Collection Policies

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Collections Relocation & Withdrawal

Effective: July 2006

Rationale

The Collections Relocation & Withdrawal Policy exists to ensure that the University of Guelph Library's collections are managed in a way that ensures effective support for the University's current teaching and research activities, and maximizes effective use of the Library's physical facilities. The mission statement of the University of Guelph Library states that the Library will "support the research, teaching and learning of the University of Guelph through the provision of high-quality information resources..." In order to fulfil this mandate, the Library strives to:

provide, preserve, develop and promote collections in the most appropriate formats and to act as a gateway to both printed and electronic resources in an integrated way;
collaborate with other institutions at the local, regional, national and international levels to enhance resource sharing while still fulfilling the Library's role in areas of specialisation and as a steward of the University's long-term research and teaching ollections. At a regional and national level the University of Guelph Library is committed to playing an active role in the development of collaborative collection management schemes, with bilateral and multilateral agreements beginning to take effect. Since no university library can expect to be entirely self-sufficient in providing all of the resources their users might need, it has become imperative that resource sharing partnerships are created and maximized to provide users with access to the widest range of research materials possible. By rationalizing print collections across a number of institutions, all partners are able to achieve significant economies of scale at the local level, both financially and in the use of scarce space, even as new materials keep flowing into their collections. The University of Guelph Library will participate in such partnerships in a responsible way, ensuring that they are governed by formal collaborative collection management agreements and that local academic priorities or specialized needs are maintained.

Policy Statement

The Collections Relocation & Withdrawal Policy outlines the Library's policies and criteria for relocation or withdrawal of items in the University of Guelph Library's collections. It is intended as both a statement of policy for reference by library users and as guidance on working practice for University of Guelph Library staff.

The Policy

Scope

This policy covers print material that is in collections of the University of Guelph Library, including the McLaughlin building, the OVC Learning Commons, and the University of Guelph portion of the TriUniversity Group (TUG) Annex storage facility. It does not pertain to materials in Special Collections and Archives, nor to Information Resources in electronic, audio, moving image, or microform formats unless explicitly stated. This policy replaces the document "General Guidelines on Relocation and Withdrawal of Library Material from the Main Collection" (June, 1995).

Definitions

Relocation: relocated from one level of access to another, most typically from McLaughlin or OVC to the Annex, or from circulating to non-circulating location codes.

Withdrawal: permanent removal from the Library's holdings.

Overview

The Library is committed to providing the best research collections possible, given the normal fiscal constraints, to its users. One of the mandates for a research library is to serve as an archival repository for little used materials of continuing research value. The Library is committed to the development of the digital library through the acquisition of electronic information resources, using a model that stresses ownership over leasing, and local loading and archiving of resources on shared infrastructure whenever possible. Given that other libraries in the province are committed to retain duplicate paper copies of material owned electronically, and these institutions will likely continue to do so in future, the University of Guelph will attempt to maximize space utilization and accommodate future growth of collections by withdrawing material such as paper journals where the Library owns the equivalent electronic copies or where the Library has guaranteed perpetual access rights through license agreements. In addition, the library continues to offer a fully subsidized document delivery service for faculty and grads and provides interlibrary oan to all faculty, staff and students as a further guarantee of access. The climate of cooperation and collaboration continues to grow in Ontario, most notably in the area of digital resources, and libraries must continually re-evaluate past collection management practices in light of this changing landscape.

Tri-Universities Last Copy Agreement

The University of Guelph has a Preservation of Last Copy Agreement with the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University which ensures that no TUG Library will withdraw an item which is unique within the TUG libraries system without notifying all of the partner institutions. In practice, this means that duplicate copies of low-use titles do not have to be retained by all three TUG institutions, since no-one will withdraw a "last" or unique copy without notification. In most cases the last remaining copy of a low-use title will be relocated to the TUG Annex.

General Policy – Monographs

A Cooperative storage collection such as the TUG Annex should be viewed as one commonly held and owned collection for relocation or withdrawal purposes. Circulating material which has had little or no use over defined periods of time should not be relocated if there are additional copies already located in storage. Normally, inspection of the physical quality of various multiple copies to determine the 'Best' copy will not be done. In most cases, only one edition imprint (e.g. U.S. vs. U.K. ) will be kept. Unless the sum total of uses of multiple copies is beyond the ability of a single copy to supply the need for most of the year, the extra copies should be withdrawn from the collection. Exceptions to this principle may arise in disciplines (largely in the humanities) where the intellectual value of publications does not equate with recency of publication date, or with subject collections that are considered "special" in relation to Guelph's Archival & Special Collections areas of strength, such as apiculture or Scottish Studies. Multiple copies of the same edition should be withdrawn to a single copy, and in most cases, variant editions need not be retained. Although this is a research library, and retention of a final copy in the shared storage facility should be the normal practice, there are some materials where no copy needs to be kept (examples include: outdated reference items such as annuals and cumulative editions, outmoded formats, introductory and survey texts that are now outdated, and superseded editions). The library shall determine the best method for the disposal of withdrawn material. Normally, withdrawn material is not offered to members of the university or general public.

General Policy – Serials

Due to the high costs of receiving, processing, binding and storage of paper journals, journals that are owned in electronic format will not normally be acquired or retained in paper. This decision is predicated on an evolving province-wide consortia driven approach to the retention of the paper copies of journals. As ownership of the electronic content of large publisher suites of journals expands, the corresponding paper copies will be withdrawn from the physical collections at the University of Guelph's main campus and from the TUG storage facility, with the assurance that a last print copy of this title is retained by and obtainable from another nearby OCUL library. As well as freeing up space for future collection growth or for other purposes, withdrawal of unneeded print journal runs will help to streamline and simplify serial records in the TRELLIS catalogue, making it easier for users to find and access journal resources. The goal of storage for paper serials is to retain only those titles which are unique within TUG and/or the OCUL libraries in our geographical region.

General Criteria† for Relocation and Withdrawal of Material

Usage
Age (including publication, imprint, or copyright or purchase date)*
Cost
Availability of other materials in the field
Duplication
Physical deterioration or damage**
Electronic access
Availability of replacement copy

† Individual departmental or program collection policies may contain more specific, discipline-specific criteria for relocation and withdrawal, while still using these criteria as guidelines.

* Any material that may be 'rare' can be referred to the Head, Archival & Special Collections, for a decision.

** Unique items that are too damaged for the open stacks may be relocated to the Restricted Collection.

Criteria for Relocation to and Withdrawal of Material from the TUG Annex Storage Facility

Wherever possible Guelph will work to reduce duplication of materials (both books and journals) in the storage facility. In order to achieve this, the storage collection will be monitored and materials will be withdrawn on an ongoing basis. Responsibility for management of the TUG Annex storage facility collections on Guelph's behalf rests with the Associate Chief Librarian of User Services, in consultation with other stake-holders such as the Head of Information Resources and the University of Guelph Library's Information Resources Committee.

In general, criteria for relocating books and journals from the McLaughlin building or the OVC Learning Commons to the TUG Annex storage facility include:

Usage
Age (including publication, imprint, or copyright or purchase date)*
Uniqueness (the title in question is not duplicated in TUG or in other regional OCUL libraries)
Physical deterioration or damage (where no replacement copy is available)
Content (especially where subject matter is unique within OCUL, or is considered
"special" in relation to Guelph's Archival & Special Collections areas of strength)

Who Should Know This Policy

All users of University of Guelph Library facilities (main campus), including faculty, students, staff, and visitors.

Procedures / Guidelines

Procedure for Disposal of Library Materials

Related Information

Contact

Scott Gillies, Head, Information Resources;

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