibrary.duke.edu/covid-19
• NC Central: https://www.nccu.edu/coronavirus
• NC State: https://www.ncsu.edu/coronavirus/ 
• UNC-Chapel Hill: https://www.unc.edu/coronavirus/ 
• UNC-Chapel Hill University Libraries: https://library.unc.edu/covid-19-updates/ 
• UNC-Chapel Health Sciences Library: https://guides.lib.unc.edu/COVID19 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding TRLN programs or services, please email info@trln.org. 

To close out 2019, there were a number of meetings across TRLN so we thought it would be good to provide a brief roundup summary.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Interest Group

TRLN’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Interest Group met on December 13th to reestablish the group and discuss possible areas to collaborate as a consortium. The group plans to meet on a quarterly basis and staff from across TRLN libraries are welcome to attend. For more information reach out to the interest group’s chair, Ciara Healy (ciara.healy@duke.edu) or info@trln.org.

TRLN Discovery

A newly formed team co-chaired by Jacob Shelby, NC State’s Interim Lead Librarian for Metadata Technologies, and Kelly Farrell, TRLN’s Program Officer, held its first meeting on December 13th and plans to meet monthly. The TRLN Discovery metadata team will be a forum for discussing metadata-related discovery topics for the catalog that the team would want to build shared policy or infrastructure around. The team will investigate use cases, issues, and approaches, interface with stakeholders, and ultimately propose recommendations for the TRLN Discovery development team.

On December 16th, the product owners and development team held its quarterly in-person meeting to discuss longer term priorities for the shared index. Also in attendance was Tim McGeary, Associate University Librarian for Digital Strategies and Technology, Jill Sexton, NC State’s Associate Director for the Digital Library, and Tim Shearer, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Associate University Librarian for Digital Strategies and IT.

Provosts’ Forum on Scholarly Communication Steering Committee

The steering committee held its kick-off meeting on December 16th to discuss the initial charge for the committee and begin developing a forum proposal. The committee will continue refining the scope of the forum and present the proposal to the TRLN Executive Committee.

 

TRLN has been busy exploring diversity, equity, and inclusion events, programs, resources, training, and more activities we could do as a consortium. One example of upcoming programming is the screening and panel for Change the Subject – registration open now!

To track all the ideas we receive, we’ve created a Trello board that anyone can access. On this board you will find a card for each idea and by selecting a card, you can get more information. Many ideas have been shifted into quarters throughout 2020 and we will keep updating this board as new ideas are shared and planned for the coming years.

TRLN staff are reaching out to all TRLN groups over this quarter and next to garner more ideas and feedback for DEI work we can undertake together. The Change the Subject screening is one result of this outreach.

We want to structural build DEI into all the work TRLN does. This will take time and lots of work, but we think documenting our current and future activities is a step in making positive change. If you have any ideas or feedback to share about what TRLN can do to weave DEI throughout our work, please don’t hesitate to reach out to info@trln.org!

Lisa Croucher, TRLN Executive Director, traveled to Charleston, SC, November 4 to November 6, to participate in various meetings associated with the Charleston Conference. The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) meeting included a presentation by James Wiser, Library Consortium Director, Community College League of California, on the accessibility lawsuit ongoing in the Los Angeles Community College System. A federal court recently ruled in favor of the National Federation of the Blind due in part to accessibility issues with the library. Mention of the case and ruling were repeated in a few subsequent meetings and conversations serving as a wake-up call about the importance of ensuring accessibility of library resources. There was general belief that this was the first of many such suits coming down the pike and that all of our institutions should be vigilant and prepared.

GOBI hosted its annual gathering of libraries, consortia, and publishers to focus on the future of print books in academic libraries. The session on Textbook Affordability, Open Access, and the Institutional Mission included a presentation by Dean Smith, director of Duke University Press. DeGruyter hosted a meeting led by Michael Zeoli, formerly of EBSCO and now with DeGruyter, that focused on similar topics, using two publications as fodder for conversation: Cost of Publishing Monographs (2016: https://sr.ithaka.org/publications/the-costs-of-publishing-monographs/) and Library Acquisition Patterns (2019: https://sr.ithaka.org/publications/2019-report-library-acquisition-patterns/). The meeting included an exercise to help participants view the publishing ecosystem from each other’s perspective.