2014 Charleston Library Conference

Real estate in the library is a sought-after commodity. To find space for collaborative learning, academic libraries are actively “weeding” the print collection, either sending volumes to storage or even discarding them. Often, these efforts are done as cooperative “shared print” projects. Earlier efforts at such initiatives required extensive manual work to audit various sources and have taken enormous amounts of staff time. Because of this, many efforts for monographic de-accessioning have actually stalled at the philosophical discussion level. Today, there are new technologies that can make these types of exercises not only bearable but less-labor intensive and more successful. This Lively Lunch panel discussion will describe the state-of-the-art approaches and best practices for weeding collections. Rick Burke, the executive director of SCELC, will provide brief background on the shared print project that the SCELC libraries have undertaken and introduce our three speakers. Attendees will also hear from Lizanne Payne, noted expert in shared print projects and consultant to Project WEST, who will discuss best practices, observed outcomes, the motivations of the participating libraries and how a large consortium views the “cohorts” within the project. Jane Burke, Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at ProQuest, will describe how Intota Assessment assists in de-selection for both print and ebook management. Mike Garabedian, Collections Management Librarian at Whittier College, will discuss a new aspect of shared print planning, describing a condition assessment survey he undertook to identify copies of mutually held titles with the greatest artifactual value.