The Iowa State Cyclones Answer the Call (for Holdings) – An example of contributing state property to the WEST archived collection

Over the course of the Gap Filling Pilot ASU sent out numerous calls for holdings to WEST Member institutions, and even though the data gathering period has ended, the gap filling work continues, both for ASU and for the libraries that received calls for holdings. 

Iowa State University (ISU) recently sent 11 boxes of journal volumes to fill gaps in the WEST archived titles held at ASU; thank you ISU!

Here’s what ISU’s Interim Associate University Librarian, Robin Sinn, had to say about the contribution, 

As a WEST archive holder and public university, when the ISU Library first received ASU’s call for holdings, we knew we had to do a little sleuthing to be sure we could move physical items from ISU to ASU. ASU provided the answer to that question in their documentation. Whatever material is sent to them has to be withdrawn first. Voila! At ISU, once journals are withdrawn, they’re either recycled or discarded.Journals aren’t sent to Surplus for resale like our monographs are. That post-withdraw difference allowed us to answer ASU’s request. 

Permission to withdraw and transfer to ASU was given and we started. Subject librarians reviewed the list and asked to keep a few of the requested journals here. We were able to send most of the material ASU wanted. WEST/ASU provides a choice of 2 documents to record the change in ownership of the material. One is a Deed of Gift, the other is a Transfer Agreement. The Transfer Agreement suited our needs perfectly. And now archive builder ASU has an additional 11 boxes of journals to care for, in a better environment than we could provide here.

Are you interested in helping to fill gaps in the WEST Archives? Please review the Answering a Call for Holdings FAQ for more information about the process from the contributor’s side, and see this brief video overview of the process: Answering a Call for Holdings Video. Additionally, we now also have a Calls for Holdings Tracking Spreadsheet where WEST members can indicate if they are currently open and able to respond to calls for holdings, or share if they are engaged in a deselection project and seeking to contribute volumes to aid in that deselection.