Background
Comprehensive collection reviews with weeding components are important for maintaining a well-curated collection that contributes to the college's intellectual life. Since 1823, the Library has been adding to the print book collection with minimal review and removal of titles that are no longer needed. Now at 400,000 circulating books and reference volumes, only a portion of the collection is relevant to the curricular, research, or extra-curricular interests of the campus.
Recent acquisitions that support current needs are increasingly crowded out, making stack maintenance and serendipitous browsing difficult. We aim to undertake a large-scale collection review to identify titles in our collection for weeding. Doing so will result in a more vibrant, accessible, intellectually relevant collection worthy of a modern small liberal arts college.
Overall Plan
A Steering Group comprised of Trinity librarians will shepherd this multi-year process.
We will review LC Classes Q - Z first, then A - L. (M, N, and P are not part of this project.)
We are reviewing circulating print books and reference books only! This process will not apply to:
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Anything in Watkinson or Archives
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Other formats, such as DVDs, CDs, maps, ebooks, journals
The Multi-year process
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For each LC class, custom deselection criteria will be determined in consultation with faculty. We will consider a range of factors as appropriate for each discipline, such as:
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Circulation statistics
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Rarity (very rare books will be retained)
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Publication Date
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Digital copies available / Public domain status
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retained as part of EAST shared print program
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Librarians will generate a list of books slated for withdrawal according to the pre-determined criteria. This list will then be sent to the appropriate faculty if they wish to review it.
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Librarians and faculty will have ~2 – 3 months to review books slated for withdrawal.
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Rare books will be transferred to Watkinson Library. Withdrawn books will either be donated or recycled.