XIII. Collection Maintenance

THE RONALD WILLIAMS LIBRARY

COLLECTION MANAGEMENT POLICY

XIII. Collection Maintenance

Inventory of the Collection. The Library began an ongoing inventory of the collection in FY 1991. Library staff check the library collection against the shelflist record and online catalog to identify missing items. Portions of the collection are targeted each year with a goal of checking 10 percent of the collection each year. Inventory of the collection has also occurred as a result of the requirement to bar code all materials in order to allow their circulation through the DRA online catalog.

Preservation of the Collection. Decisions concerning preserving the existing collection are an integral part of collection management in an environment of limited funding, limited space, and changing academic programs. The Ronald Williams Library employs an item-by-item procedure for decisions concerning materials. It requires collaboration between subject bibliographers and the staff charged with preservation processes. Access services staff identify what items need to be preserved based upon the physical condition of the item. Subject bibliographers evaluate the importance of the material to determine if it is worth preserving. Technical services staff identify available preservation options for each item and consult with the subject bibliographer to evaluate whether the potential use is compatible with the available methods of preservation. Preservation methods may include:

• minor in-house repairs
• commercial rebinding
• replacement with microfilm
• protective enclosures
• replacement with preservation photocopies
• polyester encapsulation
• store in the Special Collections area under controlled access
• reshelve with no action
• discard material with no replacement

Withdrawals/Weeding of the Collection. Decisions concerning withdrawing materials from the existing collection are an integral part of collection management in an environment of limited space, changing academic programs, and limited funding. Added space to house library materials is not expected to be provided by the University. The Library employs an item-by-item procedure for the withdrawal or weeding of materials. Materials become obsolete, are superseded by later editions, become out-of-date, are unnecessary, or are in poor physical condition. When an item is the last copy available in the state of Illinois, the Library will retain it in order to comply with the Illinois cooperative collection management agreements.

In order to optimize work and space requirements, the Library has identified specific areas of the collection to concentrate withdrawal efforts. A project to barcode all materials in the Library offers an opportunity to withdraw titles that are identified and which fit any of the following criteria for withdrawal:

• It contains unsuitable subject level for the collection or does not support the goals of the University.
• It contains unsuitable subject coverage, comprehensiveness or significance of material.
• Other formats of the same material are available.
• The physical condition is beyond repair.
• An excess number of duplicate copies are on the shelf.
• Superseded editions are held.
• It contains outdated material.
• Scratched or damaged audiovisual materials.
  

Go to Section XIV - Collection Management Policy Statements for Funds

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