The EAST Operations Committee created the following process to facilitate reallocation and alleviate the burden on individual EAST member libraries to find retention copies in partner institutions when they are unable to retain or replace EAST commitments. Before using this process, please ensure the material you are attempting to reallocate falls within the scope and operational guidelines of revoking retention commitments as defined in the EAST Major Operating Policies. Questions pertaining to retention commitments can be found in the Retention FAQ.
In rare instances where retained material has been identified as lost or damaged and is not replaceable by the retaining library, it may be necessary to revoke an existing retention commitment and possibly attempt to assign it to another EAST institution. Libraries wishing to reassign retention commitments may use either of the following procedures:
- For a small number of titles, reach out to other EAST institutions individually and ask their willingness to take on the retention(s). Operational contacts at EAST Member Libraries are linked off of the Operations page. If a retention is moved to another library, please ensure that the old retention is removed from OCLC and the new retention is registered.
- EAST conducts a semi-annual schedule of retention reallocations according to the following yearly calendar. Requests for revocation and/or reallocation of retentions can be made using the EAST Reversal and Reallocation Request form. Requests can be made at any time of year but reallocations will only be processed once a year.
- Libraries should remove the shared print flag from OCLC for materials submitted for reallocation. More information on how to do this can be found on the OCLC website: https://help.oclc.org/Metadata_Services/Shared_Print/Remove_shared_print_retention_commitments.
See also a short video explaining the Reallocation Process.
| May 1st & Nov 1st | EAST Project Team reminds member libraries of June/December 1st deadline to submit reallocation requests. |
| January | Operational Contacts at EAST libraries holding surplus copies are provided lists of potential additional retention requests, and the disposition of requests they submitted. Libraries have 6 weeks to examine the lists and respond if they are able to take on the additional retentions. Libraries are then responsible for recording retention commitments on these titles in their ILS and OCLC. |
Questions regarding this procedure may be sent to EASTreallocation@blc.org.