Quantifying the economic impact of shared library storage facilities

This study examines the economic impact of a shared, high-density print storage facility jointly operated by two large public university systems and serving multiple campuses. Using a cost modeling approach, it compares per item costs of housing low use print materials in a jointly operated high-density facility versus maintaining equivalent collections in traditional open stacks across member campuses. The analysis incorporates construction, maintenance, utilities, staffing, selection and transfer operations, circulation, and user time costs, along with benefits from freeing and repurposing campus space. Results indicate that the facility generates approximately 9.52 million dollars in annualized net benefits, including about 1.55 million in direct physical cost savings and 7.97 million in user benefits relative to open stacks. These gains arise primarily from the combination of dense centralized storage and a “resource-in-common” co-ownership mechanism that enables campuses to withdraw local copies while preserving access and reported collection size. However, participation and benefits are uneven, with a small number of heavy depositors and health science focused institutions realizing the largest net gains. The findings highlight both the benefits and the distributional challenges of shared print storage and suggest design and governance considerations for libraries or consortia pursuing similar models.