1. 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

2. Shared Content Team Gordon Aamot, University of Washington
Mike Olson, chair
Western Washington University
Serin Anderson,
Saint Martin’s University
Amy Coughenour,
Concordia University
MIKE
Kris Kern,
Portland State University
Kathi Fountain, Program Manager
Orbis Cascade Alliance
Jill Emery,
Portland State University
Tina Hovekamp,
Council Liaison
Central Oregon CC
Corey Murata,
University of Washington

3. 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)

4. Why did the Alliance join WEST
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.

5. What are the benefits of an institutional WEST membership
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 -

6. Why is the Alliance letting its consortial WEST membership lapse
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. (…)

7. Why is the Alliance letting its consortial WEST membership lapse
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.

8. Key takeaway (!) Libraries may make independent decisions about whether to continue their participation with WEST directly.

9. 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.

10. Does cancelling the consortium membership affect WEST Archive Holders
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.

11. What are libraries’ ongoing obligations
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).”

12. May an Alliance library join WEST for archive access only. No
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. 

13. 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?

14. 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?