Governance

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON EAST GOVERNANCE – From 2015/16 through May of 2023 EAST was a fiscally sponsored program of the Boston Library Consortium (BLC) and received administrative support, financial services and technical infrastructure from the BLC. In December of 2022 EAST registered as a public charity in Massachusetts and was granted tax exempt status as a 501(c)(3) by the IRS. As of June 1, 2023, EAST has transitioned from its fiscal sponsorship relationship with the BLC and has become an independent organization. Prior to this date, EAST’s primary governance was provided by an elected Executive Committee.

EAST Board of Directors

Primary governance of the Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust (EAST) is provided by the Board of Directors which, per the EAST bylaws, includes 8-11 directors representing the diverse perspectives of the EAST membership. Nominations for Board members are made by the Voting Members which represent the full EAST membership. The Board has fiduciary responsibility for EAST as well as oversight of the EAST strategic directions. The EAST Program Director reports to the Board and manages the Program Team.

The Board maintains two standing executive committees: the Finance Committee, charged with providing oversight of EAST in areas relating to budget, financial planning, internal accounting controls and general financial sustainability; and a Personnel Committee charged with providing oversight and recommendations relating to the staffing of the EAST Program Team. In addition to the EAST Operations Committee, described below, the Board may also appoint Working Groups to oversee initiatives in specific areas such as collection analysis and resource sharing.

Read more about the EAST Board of Directors.

EAST Operations Committee

The EAST Operations Committee (OC) is a non-executive standing committee which reports to the Board of Directors and is responsible for recommending policies and workflows around the operational use of EAST retention commitments within the member libraries. The OC works closely with the EAST Program Team to address operational issues that arise from the membership. Any policy or procedural recommendations from the OC require approval by the EAST Board prior to implementation.

In addition to this standing committee, each EAST member has appointed an Operational Contact to implement the policies and procedures developed by the Operations Committee.

EAST Working Groups

Occasionally, the EAST Board of Directors, Operations Committee, or Program Team will recommend the creation of a working group to address specific questions of interest to the EAST membership.

Collection Analysis Working Group (2023-2024)

Charge: Develop recommendations for the EAST Board of Directors regarding the selection of titles for EAST retention, including reviewing collection analysis reports in the Gold Rush collection comparison tool and agreeing categories of materials that should be prioritized for EAST retention and developing recommendations for how Gold Rush can be utilized by libraries to identify areas of their print collections that they are more willing to retain titles in by self-nominating for retention. See full charge.  More information on the project can be found on the Collections Analysis 2011-2021 page

Members:

Beth Blanton, University of Virginia
Todd Falkowski, Trinity College
Tony Fonseca, Elms College
Annie Glerum, Florida State University
Terese Heidenwolf, Lafayette College
Anne Koenig, University of Pittsburgh
Sarah McCleskey, Hofstra University
Teresa Negrucci, Wesleyan University

Resource Sharing Task Force (2024)

Charge: One of the major themes from the 2023 EAST Member Meeting was discussion concerning ways EAST could improve communications and documentation around resource sharing and Inter-library loan, in order for all EAST members to be aware of their responsibilities for lending materials across the EAST resource sharing network. To further this work the EAST Program Team recommended that a Resource Sharing Task Force be convened to explore topics of communication and the possibility of a community of practice. See full charge.

Members:
Angie Batson, Wellesley College
Kristin Calvert, Western Carolina University
Mark Canney, Lehigh University
Peggy Glatthaar, Florida Gulf Coast University
Charlotte Johnson, University of Pittsburgh (Chair)
Dzintra Lacis, Brandeis University
Ethan Powers, Mount Holyoke College
Rachel A. Manning, Middlebury College
Erika McNeil, University of Connecticut
Shelly Schmucker, Florida State University
Maggie Smith, PASCAL

 

 

Previous Working Groups

Over the years, EAST has also convened other working groups.

  • Interlibrary Loan / Resource Sharing Working Group (2022) (charge)
  • Collection Analysis Working Group (September 2021 – May 2022) (charge)
  • Access Working Group (September 2021 – May 2022) (charge)
  • Special Collections Working Group (Summer – December 2021) (charge)
  • Inter-Library Loan Working Group
  • 583 Working Group
  • Serials and Journals Working Group
  • Collection Analysis Working Group, Cohort 1
  • Collection Analysis Working Group, Cohort 2

Board of Directors

As of January 2024 the EAST Board of Directors includes:

President & Co-Chair:
Scott Warren, Syracuse University (2025)
Vice-President:
Matthew Sheehy, Brandeis University (2025)
Clerk & Co-Chair:
Anthony Fonseca, Elms College (2026)
Treasurer:
Boaz Nadav-Manes, Lehigh University (2026)
Directors:
Marta Brunner, Skidmore College (2025)
Vicki Coleman, North Carolina A&T State University (2026)
Jonathan Miller, Williams College (2026)
Katy O’Neill, Loyola Notre Dame Library (2026)
Sue Polanka, Appalachian State University (2026)

Non-Voting Board Member:
Susan Stearns, EAST Program Director  

See also prior members of the Board and EAST’s original Executive Committee.