Orbis Cascade Alliance
Orbis Cascade Alliance is a non-profit consortium of academic libraries enabling members to share resources and library management systems.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1993
- HeadquartersEugene, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Orbis Cascade Alliance does
The Orbis Cascade Alliance is a consortium of academic libraries. The consortium consists of 38 academic libraries in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. It is a non-profit organization focused on enabling member libraries to share library management systems and discovery interfaces. The organization also works on collective purchasing, and facilitates access to unique and local collections, and coordinates resource sharing for member libraries.
Orbis Cascade Alliance firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Orbis Cascade Alliance
- Legal name
- Orbis Cascade Alliance
- Website
- https://www.orbiscascade.org/
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1993
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Orbis Cascade Alliance is a non-profit consortium of academic libraries enabling members to share resources and library management systems.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Orbis Cascade Alliance industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Library Consortium Services
- NAICS
- Libraries and Archives (51921), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Interlibrary Loan (ILL) & Resource Sharing Operations (EDAEAGAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Digital Library & Electronic Resources Operations (e-Resources, Repositories, Licensing) (EDAEAGAF), Data Engineering, Integration & ETL/ELT Services (BPAEAHAB)
Keywords
Where Orbis Cascade Alliance is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Eugene
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Orbis Cascade Alliance business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Institutional Membership Dues: Member institutions pay dues to participate in the consortium, enabling access to shared library systems, collective purchasing, courier services, and resource sharing networks. Average cost is $39 per student FTE for a full suite of library resources and services.
- Shared Electronic Resource Subscriptions: Collective licensing of journals, databases, ebooks, and streaming video collections with cost savings passed to members. Members save an estimated 25% on subscriptions licensed through the Alliance.
- Project ReShare Partnership: Champion Consortium contributing to open source library resource sharing platform development
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Full Suite Membership - $39 per student FTE |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels10 records
Orbis Cascade Alliance product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Orbis Cascade Alliance operates a shared library management system (Ex Libris Alma/Primo VE), provides resource sharing through the Summit platform and courier service, delivers collective licensing of ebooks/streaming videos/databases, and offers archival discovery via Archives West. It is a library consortium that enables 38 academic institutions across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to share infrastructure and purchasing power.
Product overview
The Orbis Cascade Alliance operates as a library consortium providing a unified platform of interconnected library services. The core infrastructure is the Shared Integrated Library System (SILS) powered by Ex Libris Alma and Primo VE, which provides the shared catalog and collection management. Supporting services include Summit (resource sharing/interlibrary loan), Archives West (archival discovery), Digital Collections with the Harvester tool, Courier Service (physical delivery), and the Ebook Standing Group program. The Alliance also provides Primo Central Management for standardized discovery interfaces, and organizes professional development through the Online Northwest conference. The consortium serves academic libraries across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Archives West: A union database of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids providing enhanced access to thousands of archival and manuscript collections in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, along with support for archival collection management through ArchivesSpace
- Summit
- SILS
- Online Northwest
Products and services
- Shared Integrated Library System (SILS) Shared library management system powered by Ex Libris Alma and Primo VE, providing shared catalog, collection management, and discovery interface for member institutions.
- Summit Resource Sharing Resource sharing platform enabling interlibrary loan and borrowing of physical materials (books, media) across Alliance member libraries, with 22 million items available.
- Archives West Union database of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids providing access to thousands of archival and manuscript collections in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.
- Courier Service Cost-effective physical delivery network for exchanging library materials for more than 200 participating libraries across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, with average transit time of 3 days.
- Digital Collections Service supporting the creation, maintenance, and aggregation of unique digital content held by Alliance libraries, including metadata cleanup, training, and support.
- Primo Central Management Service Three-year pilot service providing standardized Primo instances and technical support to opt-in Alliance members, with limited customizations for institutional branding.
- Ebook Standing Group (ESG) Program Collective ebook acquisition program with 234,000+ subscribed ebooks and 22,000+ owned ebooks, including Oxford University Press and Wiley titles.
- Streaming Video Collection Shared streaming video collection with 80,000+ subscribed streaming videos available to all member institutions.
- ArchivesSpace Support Support for archival collection management using ArchivesSpace, including training and documentation for member institutions.
- Generative AI Training Course Free self-paced course covering basics, challenges, ethics, assessment, and tips for effective use of generative AI tools.
Quantifiable outcome
- 80% average cost savings on shared library system for member institutions, totaling $10.4 million in collective savings
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Orbis Cascade Alliance
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Orbis Cascade Alliance technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration9 records
AI capability2 records
Feature6 records
Orbis Cascade Alliance partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Project ReSharecoreOrbis Cascade Alliance joined Project ReShare as a Champion Consortium in May 2024. The partnership contributes to creating an open source, community-owned, library resource sharing platform. The Alliance leverages ReShare's innovative solutions to enhance access to digital content while contributing to the development of tools that meet functional needs of library workers and users.
- Washington State LibraryminorLSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) grant partnership for digital collections training and support. Work continued from 2016-2017 successful project to extend documentation, training, and support to cultural heritage institutions.
- Oregon State LibraryminorLSTA grant partnership funding the Alliance to extend digital collections documentation, training, and support to cultural heritage institutions in Oregon and Washington.
- Oregon Heritage CommissionminorPartnered with to understand and meet needs of cultural heritage institutions in addition to Alliance membership for LSTA-funded digital collections project.
- Open Education NetworkcoreOrbis Cascade Alliance piloting a consortial membership in Open Education Network. Responds to member libraries' needs for education and collaborative opportunities around open education and Open Educational Resources (OER). All Alliance members receive OEN membership benefits.
- DataCiteminorAlliance consortium membership in DataCite Fabrica enables members to save 2000€ annually on membership fees for DOI (Digital Object Identifier) registration services.
- Ex Libris (Elsevier)coreProvider of Ex Libris Alma and Primo VE systems used as the Alliance's Shared Integrated Library System (SILS) and discovery interface. Alliance negotiates collectively on behalf of member institutions.
- ArchivesSpacecoreOpen source archival collection management system supported by the Alliance for member institutions. Alliance provides support and training for ArchivesSpace implementation.
- Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)minorAlliance partnered with NEDCC for digital preservation training webinars offered to member institutions in FY26.
Scale indicators17 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Orbis Cascade Alliance competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- OhioLINK: Ohio statewide academic library consortium operating a shared ILS and courier/resource sharing network for ~90 Ohio institutions — the most structurally analogous U.S. state-level consortium to Orbis Cascade.
- PALCI (Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc.): Multi-type academic library consortium serving Pennsylvania and surrounding states with shared ILL, licensing, and discovery services — comparable membership model and resource-sharing emphasis.
- Boston Library Consortium (BLC): Regional academic library consortium in the Northeast offering shared collections, ILL, and shared licensing to member institutions — directly comparable operating model.
- HathiTrust: Shared digital preservation repository and access platform founded by CIC/Ivy Plus universities — comparable shared-infrastructure model focused on digital scholarly resources.
- California Digital Library: UC system-wide library consortium providing shared collections, digital preservation, and licensing for the University of California — directly comparable large academic consortium.
- GWLA (Great Western Library Alliance): Academic library consortium serving major research libraries across the U.S. West and Midwest — comparable shared-collection and resource-sharing emphasis.
- Center for Research Libraries (CRL): Consortium of academic, research, and national libraries focused on shared access to rare and primary source materials — comparable shared-collections/governance model.
Broad incumbents
- OCLC: Global bibliographic cooperative operating WorldCat, Tipasa ILL, and shared cataloging widely used by Orbis Cascade members — overlaps on resource sharing and metadata infrastructure at much larger scale.
- LYRASIS: Large nonprofit technology and content services provider to libraries, archives, and museums — broader portfolio than Orbis Cascade but competes in shared services and hosted infrastructure.
Emerging players
- ByWater Solutions: Open-source library systems provider (Koha, Aspen) serving academic and public libraries — adjacent/competing on the shared ILS layer that Orbis Cascade relies on from Ex Libris.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Orbis Cascade Alliance social profiles
Digital presenceOrbis Cascade Alliance financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Orbis Cascade Alliance leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
Orbis Cascade Alliance subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Orbis Cascade Alliance funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Orbis Cascade Alliance M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Orbis Cascade Alliance
What does Orbis Cascade Alliance do?
The Orbis Cascade Alliance operates a shared library management system (Ex Libris Alma/Primo VE), provides resource sharing through the Summit platform and courier service, delivers collective licensing of ebooks/streaming videos/databases, and offers archival discovery via Archives West. It is a library consortium that enables 38 academic institutions across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to share infrastructure and purchasing power.
Is Orbis Cascade Alliance a public or private company?
Orbis Cascade Alliance is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Orbis Cascade Alliance founded?
Orbis Cascade Alliance was founded in 1993. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Orbis Cascade Alliance based?
Orbis Cascade Alliance is headquartered in Eugene, United States, in the North America region.
How does Orbis Cascade Alliance make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Institutional Membership Dues are the primary driver. The others are shared Electronic Resource Subscriptions and project ReShare Partnership.
Who are Orbis Cascade Alliance's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are OhioLINK, PALCI (Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc.), Boston Library Consortium (BLC), HathiTrust, California Digital Library, GWLA (Great Western Library Alliance) and Center for Research Libraries (CRL). Broad incumbents are OCLC and LYRASIS. ByWater Solutions is listed as an emerging player.
Does Orbis Cascade Alliance have an API?
No public API is recorded for Orbis Cascade Alliance.
What industry is Orbis Cascade Alliance in?
Orbis Cascade Alliance's product category is Library Consortium Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAEAGAK, Interlibrary Loan (ILL) & Resource Sharing Operations, with a secondary code of EDAEAGAF, Digital Library & Electronic Resources Operations (e-Resources, Repositories, Licensing). Its NAICS code is 51921 and its SIC code is 8600.