by Gali Halevi, Collections Director for the CLOCKSS archive.
As the year comes to a close, reflecting on a full year at CLOCKSS offers the opportunity to assess progress, challenges, and future priorities. Collection development is a dynamic and strategic endeavor—one that must balance user needs, engagement, and evolving trends with the unique mission of a dark archive. While traditional collection development is grounded in making content directly accessible to users, working in a dark archive environment introduces its own challenges: content isn’t immediately available unless triggered, which makes collection decisions more strategic and deliberate.
This reflection explores my journey this past year, lessons learned in advancing collection development in a dark archive, and goals as we look toward 2025.
The Unique Challenge of Collection Development in a Dark Archive
Collection development in a dark archive setting like CLOCKSS isn’t just about user demand or purchasing trends. It’s about proactive stewardship—curating a body of materials that anticipates long-term preservation and access needs without focusing on immediate accessibility. In this context, decisions must be informed not just by user requests, but by an understanding of the broader scholarly communication ecosystem, mission-driven priorities, and forward-thinking vision.
In a dark archive, the focus is on ensuring content remains safe, accessible when needed, and aligned with the archive’s mission. This places an added emphasis on strategic planning, institutional priorities, and understanding the lifecycle of scholarly research and publishing.
Vision, Mission, and Scholarly Communications in Collection Development
As a collection development director in a dark archive, vision and mission guide every decision. At CLOCKSS, this means grounding choices in the mission to preserve content vital to the scholarly communication system, emphasizing long-term access for research, teaching, and discovery. It requires a strong understanding of the changing scholarly communications landscape and the challenges associated with trends such as open access publishing, new publishing models, and shifting priorities among disciplines and research communities.
Engaging with this environment involves not only a technical analysis of trends but also building partnerships and collaboration with publishers, libraries, and other key stakeholders. Strategic choices must align with evolving priorities while safeguarding diverse and critical scholarly materials.
Some strategic areas of focus in 2025 include:
- Exploring and understanding shifts in open access publishing to ensure that our preservation strategy accounts for these trends.
- Balancing short- and long-term priorities in terms of both user needs and preservation strategies.
- Assessing diversity and inclusion in collection development efforts, ensuring that underrepresented voices and perspectives are maintained and preserved.
As collection development strategies evolve, it is important to build collections that are not only reflective of user demands but grounded in these larger conversations about equity, inclusion, and access within the scholarly ecosystem.
The Role of Leadership and Governance in Collection Development
One of the most important lessons this year has been recognizing the role of a strong and engaged board in supporting and driving collection development efforts. A successful dark archive strategy relies on guidance from a board composed of librarians and publishers—individuals with the expertise, understanding, and networks to direct the archive’s growth and priorities. Their input ensures that decisions are well-informed, user-centric, and mission-aligned.
The collaborative nature of a diverse board allows for multiple perspectives, ensuring that the archive remains attuned to the needs of all stakeholders—researchers, institutions, and publishers. For me, this has meant leveraging their collective experience, listening to feedback, and fostering active dialogue to shape the collection development process in ways that are transparent, intentional, and reflective of evolving user needs.
Starting with a Data-Informed Analysis and Strategic Priorities
My approach this year began with a careful, deep analysis of the composition of the CLOCKSS collection. This analysis involved exploring trends related to content types, user engagement, subject areas, and publisher representation. Understanding what materials make up the archive, and identifying gaps or areas for potential growth, is essential for any effective collection development strategy.
From this foundation, I’ve prioritized diversity and inclusion, emphasizing the importance of working with publishers and libraries committed to safeguarding materials that represent underrepresented perspectives. This effort has involved fostering relationships with diverse stakeholders and investing in collaborations that ensure the inclusion of historically marginalized voices and multidisciplinary perspectives in the collection.
Diversity and inclusion are not just ethical imperatives—they are foundational to creating a rich and comprehensive resource for future generations of researchers. Thus, intentional outreach and strong partnerships with like-minded publishers are essential to maintaining this commitment.
Key Lessons Learned in 2024 & Strategic Goals for 2025
After reflecting on the past year, a few key lessons stand out:
- User Needs Must Inform the Long-Term Strategy:
While content in a dark archive is not immediately accessible to users, ensuring we understand their needs and priorities will remain critical. Continued engagement with users, researchers, and libraries is vital to aligning our strategies with emerging trends and gaps in access. - Collaboration Drives Success:
Engaging with publishers, institutions, and other preservation organizations has proven invaluable. Building partnerships strengthens collection development, improves access pathways, and aligns us with the evolving publishing environment. - Diversity & Inclusion Must Be Actionable Priorities:
Ensuring diversity in the archive—through both the content we choose to preserve and the partnerships we cultivate—is critical. Moving forward, I aim to strengthen these efforts by focusing on systematic strategies to ensure historically marginalized scholarship is prioritized.
Looking ahead to 2025, my goals include:
- Strengthening partnerships with organizations and publishers to expand access to underserved collections.
- Implementing a forward-looking strategy that accounts for changing models in open access publishing and other emerging trends.
- Exploring technological opportunities to make the archiving process more transparent and engaging for users while maintaining the core mission of a dark archive.
- Expanding efforts around diversity and inclusion by connecting with networks and partners actively preserving diverse and inclusive scholarship.
Other Strategic Priorities for Collection Development in a Dark Archive
In addition to the points above, other key areas of focus for a collection development director of a dark archive include:
- Anticipating Emerging Scholarly Communication Trends:
Research trends, publishing formats, and technological advancements change rapidly. Ensuring the archive is forward-looking requires consistent analysis and adaptation to shifts like AI-generated research, new open-access funding models, or evolving digital preservation needs. - Strengthening Trigger Mechanisms:
Dark archives rely on trigger mechanisms for user access. Ensuring these pathways are efficient, transparent, and robust is critical for the user experience. - Building Infrastructure for Transparency & Trust:
Transparency around what is preserved and the selection methods for inclusion can build trust among users and stakeholders. Clear, well-communicated policies around preservation decisions and priorities are key. - Collaborating with Funders & Strategic Stakeholders:
Financial sustainability is vital for a dark archive's long-term success. As a collection development director, strengthening relationships with funding bodies and strategic partners ensures the financial stability required to maintain a robust preservation strategy.
A Vision for the Future
This past year at CLOCKSS has been a journey of learning, reflection, and strategic growth. Balancing technical priorities with a user-centered approach has taught me the importance of integrating analysis, partnerships, diversity, and mission-driven vision into every decision. As we look toward 2025, my focus remains on sustaining strategic engagement, refining collection development priorities, and strengthening partnerships with publishers and libraries that align with the values and goals of preservation.
The next chapter for CLOCKSS and dark archive development will focus on maintaining sustainability, advancing innovation in preservation strategies, and ensuring that every decision continues to center the long-term needs of the scholarly communications community. With these priorities in mind, I’m excited to enter the next year with focus, collaboration, and purpose.