To determine whether a collaborative academic store for Scotland is a viable proposition and discover what problems and issues it raises.
Implementation of a pilot facility that would permit a real‐world assessment of requirement costs and funding models, would pave the way for a full facility, and act as a possible model to others considering similar facilities.
Although the project is still in its first year, a good deal of useful experience has already been gained via the planning and setting‐up of an operational facility. This has informed the features and facilities of the pilot store described in the paper.
The pilot facility currently only serves a sub‐set of possible participants in Scotland.
The pilot will inform the Scottish community on the viability of an operational store whilst providing a useful facility in the short to medium term.
The paper will inform others wishing to set up collaborative stores on methods, models, problems and issues in what is still a relatively unexplored approach to storage problems.
