Basic Information

Stock editing is a necessary part of collection management and is often an opportunity for subject librarians and academic staff to work together to have a collection that is relevant and meets current or anticipated academic needs.

The following criteria shall apply when withdrawing items:

Items no longer deemed current – e.g. more than 10 years old.
Items not borrowed for the past 5 years.
Items no longer current and relevant to course needs
Where the physical condition is beyond repair.
Old editions will normally be withdrawn when new editions are in stock.
Availability of shelf space.
In all cases subject librarians will use their expert judgement when determining stock to be withdrawn.
Multiple copies no longer in heavy use will be reduced.
Items less than ten years old but with little or no current use will be reduced.

All academic staff will be consulted and notified of an imminent stock weeding by their subject librarian, some weeks before the actual process starts.
Once the books have been withdrawn from the shelf, a period of two weeks will be allowed for lecturers to inspect the withdrawn stock.
Items deemed not suitable for withdrawal by academic staff will be retained where possible.

Withdrawn books will be offered to charitable organisations who specifically ask, to students or staff.
In some cases, especially where some books are deemed to have intrinsic value, they will be sold to dealers.

This document will be reviewed periodically to take note of changes in the collection.

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