Make evidence-based decisions about your print collection with confidence

Photo illustation: GreenGlass on laptop in library setting

GreenGlass is an interactive, web-based application that provides actionable insights needed to confidently manage sustainable collections and protect the scholarly record.

Responsibly manage low-use print monographs and serials

Reclaim valuable physical space while protecting the scholarly record.
Establish appropriate criteria for deselection projects.

Make informed decisions on which titles to deselect, retain, digitize, and transfer to remote storage or special collections.

Decision support for monographs Decision support for serials

Get comprehensive and insightful views of collection data

Explore and visualize your collections in the context of collection data from many libraries.
Combine local circulation and item data with WorldCat holdings, HathiTrust Digital Library holdings, and authoritative title lists.

Develop preservation and withdrawal scenarios with a multi-faceted Query Builder.
Segment your collection by searching multi-edition titles, possible duplicates, multi volume sets, subjects, and call numbers.

← Swipe for more →

Total recorded uses: Shows number of collection items and how many times they’ve been circulated. Colored overlays illustrate various breakdowns such as presence in HathiTrust that can help determine weeding candidates.

Year published: Depicts number of collection items by publication date. Color coding indicates number of circulations. The left-most column serves as a catch-all for items published before 1920.

Subject distribution: This shows the distribution of a library’s collection by high-level subject categories (US Library of Congress classes), data that is rarely seen in this graphed format.

GreenGlass for Serials: The top graph illustrates the entire publication run of a serial title in WorldCat holdings; the second presents the library’s local holdings for that title.

Holdings in the US: This chart presents a library’s holdings relative to how commonly held they are by other US libraries. The bar graph progresses from least-held on the left to most often held on the right.

Group overlap: Library groups here can compare collections, with each bar representing a group member with a shared print program. Length of the bar indicates size of the collection, while color coding shows which materials are held uniquely or more commonly.

HathiTrust: This graph shows each library in a group or consortium, and what percentage of their materials are in HathiTrust, both in copyright and in public domain.

Accelerate shared print management efforts

Share the responsibility and costs of maintaining print collections.
Generate custom reports and lists for shared print activities.
Carefully manage the drawdown of low-use print titles while supporting shared print archiving efforts.

Learn how a small group of academic libraries in Iowa used GreenGlass to share print resources

“With GreenGlass and the product team, we have the data and advice we need to make strategic decisions about our collections. We are planning off-site storage and a reimagining of our main library, and we rely on the tools and information from GreenGlass to make these projects a success. Working with our consortia partners, the reports and analysis from GreenGlass are essential for us to manage our shared print projects together.”

Joseph Hafner
Former Associate Dean, Collections Development,
McGill University

“GreenGlass for Serials is key to ensuring that we achieve our collection goals because it helps us to make informed retention and deselection decisions about our serials, enabling us to create space in the stacks and ensuring that our physical collections will be able to continually evolve over time.”

Katy Gabrio
Associate Library Director
Macalester College

Decision support for monographs

GreenGlass supports libraries and groups in making evidence-based decisions regarding the management of print monograph collections. Group functionality employs visualizations and modeling tools that allow groups of libraries to understand their collective collections with respect to overlap, subject dispersion, and usage.

For monographs projects, your GreenGlass database includes:

Your library’s bibliographic and item-level data, with live links to your OPAC
Your library’s usage data, including circulation, reshelving counts, and reading room loans

WorldCat holdings data for your peer libraries, your state, your country, and the world
HathiTrust Digital Library holdings, both public domain and in-copyright
Overlap between your library’s print and electronic books

CHOICE Review and CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles flags
Customized title protection rules

Get started with GreenGlass for monographs

Deliver more study space and benchmark library stock

Find out how University College London manages extensive library collections safely across 18 sites and an off-site storage facility.

Read our member story

Decision support for serials

Serials analysis and management can be time-consuming and complex as it often requires evaluation of a much wider range of information than monographs. GreenGlass is a data-driven decision support tool that empowers your library to take local action on its print serials by leveraging collection data from many libraries. It works with all major ILSs and helps make decisions for your entire system or specific departments.

For serials projects, GreenGlass:

Includes data on publication status, date ranges, rarity, out-of-date status, and more
Helps define goals for retention, deselection, and other collection management priorities

Identifies duplicate holdings in archives like JSTOR and HathiTrust, as well as holdings archived by shared print programs

Improves both the efficiency and value of serials collection activities
Recognizes serials data clean-up opportunities

Get started with GreenGlass for serials

Making serials deselection decisions with confidence

A 30-minute demonstration of serials functionality in GreenGlass.

Watch the demo

Optimize your print collections

Driven by the shift from print to digital formats, competing demands for library space, and the shrinking capacity to support long-term print, the need to optimize print collections has never been greater. Contact us to get started with GreenGlass.