For many years, the WSU Libraries have had a “warehouse” type of collection development strategy, led in part by the way in which university libraries have been historically evaluated and ranked. The mere quantity of items in the collections was the sole determining factor of these evaluations and rankings. Consequently, practically anything that came in the door was added to the collections, regardless of the effectiveness of the material’s support of the teaching and research goals of our University. You may recall that several years ago, the WSU Libraries reached a 2-million item threshold – with great fanfare! With this quantitative rubric in place, even as collections moved to digital platforms, there remained a disincentive to withdraw outdated and duplicative print materials.
These singly-focused quantitative measurements are no longer how libraries are evaluated and ranked – thank goodness! Today’s collection assessment rubrics consider, with much more accuracy, the actual use and quality of our collections – both print and digital. In the WSU Libraries, our efforts now are focused on withdrawal of outdated and duplicative print materials. Almost a year and a half ago, we began systematically discarding print journal runs for which there is a digital version available. Calculations when this process began revealed that duplicate journals occupied about 7½ linear miles of shelving occupying about 20,000 square feet of space in the building that could be available for other uses (see discussion of the Anthropology Museum). Using staff and student workers, we had been removing about 600 linear feet of print journals each week. Following the March 16th flood on the Lower Level, we determined that remediation staffing could assist with this process. It was considerably more cost effective to discard the remaining identified print journals in the R-Z call number range during the flood remediation process than pay to box them, store them, return them, and reshelve them – only to discard them anyway. Consequently, during the weeks immediately following the flood, the staff-augmented withdrawal process resulted in a considerably larger number of print journals being discarded. We also used this time to selectively withdraw outdated materials that had been located on the Lower Level, particularly in the disciplines related to medicine (“best practices nursing manuals,” for example, from the 1950s, 60s, & 70s).
With the approved renovations that will bring the Anthropology Museum to the 2nd floor, we began withdrawing the print journal collections in the Q call number range (broad discipline: sciences) at the beginning of March. That process was interrupted by the flood’s more intensified efforts in the R-Z ranges, but has since resumed. After completing the Qs, this project will continue with the remaining collections on the 2nd and 3rd floors.
At the beginning of 2025, the Libraries’ faculty also began to develop a discipline-based algorithm to determine which materials in the Libraries’ collections get little use and could be moved to the Compact Storage Facility (CSF) in the Ablah building. The criteria for relocation to the CSF: only those books purchased more than 25 years ago. For those purchased more than 25 years ago, they would be relocated to the CSF if (1) they had not circulated in the last 25 years in the disciplines of arts, humanities, and social sciences or (2) they had not circulated in the last 15 years in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, health professions, and business.
We have not and will not withdraw materials (including journal runs) that are related to local, regional, and state history as well as imprints from Kansas publishers – regardless of the discipline in which it may fall! Also, journals related to art (where resolution quality is important) are not being discarded pending further evaluation of available digital alternatives.
It is also important to note that disposal guidelines for university-owned property are set by the State and the University Libraries follow those guidelines.
