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WEST Consulting Services Pilot

Pilot Status – Ongoing

Introduction

For WEST members, considerable value lies in the ability to deselect based on the strength and assurance of the WEST collection. Anecdotally, the WEST Project Team has heard members express that some of the value of WEST is inaccessible since constraints on staff time and lack of expertise can make it difficult to conduct analysis of local holdings compared to WEST holdings when deselection becomes necessary. Helping members tap into that value by providing consulting services to support deselection projects is a strong opportunity for WEST to provide value to members in difficult times.

Benefits

  • Leverages the expertise of WEST staff to support member institutions going through
    deselection projects
  • Provides exclusive value to WEST members that is not available to non-members
  • Empowers WEST members to tap into one of the key opportunities presented by WEST: the ability to deselect based on the strength of the shared collection

Become a Participating Institution

Is your institution interested in participating in the WEST Consulting Services Pilot? Contact WEST Analyst, Nika Burns Teshin, at nika.worth@ucop.edu to learn more. Afterwards, your institution’s name will be listed on this page as follows:

  • Your institution will be listed here.

Scope

The WEST Program Team will offer support to 6 current WEST members undergoing current or future deselection projects by:

  1. Helping to define deselection criteria

And using the On Demand Comparison or Analytics Reports to:

  1. Create output reports for deselection projects based on institutional criteria
  2. Filtering and analyzing output reports to create actionable deselection lists

Pilot participants will be invited to two one-hour zoom meetings. In the first zoom meeting,
participants will work with the WEST Analyst to help define deselection criteria based on the
specific needs / circumstances of their deselection project. The WEST Analyst will then use this criteria to create On Demand Comparison or Analytics Report(s) as appropriate. The WEST Analyst will also filter and analyse the output reports to create actionable deselection lists as desired by the institution. After the reports are generated, pilot participants will meet for the second zoom meeting, during which participants will go over the created deselection lists with the WEST Analyst to discuss any further refinement or questions.

Timeline

  • February 2026 – OCC reviewed and approved a proposal to explore consulting services in
    WEST for a one year pilot, after which point the OCC would assess whether the service had been successful/beneficial using both qualitative and quantitative criteria.
  • April 2026 – The OCC approved a communication plan and communication materials for the pilot with the tentative pilot timeline of June 2026 – May 2027.
  • June 2026 – The pilot launched! WEST members are now invited to sign-up to participate.