Notes from WEST’s July 2022 Member Meeting
WEST’s 2022 summer member meeting was held virtually on July 19. Meeting participants included a number of returning and first-time attendees, and included staff representing WEST Archive Builders, Archive Holders, and Non-Archive Holders as well as WEST’s Rosemont Alliance partner programs. Additionally, representatives from peer consortia, including SCELC, the Orbis Cascade Alliance, and GWLA, and their member institutions joined the meeting.
The meeting began with welcome remarks from Melissa De Santis, the 2022 WEST Executive Committee chair, followed by a keynote presentation from Greg Eow (President, Center for Research Libraries). This presentation reflected on the philosophy underpinning shared print and the need to create and embody a moral theory of collective collections that considers not only current local needs but also future and global needs for scholarship. The keynote presentation was followed by a panel discussion with three WEST member representatives, Wil Weston (San Diego State University), Samantha Silver (Mount Saint Mary’s University), and Sion Romaine (University of Washington). The panelists discussed operationalizing shared print by embedding this moral philosophy as well as the tangible benefits of shared print into everyday collections management, highlighting especially the complex nature of library deselection projects and the ways shared print can be leveraged both as an opportunity for analysis and decision making as well as a resource for materials that users can draw on to supplement local collections.
For anyone who was unable to attend the meeting in person, or who wants to revisit any part of it, please see the meeting recording, presentation slide deck, and discussion document with attendee comments and questions that were raised throughout the meeting: