WESTinfo
Winter 2023 Newsletter
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2023 has been a year of significant introspection for WEST. The program has engaged in intensive and in-depth strategic thinking, identifying areas for evolution and change in the WEST portfolio to best serve members and ensure the ongoing
value and sustainability of membership. At the same time, WEST is, of course, operating within larger national and international contexts, which continue to grow and evolve, and which inform WEST’s priorities and activities. This last WEST newsletter of 2023
focuses on national and international activities and WEST’s contributions to those efforts.
Please follow the links below to check out the full posts on the WESTinfo blog.
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A Model to Determine Optimal Numbers of Monograph Copies for Preservation in Shared Print Collections: In September,
College & Research Libraries published a much-anticipated paper on risk and determining the optimal number of copies to retain for a monograph title to ensure its long-term preservation and availability.
Read on for more background and
a link to the paper.
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Update on Merging the Rosemont Alliance and the Partnership: In the spring of 2023, the Rosemont and Partnership Executive Committees endorsed a recommendation to merge the business and operations
of the two federations to create a single organization to coordinate further development of shared print collection management and information sharing in the United States and Canada for the foreseeable future. This new, merged organization will provide more
effective and sustainable support for ensuring the collaborative preservation of print collections than is possible in the current environment where programs are dividing their resources.
Read on for an update on merger activities and progress, as well
as information about where future updates will be posted.
- The Future of Shared Print Metadata: Towards a New
Shared Print Actions: Terminology: The shared print community has long leveraged terminology from the preservation community for recording its retention and validation activities. As shared print has matured and evolved,
new needs have emerged that the existing terminology is not able to support. The Rosemont Shared Print Alliance and the Partnership for Shared Book Collections charged a working group to define standardized terminology for shared print actions for use in shared
print disclosure that is both grounded in established practices and offers solutions for unmet disclosure needs in the community.
Read on for more information about this effort, a link to the draft document, and
information about how you can provide feedback on the draft.
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Upcoming shared print events. A number of shared print events are already scheduled for 2024, including deep dives on the draft
Shared Print Actions: Terminology and the semi-annual Print Archive Network (PAN) Forum and follow-up water cooler discussion, as well as the North American ICOLC meeting and 2nd EPICo Conference.
Read on for more information about these exciting events and how to participate.
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WEST Cycles 14 & 15 Unarchived Holdings Ingest is Complete! WEST members have submitted 57 files of print journal and serials records, concluding a crucial step preparing for the next collections analysis. As a reminder, the Cycles 14 & 15 collections
analysis will prioritize scarce and uniquely held journals for archiving. All WEST members that are participating in the collections analysis are invited to serve as Archive Holders and contribute their vital collections to the shared print safety net.
Read on for more information about what comes next in the analysis and what it means to serve as a WEST archiver.
Wishing you a safe and restorative holiday season,
The WEST Project Team
Do you have a topic you would like to read about in WEST blog posts and the newsletter? Are you interested in writing a guest blog post on your work with WEST or shared print in general? Please let us know!
Email Anna Striker at [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask].