Deselection Policy
Deselection, also known as weeding, of library materials is essential for maintaining a relevant and useful academic library collection. This process is conducted on an ongoing basis in accordance with the Collection Development Policy and with the criteria outlined below.
Faculty Librarians reserve the right to have the final say in all decisions regarding the deselection of library materials.
General Guidelines
Faculty Librarians are responsible for conducting deselection evaluations annually or biannually in their subject areas of responsibility.
Titles are evaluated according to four primary factors: relevance to current college curriculum, content, past and projected use, and physical condition, although other factors are also considered.
Criteria for Deselection
- Materials that no longer support the current curriculum at the college, fall outside of institutional research areas, or no longer support the overall academic objectives of the collection.
- Item is out-of-date and/or contains inaccurate information
- Outdated in terms of age of content or information, especially for demographic, scientific and/or reference materials
- Item is superseded with a newer edition
- When newer editions or updated publications are available, significantly older editions will be weeded.
- The physical condition of the item
- Item is in poor condition
- Item is part of an incomplete set
- Usage statistics indicate little or no recent use
- Items that can no longer be supported by current technology
- Item is a duplicate and is no longer in high demand
- Item can be or has been replaced cost-effectively by a digital resource with significant advantages such as wider availability
- Item is held by 3 or more CUNY libraries
