Resources for Archivers

WEST Archivers are responsible for maintaining and making available materials that they archive on behalf of WEST. Archive Builders have additional responsibilities to validate higher risk materials to identify missing and/or damaged volumes. Builders actively expand their holdings by requesting volumes from other members to fill gaps and extend their backfiles to ensure that WEST holds the most complete copy possible of high risk titles. 

Archiving materials for WEST involves several operational and administrative tasks that all archivers should be aware of. The resources linked on this page include documents that outline the overarching philosophy of the WEST collections and WEST’s goals in and approaches to what materials to focus on archiving, templates of various administrative documents that govern the archiving process, and documents that offer practical guidance for performing archiving tasks. While all of the documents below will be of interest to all archivers, some are most relevant to the Archive Builder institutions (marked “for Archive Builders”) as they address Builder responsibilities that are not required of Holders.