The Libraries sometimes must weed (remove) books from the shelves in order to continue to be able to add new books, and to keep our collection current and useful.  This weeding is targeted to specific areas of the collection using different criteria and processes suitable to each.

Determination

• These items are print duplicates and second copies of print books.  They will be identified by use of the Greenglass tool based upon an ISBN or title match, and then confirmed as duplicates by visual review. 

Retention Exceptions

• If the duplicates each have recent high circulation, we will keep both.
• If one of the duplicates is a circulating copy with recent circulation for a book in a non-circulating collection such as Reference or Special Collections, we will keep both. If the circulating duplicate has no activity, we will withdraw it but retain the non-circulating copy.
• If the duplicates are both in non-circulating collections and are intended as Reference copies in different locations, we will keep both.

Review List

• These items will not be placed on a list for review. 

Disposition

• These books will either be offered to library users on the location specific free book shelf for a period of time, or sent away to a sustainable shelves program, which will pass them to other libraries.

Determination

• These items are older editions of textbooks, primarily those identified as being introductory level or with a history of being placed on Reserve.  We purchase these only on faculty request and for use with active courses. We will retain current editions and the most recent superseded edition if it was published within ten years and has active circulation. Older editions will be withdrawn in most cases, as the Libraries cannot maintain a general textbook repository.

Retention Exceptions

• Some textbooks are also the best references for a topic. On rare occasion, texbooks in this category have continuing value as resources even as new editions are produced; these may be retained. 
• Some textbooks may be identified for retention by faculty request based upon teaching or research needs; these will also be retained. 

Review List

• A subset of these items will be offered to faculty for review, typically by department. 

Disposition

• These items will either be offered to another library that maintains a textbook repository, or recycled.

Determination

• These items are Canadian government or US state government documents from states other than Vermont; UVM has no archival responsibility for them. They will be identified by use of the Greenglass tool based upon an ISBN or title match, or by review of lists of items held in Voyager.  

Retention Exceptions

• If the document is not available online and is on a high relevance topic such as but not limited to environmental research, an agricultural industry of interest to Vermont, a geographical feature shared by Vermont, the Abenaki people, relations with Quebec, or a similarly impactful topic, it will be retained. 
• Documents on politically sensitive topics, will be retained in print regardless of online availability. All climate research data will be retained in print.

Review List

• A subset of these items will be offered for review to the Canadian Studies faculty.

Disposition

• These items will either be offered to the Internet Archive for digitization or recycled. 

Determination

• These items are scattered volumes of serial publications such as individual volumes of journals without other holdings, individual annual reports from foundations or business, outdated directories of contact or legal information, etc. These are excluded for retention by our Collection Development Policy. They will be identified by use of the Greenglass tool based upon an ISBN or title match, or by review of lists of items held in Voyager.  

Retention Exceptions

• If the item has recent circulation or is part of a non-circulating special collection, we will keep it. 
• If the item is a special publication on a single topic, we may keep it. 
• If the item is relevant to Vermont history, we will keep it. 

Review List

• Non-journal items will be reviewed for Reference needs by the Library faculty, and anyone they identify as consultant.
• Some titles may be offered for review by faculty. 

Disposition

• These items will either be offered to the Internet Archive for digitization or recycled. 

Determination

• These items are items that were collected or donated to the libraries under past policies that are now excluded that were identified during this review but do not fall into any of the other categories.

Retention Exceptions

• If the item has recent circulation or is part of a non-circulating collection, we will keep it. 

Review List

• These items will be reviewed for Reference needs by the Library faculty, and anyone they identify as consultant.
• Some titles may be offered for review by faculty. 

Disposition

• These items will either be offered to library users via the free book shelves, given to the Internet Archive for digitization or recycled. 

Active Weeding

Popular Cookbooks 

These items are no longer collected except in rare circumstances, but Howe Library has several hundred. This set was weeded based on circulation and other factors, and in consultation with faculty teaching courses that may use such. A limited set of new cookbooks was added to support these courses.