WEST and the Alliance: New Directions
Alliance Summer Meeting, July 8, 2015
Mike Olson, Western Washington University
Shared Content Team Chair
Jill Emery, Portland State University
Kris Kern, Portland State University
Kathi Carlisle Fountain, Orbis Cascade Alliance
Shared Content Team
Mike Olson, chair
Western Washington
University
Jill Emery,
Portland State University
Gordon Aamot,
University of Washington
Tina Hovekamp,
Council Liaison
Central Oregon CC
Serin Anderson,
Saint Martin’s University
Corey Murata,
University of Washington
Kris Kern,
Portland State
University
Amy Coughenour,
Concordia University
Kathi Fountain, Program
Manager
Orbis Cascade Alliance
Shared Content Team May 1 memo to Council
about the Alliance’s consortial WEST
membership
charge: articulate the ongoing value of WEST
and consider new directions for distributed print
repositories (DPRs)
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Why did the Alliance join WEST?
Since 2011, the Alliance consortial
membership supported WEST by bundling
membership fees for the Alliance’s smaller
libraries. Large and medium libraries joined
independently.
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What are the benefits of an institutional
WEST membership?
- access to thousands of journals - preservation of the scholarly record - automated collection analyses and support - expanded opportunities for participation - opportunities to reclaim collections space -
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Why is the Alliance letting its consortial
WEST membership lapse?
As WEST moves from grant funding, it must
replace approximately half of its revenue in
FY16. This is being accomplished by raising
membership fees, implementing a new
tiered pricing model, and reducing costs.
(…)
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Why is the Alliance letting its consortial
WEST membership lapse?
(…) WEST’s new funding model no longer
includes a discounted price for consortia,
and the fee increases for the participants
range from 65% to 450%. Council opted
not to include WEST in its FY16 budget.
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Key takeaway (!)
Libraries may make independent decisions
about whether to continue their
participation with WEST directly.
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What are the effects of cancelling the
consortium membership on our member
libraries?
Libraries will lose access to WEST holdings.
Also, non-member libraries will no longer
have an opportunity to contribute their
holdings to WEST unless they join.
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Does cancelling the consortium
membership affect WEST Archive Holders?
No. Obligations continue without change,
regardless of current membership status.
Current WEST Archive Holders: Evergreen State
College, Oregon Health & Science University,
Seattle Pacific University, Southern Oregon
University, Willamette University.
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What are libraries’ ongoing obligations?
DRP and WEST obligations are still in force:
“The retention commitments made to
WEST, including archive cycle and DPR
commitments, survive membership
termination and continue through the
WEST retention period (2035).”
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May an Alliance library join WEST for
archive access only?
No. WEST relies on the collaborative efforts
of its member institutions to build a
comprehensive backfile of titles. Therefore,
actively contributing holdings information
is a key component of meaningful
participation.
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Questions, talking points
What would a successful Distributed Print
Repository (DPR) for the Alliance look like?
Should the commitment to an Alliance DPR
be extended when the initial MOU expires?
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Questions, talking points
What would make an Alliance DPR be
reactivated as a project?
Should the Alliance shift its focus to a
shared regional storage facility?
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