WEST and the future of print

Librarians are not alone in their concern for the future of print materials. As the online environment becomes an expectation, rather than an exception, libraries are purchasing materials in electronic formats and tossing their print materials.

But what will happen in the future if the electronic wears out or becomes outdated like LP records or 8mm films? Will society lose all the intellectual content that was published electronically? That question keeps many of us awake at night.

The Western Regional Storage Trust (WEST) is part of the solution. It is a distributed retrospective print journal repository program serving college and University libraries.  There are similar programs in different parts of the United States. 

Under the WEST program, participating libraries send their print journals to an archiving library. The resulting shared print archives ensure access to the scholarly print record. Member libraries can request the print materials whenever they need them while enjoying the extra space previously occupied by these print journals. 

Armacost Library has become a member of WEST so that Bulldogs current and future will always have access to print journals while at the same time enjoying plenty of open study space with comfortable seating. Soon we will begin sending print materials to the archiving libraries but ONLY for those materials that we already have available electronically.  There will be no loss of content as we eliminate the duplication and build a better library for you!

Read more about WEST at: http://www.cdlib.org/west/

Contact Gabriela Sonntag, Library Director at (909) 748-8096 or Gabriela_Sonntag@redlands.edu