WEST Strategic Planning Progress – Initial Recommendations for Change, 2016 and beyond
On June 3rd, the WEST Executive Committee and Operations and Collections Council convened to review member feedback from the recent program assessment and plan for WEST’s future beyond 2016. A final report with outcomes from that meeting is available on the WEST website for members to review.
Several changes were recommended to ensure that the WEST program transitions successfully to a fully-member supported program by 2016 and continues to provide greatest value to members. Highlights include recommendations to:
- Focus on higher risk, print only titles with lower duplication in the region, while continuing to archive digitally available titles
- Explore options for digitizing print only backfiles in collaboration with publishers
- Reduce the pace of archiving to 37,750 volumes for Silver/Gold per year
- Conduct collections analyses every two years and stage 2 years worth of archiving work from those analyses
- Adjust the cost-sharing model to establish fixed tiers for member fees; steadily increase member fees to replace grant funds
These recommendations and more will be fully explored during fall 2014 by WEST’s committees and proposed to WEST members for consideration.