Department of Collections: Shared Print Retention Agreements

Scholars Trust is a partnership among the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL), the Florida Academic Repository (FLARE), and Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) to share the effort of the long-term retention of and access to print materials held by academic libraries in support of learning and scholarship. In total, 52 academic libraries (including 35 of ASERL’s 37 members) participate in Scholars Trust, holding 57,811 retained titles as of March 2021. 

Virginia Tech, as a member of ASERL, has committed over 380 journal titles to the ASERL Collaborative Journal Retention Program Agreement for Libraries Participating in Scholars Trust.

• How many journal titles has Virginia Tech committed to retain?
  • 383 (15,000+ volumes)
• Where can I find a list of these journal titles?
  • The most current listing of Scholars Trust retained titles can be found in the Center for Research Libraries PAPR | Print Archives Preservation Registry. Additionally, a regularly updated Excel sheet is accessible here.
• How long has Virginia Tech committed to retaining these titles?
  • Until December 31, 2035.
• Can I check these items out of the library?
  • No, these items cannot leave the library. We limit access to scanning articles from the journals for patrons, or patrons can arrange to use the volumes on site.

ASERL's Collaborative Federal Depository Program ensures that government documents are preserved and accessible in perpetuity. As participants in this program, libraries choose the agency or department publications that are most relevant to their mission or collection strengths. As a federal depository library with a College of Architecture and Life Sciences, we have collected many of the Agricultural Research Service’s publications so we have signed a memorandum of agreement to retain documents from that agency

• Which titles has Virginia Tech committed to retain?
  • Virginia Tech has agreed to retain government documents published by the Agricultural Research Service. These publications are all found in the Government Documents collection with the leading call number stem Docs A77.
• How long has Virginia Tech committed to retaining these titles?
  • Indefinitely. However, participating institutions may opt out of the agreement as long as they provide 24 months written notice.
• Can I check these items out of the library?
  • Yes! These items are available for loan

In 2015, Virginia Tech participated in VIVA’s Monographs Project along with George Mason University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, James Madison University, Radford University, Germanna Community College, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Mountain Empire Community College, University of Richmond, and Washington & Lee University. These participating institutions submitted their collections for analysis to identify both the titles widely held by many institutions and the titles that were rare or unique to each institution. Each library agreed to retain the unique titles in its collection as well as claim titles that are widely held for retention, allowing other institutions to discard these titles from their own collections if they desired.

• How many book titles has Virginia Tech committed to retain?
  • Over 6,700.
• Where can I find a list of these book titles?
  • A list of protected titles held by each institution can be found using VIVA's tool, ThistleCAT.
• How long has Virginia Tech committed to retaining these titles?
  • Until June 30, 2024. See the section on VIVAls agreement with the Eastern Academic Scholars Trust (EAST) below for more information on the future of these holdings.
• Can I check these items out of the library?
  • Yes! These items are available for loan.
     

In 2023, VIVA entered into a monograph retention agreement with The Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust (EAST). As a part of this agreement, eleven institutions that are part of the VIVA consortium, including Virginia Tech, joined 82 other East Coast institutions as retention partners participating in EAST. After a thorough analysis of each institution's collection, each library agreed to monograph retention commitments andis able to participate in the EAST Lending Network.

This print monograph retention agreement will effectively replace the VIVA Monograph Project agreements.

In order to increase the diversity of Virginia's shared collections VIVA established a task force on support for small publishers. The task force identified an extensive list of small publishers, with special attention to minority-owned and led publishers that have diverse voices in their content.
Virginia Tech was one of four pilot institutions to begin receiving qualifying print books in Spring 2022 via an approval plan with GOBI. All costs are covered centrally by VIVA. All costs are covered centrally by VIVA. Since then the plan has been opened up to more libraries around Virginia..

• How many book titles has Virginia Tech committed to retain?
  • Approximately 100-120 books a year are anticipated for VT.
• Where can I find a list of these book titles?
  • Some examples of titles purchased on this plan can be found below. For a list of titles purchased from this approval plan, please email Nitra Eastby  at neastby@vt.edu.
• How long has Virginia Tech committed to retaining these titles?
  • Ten years from receipt.
• Can I check these items out of the library?
  • Yes! These items are available for loan.