Book Deselection Policy

 

Library liaisons to departments will periodically review sections of the collection for the deselection of library books, following the Guidelines for Deselecting Books (see below).

Librarians will then pull these books from the shelves and make them available in an area in the library for faculty from a designated department to review.

Faculty will then have the opportunity to review those books being considered for deselection and place specified titles back in the general collection.

If, after one month from the time of review, there has been no response from the department, the library will proceed with the removal of the books being considered for deselection.

A rotating schedule developed by faculty and librarians is set up to review the collection.

Guidelines for Deselecting Books from the General Collection:

Items considered for deselection will be those which:

• have not circulated in the past 10 years (including Interlibrary Loans to other libraries)
• are at least 20 years old (in most fields) or contain outdated or unreliable information due to their age
• have been replaced by a newer edition or more current comparable materials
• are duplicate copies
• are no longer relevant to the University’s academic programs or relevant to the discipline
• have been made unusable by their physical condition
• are not classics in their areas
• do not have significance to the institution’s mission or to specific programs

We will consider a series as a whole, if it was purchased as a set.

Worn copies should be considered for removal, repair, or replacement.

Faculty from the subject area(s) should review the materials to identify any items which should remain in the collection for their individual research, course needs, or other reasons.

Items will be checked against Books for College Libraries or a similar source and retained as applicable. When in doubt about the usefulness of items, we will err on the side of retention in the collection.

Disposal of Weeded Items

Materials will be offered to departments and faculty first for their own university use.

The Physical Plant disposes of materials that are deselected from the collection.

Note: Involvement in the weeding process should preclude personally acquiring the materials after they are withdrawn -- items may not be sold.

For more information, please contact Ms. Katherine Loving.