Selection and Deselection Policy

Introduction

The vitality the Instructional Resource Center depends, not only upon vigorous collection development, but also upon careful collection management. In order to enhance the center's value and utility, care must be taken to insure that its collections are properly maintained. One important aspect of this process is the deselection of materials that no longer support the mission of the College of Education or the purpose of the IRC's collections. The process of deselecting materials requires as much care as the process of selection itself. It is especially important that deselection be viewed within the broader context of the IRC's collection development programs and policies. Like collection development, deselection of materials is a consultative endeavor involving IRC staff, faculty members, and other parties as appropriate. This document describes policy guidelines governing the deselection of IRC's materials. It does not provide detailed procedures for implementing these guidelines. Other detailed procedural documents covering different types of deselection are written as necessary and reviewed by appropriate bodies.

Objectives of Deselection

  • To make the most effective use of shelf space. Shelving of center's materials is inherently expensive. Sufficient stack space is also lacking. Deselection may be necessary to remove materials that are not needed and provide space for new acquisitions.
  • To utilize acquisitions funds in the most effective manner. Cancellation of unnecessary subscriptions frees acquisitions funds to acquire other titles that are more responsive to current teaching and research needs.
  • To increase the relevance of the existing collections to current curricular needs. Removing dated or irrelevant titles from the shelves facilitates browsing by students and faculty.

  • To maintain the collections in an acceptable physical condition.

Types of Deselection

  1. Weeding
    Weeding is the permanent removal of a title from the collections. Categories of weeding include the routine weeding of superseded editions of titles received on standing order. Another category of weeding involves individual types of materials (e.g. pamphlets, musical scores, recordings, and government documents) which are weeded according to separate criteria and procedures for each material type. Title-by-title weeding of unused volumes no longer relevant to the curriculum or current research needs is a third category.

  2. Journal Cancellations
    Deselecting or canceling journals is part of the continuous process of evaluating the IRC's collections. Journal subscriptions are evaluated regularly to assess their relevance to curriculum and research programs as well as their cost and usage. Titles no longer relevant to current needs, overpriced (relative to use), underused (regardless of price), or appropriately accessible through interlibrary borrowing or electronic transmission are candidates for cancellation.

Criteria for Deselection

  1. Titles outside the collecting scope of the IRC
    Titles no longer relevant to current curricular or research needs and therefore not within the scope of the IRC's current collection development policies may be removed from the collections or (in the case of subscriptions) canceled.
  2. Obsolescence
    Titles that contain obsolete information (e.g. legal or medical reference works) may be deselected because the information they contain is out-of-date, invalid, inaccurate, or incomplete.
  3. Redundancy
    Copies or editions of titles may be deselected to minimize redundancy of holdings. Individual titles containing information found elsewhere in the collection may also be deselected for this purpose.
  4. Infrequently Used Materials
    Titles not used by current faculty and students or lent to other libraries via interlibrary loan may be deselected.
  5. Copyright Violation
    If resources are asked to be placed in the IRC that are in violation of copyright laws, they will not be placed. If such resources should be found in the IRC, they will be deselected and destroyed.
  6. Physical Condition
    Materials may be deselected due to poor physical condition. Many current newspapers are routinely retained for stated periods and then discarded or replaced in microform. Deteriorating books are evaluated for preservation and withdrawn if necessary. Replacement copies are sought as appropriate and available.

Cautions, Restrictions, and Safeguards

The same care and caution used in purchasing or accepting a title as a gift is exercised in deselection. Deselection decisions are carefully considered and subject to the conditions listed below.

  1. The process of deselection must not discourage gifts of useful or valuable materials, endanger the good will of IRC donors, or diminish public confidence in the IRC. In individual cases of deselection, the wishes of donors, insofar as they can be determined, must be honored.
  2. Titles to be deselected must bear no legal restrictions forbidding disposal.
  3. Appropriate consultation with faculty must be insured. This is essential whenever deselection is not routine, for example, journal cancellations or the weeding of subject areas or groups of titles. After consultation, the final determination of what will be placed or removed from the IRC resources will be determined by the director of the IRC. In minor, routine cases, resources will be removed without consultation.
  4. Funds realized from the sale of materials deselected will be used only to acquire other titles for IRC resources.

  5. To avoid conflict of interest, or the appearance of it, great care will be exercised when considering the sale of deselected titles to any member of the college community.

Disposal

The Director of the IRC will seek and arrange the best sale, auction, or exchange possibility, or other suitable method of disposal, that will benefit the IRC. All collection development policies are subject to revision. Sept. 2003.