In its role as a recognized major research library*, the Library acquires, organizes, makes available, and preserves materials which support the University’s teaching, learning and research needs. While such material is increasingly available in electronic format, this expanded access to virtual collections has not supplanted the need for retrospective and current collections in hard copy. To ensure adequate space for existing and evolving resources and services, the Library routinely relocates specified categories of material to an off-site facility. In addition, when necessary and appropriate, the Library withdraws specified categories of material from the collection.
The off-site facility, known as the Annex, is jointly owned and operated by the TriUniversity Group of Libraries (TUG). Material located in the Annex is included in TRELLIS and may be retrieved and sent to any of the TUG libraries within 24 hours, during the work week. Users typically choose to have required items sent to one of the libraries for pick up but may arrange to use material at the Annex, if they prefer. Items located in the Annex may be returned to the on-site stacks when a collections librarian decides that this is appropriate.
The Library may withdraw material no longer deemed necessary for the collection. Withdrawn material may be offered to the Federation of Students’ used bookstore and other agencies. If no agency is interested in accepting withdrawn material, paper is recycled and microform is discarded.
The following categories of library materials may be considered for relocation or withdrawal:
Duplicate copies (including copies duplicated by an electronic format)
Superseded editions
Material which no longer supports teaching, learning and research at the University
Low-use material
Material in poor physical condition
Material is relocated to the Annex at the discretion of appropriate collections librarians, in consultation with Faculty Library Representatives as appropriate.
Librarians do the following when relocating material to the Annex:
Establish specific criteria for selection of material to be relocated to the Annex (a librarian may choose to consult with the appropriate Faculty Library Representative when determining criteria). When material is to be relocated from several areas of the collection, several librarians may work together to establish criteria.
Identify specific titles or volumes to be relocated.
At their discretion, invite other librarians and/or faculty members to review the items identified for relocation to determine whether some should remain in the open stacks.
Consult with appropriate User Services and Cataloguing managers on matters related to the work required to relocate designated items to the Annex.
In some cases it is appropriate to withdraw material. Withdrawal of duplicate copies is viewed as “housekeeping” and may be done at the discretion of the collections librarian responsible for the copies in question. Decisions to withdraw the only copy of an item in the collection must be made by the collections librarian in consultation with others.
Librarians do the following when withdrawing material from the collection:
Establish specific criteria for selection of material to be withdrawn (a librarian may choose to consult with the appropriate Faculty Library Representative when determining criteria). When material is to be withdrawn from several areas of the collection, several librarians may work together to establish criteria.
Identify specific items as candidates for possible withdrawal and obtain a report documenting those items.
Ensure that appropriate faculty members and other librarians have an opportunity to review the material to identify items that should remain in the collection.
Consult with appropriate User Services and Cataloguing managers on matters related to the work required to withdraw the final selections from the collection.
January 2004
* The University of Waterloo Library is a member of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and is one of 14 Canadian members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) based in Washington D.C. and participates in a number of consortial projects including the Canadian National Site Licensing Project (CNSLP).