Collection Development

Guidelines for Deselection of Monographs

1. For this project, look only titles with 0 recorded uses. (Set GreenGlass query > circulation > equals 0)

2. Examine the course catalogs:

     Undergraduate Course Descriptions

     Graduate Course Descriptions

3. Consult your faculty.

4. Consider LC subject headings and call numbers, but don't over rely on them. 

5. Understand how publishing and scholarship in your field works.

1. Are there classic texts that should be retained?
2. Is a text full of primary sources that have lasting value?
3. When does your discipline consider a title to be old and the scholarship therein can be questions for its currentness or accuracy?
   1. A good rule of thumb is, "Do the professors in my discipline tell student that when they're writing a paper, they shouldn't use a source older than XXXX date." 
   2. If your discipline doesn't have a rule of thumb date for a text being too old, pause and think about discarding any book younger than 2000.
   3. (Note* With the average age of materials in our collection being fairly old, many of you can comfortably look to withdraw titles pre-1980. This suggestion is obviously trumped by an understanding of the scholarship of your field.)

6. Consider holdings at other state libraries or national libraries.

Procedure

Create your query in GreenGlass - For tips on creating GreenGlass queries, see here.
(Remember your login is your email address and I've sent each of you your password in an email on 1 March 2018 ) 

Download the query in an excel spreadsheet. In naming your spreadsheet, you need to have the lead be the fund code of the area you're deselecting in - F-XXX_ and it must end with .xlsx. Between those lines you may put whatever you like. This is essential for processing of the information. 

Place them in the correct folder on the Common Drive for processing. (T:\NGL\Collection Development\2018 Deselection Project (Weeding)\YOURFOLDER). In order to facilitate the automated processing of your decisions, you must work on the spreadsheet from this common drive folder. 

Preliminary processing runs overnight, so you must wait until the next morning to begin to use your spreadsheet to deselect.

The decision row is prepped to do allow for three choices. 

1. Keep - Retain materials
2. Review - Have materials pulled for inspection
3. Discard - Deselect and withdraw materials

In order to facilitate the automation of the process, you may only hide columns and resort rows.  Do not delete columns or rows.

If you see titles that you'd like another librarian or librarians to examine before they're discarded, please highlight the row with the paint bucket. Then send an email to that librarian with the path to the file and invite them to examine the titles. 

The processing of decisions is automated to run each evening. 

Reviews - When a sufficient number of titles have accumulated for review, a student will pull the titles for you and bring them to you on a truck.As you examine the materials on the truck, please update your spreadsheet 

Discard - These will be processed and withdrawn from the collection.

If you notice a problem with a record or item that you choose to keep, in the Bibliographer Note column, please use the dropdown note of - TS REVIEW. You may make a note after this drop down as to the nature of the problem. 

SPECIAL CASES:

Sam Houston State Theses and Dissertations - In Tech Services we've verified that any Sam Houston State Theses or Dissertation in the main collection also has a print copy in the closed reserves. You can feel comfortable in discarding or retaining these.

Government Docs - We've run a list and identified all the materials marked as Government Documents in the main collection. If you are concerned with your lists having many government documents, please contact Zach Valdez about adding this information to your deselection tool. 

Attributed Collections - We've set up a system to vet out materials we've agreed to keep like the Adams collection. You should not worry about these appearing in your list.

Collection Development Policy Review

Need:

Current collection development policy names some practices that are no longer done, refers to some groups that don’t exist, and omits policies on formats we now collect.

Goals:

General Collection Development Policy Review:

To update/correct/verify/realign library collection development policy to match/include current practices and to introduce best practices so that library collection continues to meet the university’s needs.

Proposed Procedure:

Current section of policy (or, if topic is non-existant in current policy, then Head of Technical Services will write a proposed policy section) will be identified and sent via email to all subject selectors. Discussion on points of policy will ensue either electronically or in a dedicated meeting. Revised or confirmed policy will then be added to new collection development policy. 

Review Completion Date Goal: 

May 2018

Areas to review:

          Current Collection Development Policy Subheadings: 

• Scope and Audience
• Purpose
• Goals
• Structure
• Organization/Responsibility for Collection development
• Selection Policies
  • Multiple Copies
• Formats & types
  • Hardback v. Paperback
  • Textbooks
  • Serials disguised as monographs
  • Individual volume from set or annual
• Selection intensity levels
• Selection tools
• Budget allocation
• Assessment Policies
  • Quantitative
  • Qualitative
• Serials Review
• Gifts
• Lost Books
• Serials Deselection

          Additional topics to be included

• Database selection
• General Deselection

Background:  Although many titles and copies were examined by bibliographers in a Duplicates project which concluded last summer with approximately 900 items being withdrawn, many titles with multiple copies which are undetectable due to call number formatting problems still exist in the library’s collection  A SIRSI API report identifies at least 24,000 items suspected of being a duplicate ...or higher, with possibly as many as 20 copies in the MAIN collection.

The Multiple Copies project will be carried out in “waves”, beginning with small groups of titles disseminated to bibliographers by Dianna Kim.  Bibliographers will receive new lists of titles to review after each round of copy numbers is addressed.  This is to keep lists manageable, and spread among several bibliographers. 

Instructions to Bibliographers:

1. Dianna will notify you by e-mail when she has put a list of titles to be reviewed in your mailbox.
2. Check out a book truck from Melanie’s area (put your name on the checkout list).  The truck will have green withdraw slips, and pencils in pockets.
3. Please pull ALL copies bearing the CALL Numbers on your list, regardless of whether the TITLE is on the list.  Make a note on your list of any titles unable to be located.
4. Survey the immediate area around the books you pulled, and see if there are other editions, titles, or copies that are outdated, or need to be withdrawn.  Stay within about arm’s length to do this, and make notes of areas you want to come back to after this Multiple Copies is completed.  Resist the urge to weed a 15 foot row of shelves.
5. Use the green slips provided to identify each copy to be withdrawn.  Copies to be kept do not need to be marked, but please pull them and put them on the cart along with the copies to be withdrawn, and all other items bearing the same call numbers.  (The call numbers on every copy kept will need to be re-worked by cataloging before being returned to the shelf.) 
6. Please do not use the bottom shelves of the cart.  Call Dianna or Melanie if you need assistance pulling books from the shelf, or you would like to have a student move the cart for you.  (Please, no strained backs!)
7. Return book trucks to Melanie Walton, or call for assistance. 

Contact Molly Thompson, Melanie Walton, or Dianna Kim with any questions you may have, or assistance with pulling from the shelf or pushing book carts.

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