The West Branch Institute (WBI) at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania is a new initiative within the College of Arts and Sciences. The goals of the WBI are reasonably simple and straightforward.

Current activities concerning the WBI are concentrated on publicizing and requesting support for the new initiative by meeting with people in the West Branch Drainage which head agencies and groups, with concerns about or management responsibilities, for the resources within the watershed. Archival information already present in the collection at Stevenson Library on the campus of Lock Haven University is being assessed as is information in other local libraries and local and regional agency files. A formal Memorandum of Agreement form is currently being developed and reviewed which would allow agencies and groups to formalize their support for WBI. Researchers and other individuals with identified interest in the watershed are being approached and their role as possible collaborators for joint research, archival use and archival expansion is being investigated.