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Regional accreditation has become an urgent issue within higher education. The current presidential administration has set a goal of creating more competition among existing accreditors, and making it easier for new accreditors to be approved. In April, the Department of Education conducted the first round of federal rulemaking sessions that will likely lead to substantial revision of federal regulations for accreditors. In parallel, the department is preparing to review petitions from current accreditors seeking renewed approval. Among those seeking re-approval is the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), which is the regional accreditor for all Alliance institutions.

This context intersects with an issue of immediate concern to libraries in the Northwest: NWCCU’s revision of its standards for accreditation, which aim to reduce complexity and recognize institutional resource constraints. Following a substantial dilution of the library standard in 2020, NWCCU has proposed a further revision that would eliminate the requirement that institutions employ qualified library personnel. Along with other library organizations—and many individual library workers—the Alliance has provided feedback to NWCCU about the potential negative impact of this change, both on academic libraries themselves and on student learning. (You can read the Alliance’s letters to NWCCU on our Advocacy Resources web page). This month, NWCCU will be preparing the “near final draft” of its recommended Standards revision, with an anticipated final comment period starting in June.

As documented by advocacy organization EveryLibrary, the dilution or elimination of library-related standards is not unique to NWCCU. Along with continued engagement with NWCCU, the Alliance is coordinating with other library consortia to share strategies for working with regional accreditors. Within this changing regulatory environment, our goal is to ensure that the role and impact of libraries continue to be reinforced through accreditation standards.

Regardless of the outcome of the NWCCU Standards revision process, the Alliance will continue to assist libraries in documenting and communicating their impact within higher education.

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Both the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health & Human Services recently extended deadlines for their web accessibility regulations by one year. However, our obligations remain to ensure that web content and mobile apps are accessible. We’d like to share a reminder of central support for accessibility, which includes:

• Accessibility of Web Content & Mobile Apps: a collection of documentation and selected resources
• Alliance All-In Member Programs: Accessibility: processes to facilitate accessibility conformance of the shared ILS and shared content (Alma/Primo and Shared Ebook Program)
• Alliance Electronic Resources Program (ERP): ADA Title II Compliance Statement: processes to identify and communicate accessibility information of Alliance-facilitated agreements
• Archives & Manuscripts Collections Service: Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) for Archives West (PDF): the accessibility report for our web-based finding aid aggregator

We’ll continue to update and add resources for collective support.

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Online Northwest 2026 Wrap-Up

After a four-year hiatus, the Online Northwest conference is back! Now hosted by the Alliance, the 2026 conference took place in-person at the University of Oregon Portland campus on April 10.

Eighty-five registrants attended from a variety of institutions from the Pacific Northwest and beyond, from Multnomah Public Library to as far away as Indiana! Dr. Sandy Littletree (UW) delivered the keynote presentation, “Moving beyond Pondering: Relationality and Indigenous Librarianship,” followed by sixteen breakout sessions. Feedback on the conference was almost universally positive, with 98% of respondents rating their experience either Excellent (81%) or Good (17%). Comments particularly praised the keynote and the food.

Julia Stone of PDXScholar provided PSU’s archival files for the new Online Northwest website. You can now view previous programs and search presentations back to 2010 at https://onlinenorthwest.org/archives/

Because ACRL 2027 will be in Portland next April, the Alliance plans to host the next Online Northwest conference in spring 2028.

Photo courtesy of University of Oregon

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One of the Alliance’s strengths is the way that our central staff create and sustain spaces for our community to gather, learn, and yes, occasionally commiserate together with people who are doing similar work and facing similar challenges.

For staff in library consortia worldwide, the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) serves the same purpose: creating a community where we can learn, share best practices, and work cross-consortially for the benefit of all of our members. Every year, several Alliance central staff attend the ICOLC Americas meeting. Next year, we will be bringing the meeting to our backyard: ICOLC Americas 2027 will be hosted by the Alliance in Portland, Oregon, April 11-14.

The Alliance last hosted ICOLC in 2014. Hosting the meeting provides an opportunity for all Alliance staff to participate and meet their counterparts – as well as for the Alliance to help shape the program for the conference. If the dates sound familiar to you, it’s because ACRL 2027 will be in Portland, April 7-10 – so if you like consortial conference content, there’s a good chance there will be more than usual at ACRL!