North/Nord advances its mandate through a portfolio of projects established in close collaboration with the Steering Committee (membership). Each project is guided by a team of experts representing diverse regions, institutions, and areas of knowledge across Canada, reflecting our commitment to inclusive national coordination.
North/Nord values the perspectives of our member libraries in shaping priorities for managing physical collections. To propose a new area of focus, please complete the following online form which can help guide our future projects. Through its collaborative initiatives, North/Nord seeks to confront and resolve enduring issues in library collections—particularly those that have historically limited representation, accessibility, or responsible stewardship with the ultimate gain of safeguarding Canada’s academic and cultural heritage.
National Topographic Series Maps (NEW)
This project seeks to improve access to, visibility of, and long-term stewardship for three complete sets of the National Topographic Series (NTS) 1:50,000 scale maps, covering print editions produced between the 1950s and 2012. While many Canadian organizations hold these print collections, not all are able to commit to long-term retention or storage in stable environments. The starting point for this project will focus on three institutions that have large NTS print collections and have committed to retain the 1:50K series for the retention period 2025 to 2050 in environments which are preservation positive. Chair TBD.
Digital Alignment (NEW)
The future of shared print can be strengthened by thoughtful alignment between print and digital collections, improving flexibility around access and format options. While digitization expands access and creates new possibilities for discovery, physical copies remain essential for preservation, authenticity, and long-term stewardship. Aligning strategies across print and digital ensures that libraries avoid unnecessary duplication while still protecting at-risk titles, particularly government documents, special collections, and other materials that may not be comprehensively captured in digital form. By integrating print retention commitments with digital surrogates, libraries can create complementary pathways that serve both access and preservation needs. This alignment not only strengthens resilience in the face of technological and financial uncertainty but also positions shared print as a bridge between traditional stewardship and the evolving digital scholarly ecosystem. Chair TBD.
Indigenous works
Through ongoing engagement with Indigenous community members and library representatives we have begun to explore pathways to participation and project possibilities with our initial first project based on a collection of periodicals curated by the COPPUL Indigenous Historical Periodicals Working Group responsible for developing this dataset of publications held across Canadian libraries. Sheila Laroque, a Métis librarian from the University of Saskatchewan, is the Working Group Chair. Jennifer Browning, from Carleton University, is the Metadata Subgroup Chair which provides technical expertise to support activities of the Working Group.
This initial project aims to establish the foundations for future shared print initiatives, focusing on the temporary stewardship of Indigenous materials and setting the stage for expanding our work to include projects around Canadian Indigenous Publishers and Organizations (a list curated by Jillian Metchooyeah, Red Deer Public Library).
Statement of Intention
Along with a Land Acknowledgement, this statement of intention outlines our commitment to engagement, listening and learning, and collaboration. Our intention with this shared print program is to prioritize and build upon relationships with our partners first. Without our project partners and our relationships current and future, we would not be able to conduct our work. We commit for this project to be a discussion, a call for collaboration, a chance to rethink the colonial structures embedded within Shared Print practices to date. Our ideas of how this work might be done will evolve based on what we hear from our partners and the communities we hope to work with. Learning about how we can work collaboratively is our first priority as we listen to new ideas around access and stewardship for shared print.
Government documents
Our first Gov Docs project built on the work of the National Overlap Study conducted in 2019 and funded by LAC (link). That study resulted in the identification of scarcely held materials and the addition of scarcity notes into local records. The first phase focused on identifying widely held titles and securing commitments from participating libraries (Title List). Nich Worby, University Of Toronto is the current Chair of the Working Group which seeks to expand its activities to serials.
Canadian Government Documents Project Documentation & Agreement for Archive Holders
Stable Print Repositories of Canadian Government Documents to inform local weeding decisions.
Canadian University Presses
Our first Canadian University Presses project focuses on monographs. This project identified both widely and scarcely held titles across academic and government libraries with the aim of securing retention commitments for preservation and access copies. Sincere thanks to Caitlin Tillman, University of Toronto, for her support as the Working Group Chair!
Canadian University Press Project Documentation & Agreement for Archive Holders
Researcher-in-Residence (2025-2026)
North/Nord is delighted to announce Jennifer Browning, Head of Cataloguing, Metadata, & Digitization, Carleton University Library, as our inaugural Researcher-in-Residence for 2025-2026. The North/Nord Researcher-in-Residence role supports research projects aiming to solve practical issues pertinent to shared print.
Jennifer will be researching collaboration as a strategic choice in libraries to understand the factors that enhance or impede collaborative outcomes, with a specific focus on the relationship between collaboration and technology in the context of shared print.
She will seek to answer the following research questions:
1) Are there conditions unique to North/Nord partners that may enhance or impede the outcomes of shared print projects? And how do these influence library participation and strategic collaboration?
2) What technical or administrative factors, such as access to collection analysis tools or availability of cataloguing staff, influence participation in shared print partnerships? What approaches can North/Nord take to provide solutions and enable participation?
As Canada’s national shared print network, North/Nord facilitates coordination among Canadian libraries to ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of research resources by balancing traditional print preservation with innovative, pragmatic approaches such as alignment with digitization and other services and programs across Canada. This well-timed research topic supports North/Nord’s goals for organizational growth and national-level impact, as technology plays a central role in shared print programs and underpins interorganizational participation.
In her role as the 2025 Researcher-in-Residence, Jennifer will engage both within North/Nord and across partner consortial organizations, consulting broadly to inform and advance this work. Please expect to see her in some of our meetings and professional activities.
www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-browning-53b00691