4.1 De-selection of materials
De-selection involves removal of materials from current collections in the general library to storage/for disposal and from storage to disposal (eg sale, transfer). Large-scale de-selection exercises will only be undertaken following consultation with the academic community, having regard to patterns of teaching and research interest. Where usage warrants, items can also be returned from storage to the current collections.
General criteria
- Material of current research and teaching interest will be retained.
- Material no longer of current research and teaching interest, but with the potential to be of future teaching/research interest, will be moved to storage.
- Material with no past, current or potential teaching/research interest will be disposed of.
- The Library will continually monitor stock. Members of senior library staff have responsibility for conducting de-selection in their areas of collection responsibility, in close liaison with academic colleagues.
- All monograph material for disposal will be checked by Special Libraries and Archives staff.
- All serials for disposal will be checked by Special Libraries and Archives staff and the Serials Manager.
4.1.1 Criteria for retention
The consideration of materials for retention will usually encompass one or more of the following:
- Current and future research and teaching needs
- Usage
- Known to be needed for reference and consultation
- Rarity
- First editions
- Private Press materials
- Provenance
- Value/rarity of item as physical artefact
- College input
- Research Assessment Exercise / Conspectus input
- Geographical area
- Local (North-East of Scotland) interest, including items with a strong University/University Library association/provenance
- Needs of community/locality/region
- Material retained under co-operative or contractual obligations e.g. European Union documentation
- On-campus or local resources; co-operative collection agreements; resource sharing
- Size of existing collection
- Currency
- Reputation of work
- Relevance
- Inter-disciplinary interest
- Subject area
- Format
Criteria for relegation to store
Consideration of materials for relegation to store will usually encompass one or more of the following:
- Usage - items that have not been borrowed for a subject-specific period or time may be relegated, unless they meet other criteria for retention, eg classic texts.
- Date
- Language
- State of repair
- Availability in alternative formats
- Electronic availability
- Currency
- Reputation of work
- Relevance
Criteria for disposal
Monographs
- Duplicates will be disposed of, except in cases of continued high demand, known usage or where the Library holds rare copies.
- Superseded editions without research interest, but
- in the arts, if several editions of a work are held, one copy of each edition will be retained
- in the social sciences, sciences and medicine, at least the earliest and the latest editions will be retained except where other editions are relevant to the development of ideas.
- Materials available in electronic format (where future loss of archiving would not be disastrous)
- Materials available within a co-operative store
- Non-English language, where this is not of relevance to the subject
- State of repair - materials which cannot be repaired, rebound or replaced and for which the cost of preservation exceeds the usefulness of the information contained
- Availability in alternative formats
- Electronic availability
- Availability via Electronic Document Delivery/Inter Library Loan
- Currency
- Reputation of work
- Relevance
Serials
Only if the serial run is established to be duplicated elsewhere within Scotland (i.e. “last copies” will be retained) will the run be disposed of.
- Incomplete and short runs of a title will be withdrawn to storage or for disposal on the recommendation of appropriate Library staff, and with the agreement of the Serials Manager
- Titles which contain information that is not useful in the long-term (e.g. newsletters) will usually have automatic discard patterns established (such as, “current year only to be retained”)
- Annuals, biennials, and regularly updated editions of directories, almanacs etc will be de-selected depending on the value of the information contained in earlier editions, and the existing library holdings. One or two older editions may be retained in circulating collections.
- Duplicate issues of periodicals and journals are usually discarded when a volume has been bound, unless heavy usage indicates a need for duplicates.
4.1.2 Disposal of de-selected materials
Practices to dispose of materials withdrawn from the collection are prioritised:
- Exchange with or donate the materials to other libraries/institutions
- Sell to legitimate book-dealers if the stock is of an appropriate nature
- Sell through library book-sale
- Give away
- Discard by recycling
Guildelines for the disposal of older unwanted material are available.
4.2 Replacement of Missing Materials
Where items have been lost or irreparably damaged while on loan, a charge for replacement will be made and the item replaced where possible. If the item is out-of-print, a more recent edition or a text of similar content will be acquired. Where items are reported as missing from the shelves, staff will make repeated searches in all possible locations. If the item remains missing, it will be recorded as such in the catalogue. Items which have been missing for over two years are considered for replacement by the relevant Information Consultant: earlier replacement may be made on request. These replacement items are funded from the Library’s Replacement fund. If no replacement is possible or desirable, the catalogue record will be deleted.
4.3 Conservation, Preservation and Restoration
See Appendix 4
4.3.1 Binding and Repair
The University Library will undertake repairs to damaged Library stock, where the value of the item warrants such intervention (e.g. where the Library owns multiple copies a paperback book, it is unlikely that a damaged copy would be repaired, or where the cost of repair is greater than the cost of a new copy).
To ensure long term preservation, paper-based journals that are not replicated electronically will be bound.
4.4 Digitisation Policy
The Library will, where appropriate, provide surrogates of vulnerable or frequently used material, through microform, digitisation or other means. – see Appendix 4
