American Congregational Association Launches Partnership with Gale - Unlimited Priorities Brokers Historic Agreement

CAPE CORAL, Fla., Jan. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Congregational Association (ACA), a non-profit organization administering the Congregational Library and Archives (CLA), has announced an agreement to make the library's collections available through Gale, part of Cengage Learning, a leading publisher of research and reference resources for libraries, schools and businesses.  Unlimited Priorities LLC^® was instrumental in strategic collection assessment, identification of a partner and the negotiation of the agreement.

In addition to an unusually rich representation of seventeenth-century works, the CLA houses some 1,500 different serials and periodicals, newspapers from moral reform and missionary societies, the abolitionist press, women's writings, African American studies, and many other general historical and religious platforms. 

Gale's Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO): Religion, Spirituality, Reform, and Society will make available more than one million pages of primary source material on nineteenth century religion, the response of faith-based activists to the tumultuous changes wrought by industrialization and urbanization, and the attempt to find and make meaning at a moment when many orthodoxies were under assault.  A selection of up to 180 monograph and approximately 500 catalogued pamphlets held by the CLA will be included in this NCCO unit.  In addition, Gale has identified a selection of un-catalogued pamphlets that are of interest.  Further, Gale will scan and publish complete or significant parts of selected subject-specific manuscript collections in the library.

Unlimited Priorities LLC was retained by ACA to assist the library's digitization and distribution efforts.  They identify potential partners, assess existing collections, review the competitive landscape, and collaborate with both the library and its partners.  Unlimited Priorities worked with both organizations to identify appropriate collections and to help negotiate the terms for licensing, digitization and distribution.

Peggy Bendroth, Executive Director of the CLA, said: "We are thrilled to be able to partner with Gale to provide these unique offerings to scholars everywhere.  Their continuing efforts to bring primary source materials reflecting ongoing social growth and change makes them an excellent fit for us.  In addition, this also will help further our mission to digitize church records in the future."

Iris Hanney, Unlimited Priorities president, observed: "Our industry expertise allowed us to assist CLA and Gale achieve further access to these important historical documents for the library community.  Bringing these two outstanding organizations together has been a pleasure, and we look forward to our continued involvement in the library's ongoing distribution efforts."

About American Congregational Association

The American Congregational Association administers The Congregational Library and Archives formed in 1853 as part of an effort to preserve and disseminate the history of the Congregational tradition. Begun with the gift of 56 books from its supporters' personal collections the library has continued to grow through similar gifts and aggressive acquisition of sixteenth and seventeenth-century Puritan literature. Offering an extensive array of contemporary and classic religious materials, the 225,000-item collection includes a wide variety of resources on American religion, New England local and town histories, and three hundred years of records documenting the history of American Congregationalism.

About Unlimited Priorities LLC

Unlimited Priorities is attuned to the management requirements of organizations in the information industry, both commercial and not-for-profit. We provide executive-level support services by utilizing a highly skilled group of professionals with abundant experience. Our practice specialties include Sales and Marketing, Business Development, Financial Services, Operations Management, Production, Information Technology, Social Media, and Content Development and Licensing. Our Archival Initiatives Division offers advice to libraries, historical societies, and industry associations in selecting, distributing, and monetizing their valuable archival content.

Media Contact:

Iris L. Hanney, President , Unlimited Priorities LLC
239-549-2384
Email
www.unlimitedpriorities.com

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