Deselection Policy

Purpose

One goal of Wiggins Memorial Library is to provide current and relevant print materials to meet the present and future scholarly and informational needs of the Campbell University community. To meet this goal, the library's collection must be evaluated continually based on the criteria listed below. Any materials failing to meet these criteria are subject to deselection pending review by librarians and faculty.

Deselection Criteria

  1. Collection level: How vital is the item for CU coursework and research?
  2. Intrinsic value: Is the item a seminal work in its field?
  3. References: Is the item listed in standard indexes such as Resources for College Libraries, guides, bibliographies, etc.?
  4. Duplication: Is demand sufficient for multiple copies of the item?
  5. Physical condition: Can a damaged item be repaired? Should it be replaced?
  6. Research value: Are older materials still valuable for research interests?
  7. Edition: Is the edition of an item held by the library superseded by a newer edition?
  8. Completeness: Is the item part of a set or series of which the library does not have a complete run?
  9. Uniqueness: Is the item held only by CU?
  10. Usage: Has the item been checked out frequently or recently?

Deselection Process

  1. The weeding of any part of the print collection will be overseen primarily by librarians.
  2. Faculty will be contacted to assist with items that are in their areas of teaching expertise.
  3. Librarians will begin the process by identifying candidates for deselection following the Deselection Criteria.
  4. An electronic list of the items identified will be created.
  5. The librarian liaison for each academic area will send the electronic list to each faculty member of the department that is directly affected.
  6. If a faculty member would like to keep any item on the list in the collection, he/she will inform the librarian liaison the title of the item.