What SCELC does

SCELC (Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium) is a nonprofit library consortium founded in 1986, headquartered in North Hollywood, California, and operating as a 40+ year community of 108 Member institutions and 206 Affiliate institutions serving over 1.4 million students across the United States. It is among the top five North American library consortia by licensing volume. SCELC operates as a service consortium rather than a technology company, generating revenue through member dues ($750/year), affiliate transaction fees (5% up to $50 max, or $150 for e-journal packages), and administrative surcharges of 0-5% on licensed resources structured to recover staff time and reflect the value of discounts secured. All orders and licensing agreements are processed centrally through its proprietary ConsortiaManager platform.

Core product offerings include SCELC FOLIO (an open-source library services platform delivered in partnership with EBSCO Information Services with centralized implementation, hosting, and support), the SCELC JSTOR Digital Stewardship Program (combining SCELC's centralized staffing with JSTOR's digital stewardship infrastructure including AI-assisted processing via JSTOR Seeklight), the Shared Print Program (preserving 3.6 million unique titles across 50+ libraries), Licensing Services, and the recent Impact as a Service program. Underlying technology components include the open-source FOLIO platform, ConsortiaManager for catalog and ordering, the SCELC Engage community portal, and the SHARP union catalog for shared print retention.

The go-to-market model is opt-in membership plus partner channel expansion: Members pay annual dues and receive governance participation plus full service access, Affiliates pay per-transaction fees without membership, and partner programs with the California State University (CSU) System, TexShare (Texas), and Atla extend reach to additional library networks. SCELC markets primarily through community engagement, including the annual SCELCapalooza conference (drawing 200+ librarians from 90+ libraries), monthly Channel One virtual sessions, six steering committees, and three Communities of Practice. The organization adopted new Strategic Pillars in September 2024 — Library Technologies, Licensing & Negotiations, Open Access, and ROI — and has no external venture or PE funding.

Name

SCELC

Legal name

Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium

Website

https://scelc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SCELC is a nonprofit library consortium serving 108 Member and 206 Affiliate academic institutions across the U.S., providing centralized licensing, open-source library technology via SCELC FOLIO, and digital stewardship programs including Shared Print and JSTOR partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Library Consortium Services

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921), Professional Organizations (81392), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Academic & Research Library Operations (College/University Libraries) (EDAEAGAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs (EDAGAFAJ), Interlibrary Loan (ILL) & Resource Sharing Operations (EDAEAGAK)

Keywords

• Library consortium services
• Electronic resource licensing
• Consortial library technology
• Shared print preservation
• Interlibrary loan programs

Headquarters

HQ city

North Hollywood

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Member Dues: SCELC Member libraries pay annual dues of $750/year, which provides governance participation, steering committee representation, access to awards/scholarships, SCELC FOLIO, Digital Collections Programs, and reciprocal borrowing privileges.
2. Administrative Surcharges: A surcharge of 0%-5% applied to all libraries on a per-product basis, calculated to cover staff time for license negotiation and maintenance, and total value of discounts secured.
3. Affiliate Transaction Fees: Affiliate libraries pay either 5% of purchase price up to $50 maximum for products with set pricing, or $150 for e-journal packages, instead of annual dues.
4. Program Service Fees: Service fees for specific programs including Transformative Agreement Management, Digital Stewardship Services, and Consortial Technologies, calculated to cover SCELC's operating costs for each program.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

SCELC is a nonprofit library consortium that negotiates consortial licenses for electronic resources on behalf of academic and research libraries, and delivers shared technology infrastructure (SCELC FOLIO), digital stewardship services (with JSTOR), shared print preservation, and reciprocal borrowing programs. Member libraries pay annual dues while Affiliates participate via per-transaction fees to access discounted resources, centralized ordering, and shared expertise.

Product overview

SCELC operates as a library consortium offering a portfolio of services rather than a single unified product. The core offerings include SCELC FOLIO (an open-source library services platform delivered in partnership with EBSCO) for library technology, the SCELC JSTOR Digital Stewardship Program for digital collections management with AI capabilities, and Licensing Services for consortium purchasing. Supporting services include the Shared Print Program for print monograph preservation, Reciprocal Interlibrary Loan and Faculty Borrowing programs, and an Impact as a Service offering for demonstrating library value. The consortium serves 108 Member and 206 Affiliate institutions with programs designed to provide cost savings, shared infrastructure, and continuity of expertise.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SCELC FOLIO: A multi-year opt-in initiative providing SCELC Member libraries with affordable, scalable access to the open-source FOLIO library services platform, delivered in partnership with EBSCO Information Services.
• SCELC JSTOR Digital Stewardship
• SCELCapalooza

Products and services

• SCELC FOLIO A multi-year opt-in initiative providing SCELC Member libraries with affordable, scalable access to the open-source FOLIO library services platform, delivered in partnership with EBSCO Information Services with centralized implementation, hosting, and ongoing support. Targeted at small and medium academic libraries migrating from legacy systems.
• SCELC JSTOR Digital Stewardship Program Multi-year pilot initiative that combines SCELC's centralized staffing and subsidies with JSTOR's digital stewardship infrastructure to help member libraries process, manage, preserve, and share digital collections, including AI-assisted metadata creation through JSTOR Seeklight.
• Licensing Services Centralized negotiation of electronic resource license agreements on behalf of member and affiliate libraries, delivering a single consortial license approach that generates favorable pricing and terms for both vendors and participating libraries.
• Impact as a Service (ROI and Impact Service) Service designed to help member libraries articulate, measure, and demonstrate their value to campus stakeholders through tailored impact analyses, customized training, and clear ROI reports.
• Shared Print Program Collaborative initiative promoting broad availability and long-term sustainability of print monographs as a shared collection among participating institutions through distributed retention, preservation, and resource-sharing of title-level commitments.
• Reciprocal Interlibrary Loan (RILL) Program facilitating free inter-library loan of books and journal articles among participating SCELC libraries, managed by SCELC's Resource Sharing Committee.
• Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program enabling mutual borrowing privileges for faculty or other qualified researchers among participating SCELC Member libraries.
• Professional Development Professional development program consisting of original SCELC programming, inter-consortial collaboration through the Professional Development Alliance (PDA), and licensing partnerships including Library Juice Academy with 20% discount for member institutions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Cost savings on electronic resources through consortial pricing vs. individual licensing
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• JSTOR / ITHAKAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSCELC partners with JSTOR (ITHAKA) on the Digital Stewardship Program, enabling 33 institutions to process, manage, preserve, and share digital collections through JSTOR infrastructure. The program includes Tier 3 charter participation for AI-assisted digital stewardship using JSTOR Seeklight. Eight institutions participate in the charter program to shape the future of AI-assisted digital stewardship.
• EBSCO Information ServicescoreTechnology or IntegrationEBSCO partners with SCELC on SCELC FOLIO, providing centralized implementation, hosting, and ongoing support for the open-source FOLIO library services platform. EBSCO assists with migration from legacy systems and provides EBSCO Discovery Service as the patron-facing interface. Kate Hill joined SCELC from EBSCO where she previously worked on consortial FOLIO implementations.
• California State University (CSU) SystemmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCSU/SCELC Resource Licensing Program allows CSU campuses to access resources outside the CSU core collection at reduced rates negotiated by SCELC. All CSU campuses are already CSU/SCELC Affiliates. SCELC and CSUs have worked together on joint contracting partnerships for many years.
• TexShare Program (Texas State Library and Archives Commission)majorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTexShare/SCELC Partner Program provides Texas academic libraries with access to SCELC-licensed resources unavailable through TexShare. Four-year colleges and universities in Texas that are TexShare members are eligible. Both organizations recognized the compatibility of private academic institutions in Texas and California.
• Atla (American Theological Library Association)majorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAtla/SCELC Affiliate Program provides Atla institutional members with access to electronic resources not available through local consortial agreements. Atla selected SCELC due to its cooperative, library-focused reputation and affordable fee schedule. Available to Atla members throughout the United States.
• Professional Development Alliance (PDA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSCELC is a member of the PDA, a partnership of the International Council of Library Consortia (ICOLC). The alliance pools professional development opportunities, with PDA webinars freely available to librarians at all SCELC Member and Affiliate institutions.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• HathiTrust: HathiTrust is a digital preservation repository and consortium of academic and research libraries. It overlaps directly with SCELC's Shared Print and JSTOR Digital Stewardship missions—providing distributed digital preservation and access services to hundreds of member institutions.
• Orbis Cascade Alliance: Orbis Cascade Alliance is a Pacific Northwest library consortium providing shared licensing, resource sharing, and collaborative collections services to academic libraries. Like SCELC, it focuses on consortial purchasing power and shared technology infrastructure for smaller academic institutions.
• PALCI (Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium): PALCI is a regional academic library consortium offering shared licensing, E-ZBorrow resource sharing, and consortial technology services. It is highly comparable to SCELC in mission, structure, and service portfolio but operates in the Mid-Atlantic geography.
• LYRASIS: LYRASIS is a large nonprofit technology and content services organization serving libraries, archives, and museums globally. It directly parallels SCELC's consortial model—offering shared licensing, technology implementations (including FOLIO), digital preservation (LTLS/Shared Print), and professional development across a much broader national and international footprint.
• Center for Research Libraries (CRL): CRL is a consortium of North American universities, libraries, and archives focused on shared access to primary source materials. It overlaps with SCELC's Shared Print and digital stewardship missions and serves a similar institutional member base.
• Amigos Library Services: Amigos is a nonprofit library consortium serving libraries primarily in the south-central U.S., offering shared licensing, courier services, and continuing education. It is highly comparable to SCELC in consortial model and small-library focus, though regionally distinct.
• Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA): GWLA (formerly Big 12 Plus Libraries) is a consortium of major research libraries focused on collaborative collections and licensing. Comparable to SCELC in licensing consortia function, though it serves larger research institutions rather than small/medium private colleges.

Broad incumbents

• OCLC: OCLC is the dominant global library cooperative providing cataloging, resource sharing (WorldCat/ILL), discovery, and management services. It is a broad incumbent with overlapping capabilities to SCELC's licensing, resource sharing, and shared infrastructure services, but at a much larger scale.

Others

• Bibliotheca (now part of Axiell): Bibliotheca, now part of Axiell Group, provides library technology solutions including RFID, self-service, and library management systems. It is adjacent to SCELC's FOLIO offering as an alternative library services platform provider serving similar institutional customers.

Regional players

• COPPUL (Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries): COPPUL is a Canadian academic library consortium providing shared licensing and digital infrastructure. It mirrors SCELC's service model for smaller academic institutions but operates primarily in Western Canada rather than the U.S.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/scelc-consortia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SCELC