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AGUA is getting a new name! “Shared Print Decision Suite”

June 11, 2026 Author: Nika Burns TeshinCategories:

As you know, WEST is partnering with California Digital Library (CDL) and HathiTrust to ingest and make available HathiTrust monographic shared print data in AGUA, which will allow the participating libraries and program staff to track and manage commitments on one platform.

While adding this functionality and preparing to expand the community of libraries who use the interface, leaders across the three organizations agreed that this is an opportune moment to rename the system to be more descriptive and intuitive.

AGUA (the name) has served us well for over a decade, but it is admittedly a little obscure. If you haven’t heard the story behind AGUA’s name, check out the history of the name in the section, “How AGUA got its name”.

After careful consideration and consultation with the WEST Operations and Collections Council, we have decided to rename the system to the Shared Print Decision Suite, or SPDS for short. We hope this name communicates the continued centering of print in the functionality and the enabling of action through data-informed decision-making.  

What will change beginning in the middle of July:

  • The name on the associated webpages and documentation
  • The URL
    • An automatic redirect will be implemented – no need to change your shortcuts

The name change will not affect any functionality to which WEST members have access. 

Please join us in celebrating this moment of evolution! We give an affectionate farewell to AGUA (again, just the name) and a warm welcome to the Shared Print Decision Suite (SPDS).

How AGUA got its name

AGUA is built on top of the same code that formed the original foundation for the Print Archives Preservation Registry (PAPR), which is hosted by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL). When WEST began building an extended graphic interface on top of that code in 2014, the expanded system was named to distinguish the new functionality and interfaces being developed. 

“AGUA” came from the distinctive model that WEST adopted for its risk analysis: archive types Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The team at the time leveraged the periodic symbols for Silver (Ag) and Gold (Au), did a little creative rearranging of the letters, and thus AGUA came to be. 

Beyond the connection to the original archive types of Silver and Gold, it is said that the team also appreciated the nod to the fluidity of water.