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Guiding Principles for Location, Retention and Disposition of Kelvin Smith Library Print Materials

Approved 2/28/12; Terminology updated & additional context added 5/23/23 

In making its collection management decisions regarding the retention, disposition, and location of library materials, Kelvin Smith Library (KSL) will consider the title’s format and its place in the historical record within the context of institutional research and teaching needs, inter-institutional collection commitments, preservation options, and the availability of items through alternative sources. Subject discipline retention decisions will be recorded in the specific collection management policy for each discipline. 

To maximize the open stack space that is available within the KSL building (hereafter referred to as “on-site”), priority will be given to retaining in this location materials that are most amenable to physical browsing, i.e.,:

  1. Printed books 
  2. Print journal (current issues and backfiles) for which no electronic equivalent exists (1)
  3. Print journal backfiles published within the last five years for which an electronic equivalent does exist, and where the subject discipline is print-reliant. 

Materials for which there is insufficient space to house on-site but for which there continues to be collection value will be retained in an off-site location. Materials most typically housed off-site will include: 

  1. Print journal backfiles in the hard sciences or other disciplines that are not print-dependent 
  2. Rarely-used microformat materials 

Materials in an advanced state of deterioration or infected by mold or vermin will not be retained in the collection at any location. Such materials whose content is deemed to be essential will be replaced if possible at a reasonable cost either by digitization, online format, or replacement in paper format. 

Paper copies may be withdrawn when an electronic resource supersedes or renders a print resource obsolete. 

Books 

  • Books in good condition will be retained on-site for a minimum of 5 years following publication date or cataloging date, whichever is later. After that period, titles for which there is no sign of circulation and that do not support current curriculum or faculty research, will be considered for relocation to the near-site KSL Depository. If a monographic title is requested from the depository, its location will be considered for reassignment to the KSL collection. 
  • Books in brittle or otherwise fragile condition will be retained in near-site KSL Depository. Efforts will be made to provide reformatted versions of brittle books (e.g., through purchase of used copies, reprints, or digital versions) if they are determined to be highly used or otherwise essential for the KSL collection. In considering the purchase of replacements, a special effort will be made to retain titles with high graphical content (e.g. photos, art works). 
  • Duplicate print copies normally will not be retained. Under ordinary circumstances, only one copy of an exact edition of a title will be retained. Further consideration on retention will be given if there are at least two other copies in one or more OhioLINK libraries or the Ohio regional depositories. 
  • Dewey-classified print collections were relocated to KSL and may be re-classified into LC classification. A major reclassification project will depend on resources being available to do the cataloging and reshelving work that would be required. Brittle Dewey-classified books may be considered for mass digitization efforts. 
  • Unneeded copies (e.g., withdrawn volumes, gifts not needed for the collection) will be sold (if practical) to out-of-print dealers, sold or donated to non-profit organizations (e.g., betterworldbooks.com), or recycled responsibly. 
  • According to OhioLINK efforts, KSL maintain any items in which CWRU owns the last remaining copy within the state.

Journals 

  • Electronic and Print Formats
    • KSL will subscribe to electronic journals when available.
    • Print subscriptions will only be acquired if no electronic equivalent is available or the nature of the content in the title requires viewing in print (e.g. journals that are heavily graphical rather than text-based).
    • KSL will rarely purchase journals in both print and electronic versions, unless required by the publisher or by specific consultation with faculty in the appropriate subject area. Criteria for purchase in both formats will include whether the content (excluding advertising) is substantially different between the two versions, or a significant percentage of the content is in graphical form. 
  • Journal Titles for which an electronic equivalent exists may be retained in paper—but not necessarily on-site in Kelvin Smith Library—unless a preservation-quality electronic version from a trusted archive is available (e.g., JSTOR). Other perpetually owned collections of the OhioLINK EJC and locally by CWRU would be considered equivalent after librarian review of the digital product quality and confirmation of preservation in Portico. If retained in paper, the print issues will not be bound and will be considered for discarding should a preservation-quality electronic version become available (i.e. such as the JSTOR embargo for some titles). 
    • JSTOR titles in particular will be retained in KSL for the title’s JSTOR “moving wall” period. Once titles are verified as available in JSTOR, bound volumes will be withdrawn from KSL. Following verification that print copies exist in at least one of the three designated JSTOR print repositories (Center for Research Libraries, Harvard University, or the California Digital Library), the volumes will be sold or discarded. KSL will offer for deposit any volumes not held by one or more of the JSTOR repositories. Print volumes may be retained for titles with high graphical content (photos, art works). 
  • Journal Titles for which no electronic equivalent exists copy will be retained as appropriate for research and curriculum needs. Titles may be removed at a later date as online access becomes available as criteria described in this document. A journal series in which the university does not have a current subscription and only a few years of the publication’s print history may be removed given the small chance the exact article needed by a library user may be in the library’s short run.
  • For Electronic Journals for which no paper equivalent exists at KSL, the library will negotiate perpetual rights to e-content licensed directly from publishers or via the library’s vendors and aggregators. KSL will participate in a consortial national, standards-based e-content preservation organization such as PORTICO.

Microforms 

  • Microforms for materials duplicated in paper or electronic format will not normally be retained in KSL, but will be retained in an off-site location.

(1) The reason to prefer the housing of books at KSL over journal backfiles can be explained in part by the state of the art of publishing in the two formats. As Anthony Abbott has observed, “The physical academic journal, however, has been replaced by the system of electronic distribution coupled with home or office printing.” The case for books is different. First, the nature of the content and format is different such that the item is often used as a whole. There are also problems of availability. Abbott’s observation in 2006 is only partially true, i.e., that “whatever happens to the majority of books, there will continue to be an enormous amount of material that is not electronically available, because no one has the economic or other incentive to make it so.” Six year later we see that millions of books have been scanned, but these digital versions continue to have only limited availability because the copyright legal issues will be contested legally for some time to come.