[Wactclc-alma] tomorrow and...

[Guidry, Wade]

?Just a couple of notes about the Alliance...


They are now down 3 critical staff positions, and a couple of less critical ones. And one of the vacated positions is the one responsible for the courier and Summit.


So, doing any new business with the Alliance (courier or ER licensing) is probably not going to be possible for a while.


My own personal perspective (and decidedly NOT based on any inside info other than my historic knowledge of the Alliance) is that they may not recover from their current situation.


I could see a scenario where the slim down their operations permanently, and focus on ER licensing (which in their case does offer cost advantages) and the management of their shared Alma network zone (ie, their mini-WorldCat). And that they would drop the Summit courier (in favor of mail-based ILL, and patron-anywhere) and also drop their digital collections / Hathi / Archives West, and ILS efforts (after over 5 years on Alma / Primo the libraries should be in a position to do that work themselves).


At least, if I were a director in the Alliance, that's probably what I would lobby for, as it would drastically reduce their consortial overhead, and still allow them to retain a couple of core services.


Again, that's just my outside observation, and not based on any specific knowledge.


In any case, I don't think they'll be coming up for air for a while over there.




Wade Guidry - wadeg at bigbend.edu
Library Consortium Services Manager
Washington Community & Technical Colleges Library Consortium (WACTCLC)
509.760.4474
________________________________
From: Wactclc-govcomm <wactclc-govcomm-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> on behalf of Bates, Aryana <Aryana.Bates at seattlecolleges.edu>
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2018 12:01 PM
To: wactclc-govcomm at lists.ctc.edu
Subject: [Wactclc-govcomm] tomorrow and...

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Hi,
So, I'll be at a conference tomorrow and unable to attend the wactclc govcom zoom meeting at 10.  However, here are two things that we may want to consider adding to our agenda for 10/22 morning wactclc meeting:

  *   you may have seen on the LMDC list the thread about having/creating a comprehensive list of databases that the system colleges has.  Someone mentioned that maybe the eResources work group may have collected this information already.  I don't recall that we did.  The survey we did send and report out on asked about needs and possible acquisitions and discontinuations.  Is a survey of actual holdings something we want to consider generating?  or do we want to push that back to the LLC?
  *   I was told by a colleague that the WACTCLC libraries should look into /are looking into is getting onto the contract that Orbis Cascade has with a courier service to provide library-direct delivery.  Courier service will be critical component of resource sharing between the WACTCLC libraries. Orbis Cascade already has a service contract up and running across a 3-state region.  I've lost track of where we're at on this...shall we discuss?

Aryana


Aryana Bates, MLS, PhD

Dean of the Library<http://libguides.northseattle.edu/welcome/instruction>, eLearning<https://erc.northseattle.edu/elearning-support-faculty>, TLC<http://webshares.northseattle.edu/tlc/abouttlc_staff.shtm>

North Seattle College

aryana.bates at seattlecolleges.edu

206.934.3612