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WEST accomplishments and member benefits

April 10, 2014 Author: Danielle Watters WestbrookCategories:

The Western Regional Storage Trust (WEST) has launched into its next three-year phase (Phase 2, 2014-2016.) During this next phase, WEST will strive to reach sustainability and will build upon the significant accomplishments of its first three years to provide continued value to its members.

Future Plans

WEST has several activities planned for the future to advance the development of the distributed print network, simplify member workflows, and provide value to members.
Planned activities 2014-2016:

  • Archive 120,000 additional volumes
  • Cultivate “title nominations” from member libraries to support nominations of deep backfiles for archiving
  • Expand the ranks of Archive Holders in response to member interest in fuller participation in retention responsibilities
  • Two program assessments to guide strategic planning for the future of WEST, informed by WEST member views
  • Strategic planning in (Spring-Fall 2014) to develop recommendations for changes to the WEST program and achieve sustainability in 2016
  • Develop additional software for library staff to use to facilitate print retention and contribution decisions including
    • a “collection analysis decision support center” to download reports and register archiving commitments
    • a “Needs and Offers” capability to facilitate staff communications between deselecting libraries and Archive Holder/Builders to fill gaps

This next three years will be an important period for reflection and calibration of the program as the Trust advances to a fully member-supported program.

Accomplishments

WEST has come a very long way in its first three years! It might be useful to recap:
Highlights

  • 170,000 volumes archived corresponding to more than 1 million duplicates that potentially could be deselected
  • Implementation of a business and operations model for a distributed archive across the western region on the United States, including
    • policies, procedures, administration of member agreements,
    • 3 archive cycles, 3 analyses of regional holdings (6 million records)
    • systems development and support
    • training and startup at 6 Archive Builder locations and > 20 Archive Holders

Benefits

The Trust provides reassurance that scholars will be able to access the print version of the scholarly record for years to come. Through collective action to consolidate archives and make retention commitments, member libraries can make responsible decisions about duplicates in order to prepare library spaces for more specialized collections and collaborative uses.

WEST provides many benefits to members including

  • Long-term retention commitments to journal backfiles within the region
  • Guaranteed access to retained collections
  • Holdings consolidation and verification of higher risk titles to ensure their completeness
  • Disclosure of retention commitments in OCLC and CRL’s Print Archives Preservation Registry to support resource sharing and discovery
  • Regional collections analysis to support selection of titles for archiving that benefit many members
  • Custom reports to support deselection decisions for duplicates