WEST Cycles 14 & 15 Archiving Proposals Now Available for Review and Commitment
Every other year WEST conducts an analysis of members’ print journal and serial holdings to identify archiving priorities for the next two years. In fall 2023 WEST members began the process for the next archiving cycles, Cycles 14 & 15, by submitting files of their unarchived holdings for analysis. WEST is pleased to announce that the analysis is complete, and proposals for Cycles 14 & 15 archiving are now available for review and commitment in AGUA.
The Cycles 14 & 15 collections analysis incorporated a number of changes and modifications to WEST’s historical collections model and archiving priorities.
As part of the 2023 Future of WEST recommendations the decision was made to not recruit new builders for Cycles 14 and 15 and to continue to prioritize low-effort archiving of higher-risk collections not held by Builders. Additionally, WEST is transitioning away from using the terminology of ‘archive type’ – Bronze, Silver, and Gold – to plain language descriptions of the characteristics archive types historically communicated. WEST has put together a brief flyer detailing these changes and their impact: WEST Archiving Language Change Flyer. More information about these changes can be found in the Future of WEST Report, which went out to members in July 2023.
Additionally, the Cycles 14 & 15 proposals to Archive Holders differ from the previous cycles in that WEST is proposing almost twice as many journal families overall. Archive Holders are not required to physically validate content or move it into storage. Also as a reminder, no Archive Holder is required to commit to all their proposals or any specific number or percentage. WEST has extended the review period for proposals given the increased volume of proposals to Archive Holders and WEST staff are available to assist as needed.
Finally, to support the priority to identify and archive scarcely held titles, WEST analyzed members’ holdings to identify higher-risk titles (titles with little to no electronic availability) that have historically been overlooked for archiving because they are not held by any of the Archive Builders. Archive Holders who commit to journals in this category are not required to physically validate the journal run or transfer the content to storage.
To review your institution’s archiving proposals and submit archiving commitments, log in to AGUA and navigate to the Review Proposed Journals page. Please see the WEST AGUA User manual for instructions on reviewing proposals and making commitment selections. As a reminder, beginning with Cycles 12 & 13 the WEST definition of a backfile has been updated to v.1-2020; continuing existing practice, archiving low risk level materials up to the current year is preferred.
Additionally, the WEST Project Team will be holding office hours this year to answer questions, demo the process in AGUA, or address any other concerns that you may have. These open office hours will be on Monday, September 23rd from 9:30am PT – 10:30am PT and Tuesday October 29th from 1:30pm PT – 2:30pm PT on Zoom. WEST Members can refer to the WEST Cycles 14 & 15 Call for Commitments Email for the zoom links. No registration is required, feel free to drop in!
For a detailed overview of the Cycles 14 & 15 collections analysis with key findings and recommendations, please see the complete WEST Cycles 14 & 15 Collections Analysis Report.