The Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust [EAST] – An Update

Abstract

The Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust [EAST] is a major new shared print initiative involving 47 academic and research libraries across the Northeast. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Davis Educational Foundation and hosted by the Boston Library Consortium, EAST member libraries will collaborate to retain agreed upon titles in their local circulating collections as well as make them available to other EAST members, thereby ensuring continued access to the scholarly record of print monographs and journals. During the two year initial implementation project, EAST libraries will undertake a large scale collection analysis, design and implement a sample-based validation study, secure retentional agreements, plan for future EAST membership and begin to explore reciprocal agreements with other regional and national shared print programs to create a broader network of services. This update will focus on the progress made to date in launching EAST, provide preliminary information on the collection analysis, discuss issues that EAST libraries have raised in relation to shared print retention, and look at ways that EAST can work with members and non-members across the Northeast to maximize access to scholarly materials.