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Questions about your membership?

WEST member libraries share responsibility to ensure that print serials and journals continue to be available to their users and the broader community through a sustainable framework. The WEST collection is a shared asset that obviates the need to maintain comprehensive, but duplicative print collections across the trust network.

Questions about the value of membership

If your institution is struggling to participate or is not seeing the value expected from your membership, please contact WEST’s Program Manager, Alison Wohlers(alison.wohlers@ucop.edu).

WEST offers a range of resources to support library leaders and staff in communicating the value of shared print and WEST. Some resources can be customized using the library’s holdings data to demonstrate access and deselection potential locally.

Questions about financial hardship

If your institution is struggling to pay your annual membership fee, there is some, though limited, financial support that the WEST Executive Committee can provide member libraries.

The WEST Executive Committee strives to be mindful of and responsive to circumstances under which a member library may be particularly challenged to pay their annual member fee. The Executive Committee will consider requests that require an exception to the WEST member fee model, judiciously leveraging WEST program reserves to provide support. The Executive Committee will evaluate requests based on the following principles:

  1. The need is temporary – exceptions to the member fee model and associated support, which is drawn from the program reserves, should be time-bound; generally not more than two years
  2. The need is acute – exceptions to the member fee model should be connected to a specific financial circumstance either originating at the member library (e.g. budget cuts) or from WEST (e.g. fee model updates that result in a member moving into a higher tier)

Questions about cancellation 

If your institution is considering canceling your WEST membership or generally reassessing your library’s membership commitments, please connect with WEST’s Program Manager, Alison Wohlers (alison.wohlers@ucop.edu) as soon as possible. Alison can provide you with resources to help your institution assess the ongoing value of membership in WEST and ensure you understand the process of cancellation. 

If you are considering cancellation, please note:

  • The WEST member agreement (section 4.1) requires a full year’s notice for cancellation. This ensures that in-progress archiving and development work can be completed, and that WEST has a runway to adjust its budget and services based on revenue changes. 
  • If you have committed to retain titles on behalf of WEST (i.e., your institution is a WEST Archive Holder), your retention commitment survives your membership through the retention date of December 31, 2035.