Several members of the University of Akron staff reported on the challenges and successes of the OhioLINK statewide approval plan in the past year. A Collection Building Taskforce, made up of representatives from 74 member institutions representing 7 million bibliographic records in a shared database met several years ago to discuss the feasibility of organizing a statewide approval plan. The goal was to develop a consortial arrangement which would not only yield greater discounts through development of a single approval plan with a single vendor (Yankee Book Peddler) but also to strengthen collection resources and cooperation among OhioLINK libraries. Subject groups met and determined what to buy cooperatively, including electronic databases for OhioLINK.

The OhioLINK approval plan project is an entirely voluntary system. Each library develops and maintains its own approval profile. Individual libraries are not limited in the vendors they use for firm orders or continuation orders or the number of copies ordered.

The OhioLINK plan has proven to be an effective tool for the University of Akron. Access to a Web-based tool provided by the vendor (GOBISelect - Global Online Bibliographic Information Service) gives selectors the ability to quickly determine not only what other libraries in the OhioLINK consortium own, but also what they have on order. Selection is more focused because of the profiling process used for OhioLINK purchases; a return rate of 30%+ has now dropped to 10%. Operations have been streamlined because one fund is used for approval plans, rather than a separate fund for each bibliographer. Although the final chapter has yet to be written, the plan appears to be a story with a happy ending to date.