Creating Coordinated Collections

• Assign monograph retention commitments for materials published from 2005 to 2021 consistent with our MOU on Shared Collection Print Retention. 

• Create a new process for Alma for reassignment of retention commitments for lost and damaged materials.

• Assess our collections against our DEI mission and make recommendations for implementing these values in our collective collection development. 

Creating a Robust Infrastructure for Discovery and Access

• Conduct the pilot of peer-to-peer lending with SUNY.

• Resolve Alma Fulfillment Network issues identified by RSAC. 

• Standardize serial holdings records to improve access and to support collective print preservation efforts.      

Preserving Physical and Digital Resources

• [See the retention initiatives under Creating Coordinated Collections.]

Sharing Expertise

• Finish the toolkit for OER advocates.

• Begin implementation of the Open@WRLC program.

• Improve documentation and discoverability for WRLC projects and committee work that has been done in previous years

• Assess our implementation of Alma/Primo to identify successes and continuing challenges and develop future priorities.

• Assess the end-user experience of Primo/Alma to identify weaknesses and develop recommendations to improve the user experience.       

The WRLC Board of Directors has engaged Koya Partners, “the nation’s premier search firm dedicated to mission-driven organizations,” to find the right leader to ensure the continued impact of the WRLC with its university partners and on learning and scholarship in the consortium. Since its founding in 2004, Koya has conducted nearly 3,000 executive searches in the U.S. and around the world. To view the full job description, visit this link: https://koyapartners.com/search/wrlc-executive-director/.



The Search Committee appointed by the Board of Directors has reviewed applications received from Koya and conducted the first round of interviews during the week of July 25 with those candidates who best address the expectations for the position.



Finalists will be selected by the Search Committee and will be interviewed by the Executive Committee of the WRLC Board in the middle of August. The Executive Committee will then make its recommendation on a final candidate to the full WRLC Board of Directors.



- David P. Long

Chair of the WRLC Executive Director Search Committee and Assistant Provost, Catholic University of America

The 2022 WRLC Annual Meeting was held virtually, kicking off on Wednesday, May 18th with a virtual lunch followed by a 90 minute “Renewal Colloquium" led by Kaetrena Davis Kendrick, 2019 ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year and Dean of the Library, Archives & Special Collections at Winthrop University. Kendrick explored morale and ambiguity in libraries during COVID-19. She reviewed selected data from her library morale studies, including the impacts of COVID-19, expanded impacts on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and implications for formal leaders. Attendees were able to enhance engagement in the event by completing reflective pre-assessment activities – including question submissions. The colloquium was not recorded to allow for the free discussion of ideas.



Breakout sessions highlighting presentations by your colleagues from throughout the Consortium took place Tuesday – Thursday, May 24-26th, 2022. Over the course of the three days, a dozen presentations offered by your WRLC colleagues on a wide range of topics were presented and recorded. All sessions are now available on the Library Staff Intranet.

The WRLC Coordinated Collections Committee proposed an addendum to augment our current Shared Collection Vision for the Washington Research Libraries Consortium to incorporate the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Cultural Competency Standards. The Steering Committee recommended the proposed addendum to the Library Directors Council. The LDC unanimously approved adding the EDI statement to our current Shared Collection Vision for the Washington Research Libraries Consortium as an addendum at its May 6, 2022 meeting. 



Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Addendum



The WRLC supports ACRL’s Cultural Competency Standards and strives to incorporate them into the framework of the consortium’s mission, vision, and goals. Standard 4: Development of collections, programs, and services states that “Librarians and library staff shall develop collections and provide programs and services that are inclusive of the needs of all persons in the community the library serves.”



The WRLC recognizes that our commitment to diversity, equity, and accessibility requires immediate, intentional, and resolute action to address any historic and ongoing exclusions.



Therefore, the WRLC will work to:

• Collaboratively acquire works for the consortium created by people and communities of diverse experiences and identities.
• Update selection workflows to include materials from independent, small, and local publishers to include voices from marginalized groups that are under-represented in mainstream publishing.
• Provide resources in formats that meet the needs of users with differing abilities;
• Identify and challenge exclusionary practices in academic publishing and collection development.
• Critically examine access restrictions, description, and location of materials in the collections to avoid de facto exclusion of historically overlooked materials and authors. 
• Conduct ongoing assessment of our cooperative collections work in light of inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility.
• Support strategies designed to address issues of inequitable participation and distribution of knowledge such as Open Access materials. Promote equitable access to content and advocate with vendors to ensure their products meet appropriate standards.

----

The ACRL Definition of Cultural Competence is a congruent set of behaviors, attitudes, and policies that enable a person or group to work effectively in cross-cultural situations; the process by which individuals and systems respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and other diversity factors in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each.

- Mark Jacobs

Executive Director, WRLC

APAC's August choice for Idea of the Month focuses on the Primo Library Card page.



The request is simple: Patron accounts in Primo need to have a patron's requests and/or loans collected together in unified lists on the My Library Account page. If you've ever tried to renew your loans via Primo, you've seen how annoying it is to have to figure out which institution provided the item you're trying to renew. Simplifying this would be a HUGE improvement for usability. Ex Libris has said they're reviewing the idea but adding your votes will help demonstrate how much we want this issue to be addressed.



Remember, anyone with an email can get an Idea Exchange account, just find the "New here? Create an account" link on the idea page. Then enter your email address to start the account creation process.



APAC welcomes nominations for future Ideas of the Month. Anyone can highlight an idea on the WRLC Idea Exchange Basecamp or you can submit ideas to your APAC representative.



-Cindy Bowen (GT), for the Alma/Primo Advisory Committee

Twice per year, Ex Libris refreshes all Alma Sandbox environments. A refresh means that all data and configurations are copied from the corresponding production environment; these replace any data and configurations already existing in the sandbox. 



Our second refresh of the year is scheduled for Sunday, August 14, 2022.



WRLC will do its best to recreate all consortial user accounts created in the past six months (login information will be emailed to all applicable users), but if you find that you do not have access to the sandbox after Tuesday, August 16th, you can fill out the WRLC Sandbox Access Request Form to request a new sandbox user account.



- Jackie Saavedra

Consortial Network Zone Manager, WRLC

July 26 was the fourth anniversary for going live with Alma and Primo in the WRLC. It's amazing how that time has flown by. We've now been using Alma for about 20% of the length of time that our consortium used our previous system, Voyager. Thank you to everyone who has made these last years as successful as possible and to everyone who continues to work to improve library management and discovery through your work on committees, advocacy and other ways.  



Our initial contract with Ex Libris for Alma and Primo had a three year term which now renews each fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). As we enter year five, one of our FY23 initiatives is to "Assess our implementation of Alma/Primo to identify successes and continuing challenges and develop future priorities." While this work will be coordinated by the Alma/Primo Advisory Committee, the APAC will be seeking input from users throughout the consortium. We encourage you to begin reflecting on your experiences and share feedback as we move into the new fiscal year.  



- Aaron Krebeck

Director of Library and User Services, WRLC