Announcing the WEST RapidILL pod
WEST is very pleased to announce the establishment of a new RapidILL pod for WEST members, called WEST. This new pod will help connect WEST RapidILL members to WEST-archived materials and facilitate connections between members that otherwise do not participate in the same Rapid pods. Per Rapid’s typical procedures, all WEST members currently participating in RapidILL will automatically be enrolled in this new pod. Any WEST members that decide to join RapidILL in the future will also be enrolled in the WEST pod.
What are some of the benefits of a WEST RapidILL pod?
- Provides a new resource sharing connection between WEST members that participate in Rapid
- Optimized for article requests: the bulk of resource sharing requests for WEST-archived materials
- No cost to the program or existing RapidILL members
Who is eligible for the WEST RapidILL pod?
All current WEST members that participate in Rapid are eligible to join the WEST pod. The Project Team will continue to update RapidILL as necessary to keep our list of eligible institutions up to date.
What happens next? What do members need to do?
WEST is providing RapidILL staff with a list of eligible institutions to set up the new pod. All WEST members currently participating in RapidILL will be automatically enrolled in the new pod, and do not need to take any action. Members may opt out of the WEST pod by contacting RapidILL support.
When is this happening?
The new pod will go live on Tuesday April 19.
What about WEST members that don’t participate in RapidILL?
We understand that this isn’t a solution for all WEST members. WEST also maintains a Profiled Group (formerly called a Group Access Capability, or GAC) with OCLC, called WEST, which can be used to facilitate automated request processing in OCLC resource sharing products. The Profiled Group includes all current WEST members and past members that are still Archive Holders. The Profiled Group list can also be used to create a local Custom Holdings Group for use when manually building lender strings during borrowing request processing. WEST continues to work with service providers to identify ways to facilitate resource sharing between members and to identify WEST-archived materials in resource sharing technology solutions.
Want to learn more?
To learn more about RapidILL, see Rapid’s public About page for answers to frequently asked questions, or contact the Rapid team at RapidILL@exlibrisgroup.com.
Questions?
Please contact the WEST Project Team (anna.striker@ucop.edu and/or alison.wohlers@ucop.edu) with your questions or feedback. The Project Team will be monitoring group resource sharing statistics to assess impact for members; if you have any concerns, please reach out to the Project Team.