Deselection of Library materials is an important collection maintenance activity that ensures the collection is responsive to change and remains current and relevant to the teaching, learning and research activities within the University.
These guidelines clarify which collection items are eligible for deselection and disposal, deactivation or deletion, and which items are not eligible for deselection but for moving to a storage location.
These deselection and storage guidelines apply to materials in the General Collection. They do not apply to other library collections, such as the Special Collection, University Archives, Research Repository, Digital Object Repository, CAVAL Collective Shelf and CARM Shared Collection.
Deselection of items in the General Collection results in one of three actions:
- the physical item gets disposed
- the electronic item is deactivated in the Library management system so that it is no longer visible in LibrarySearch
- the digital item hosted in a Library-managed digital storage location is deleted.
Deselection of physical materials: RMIT University Library
The General Collection should be relevant and responsive to the teaching, learning and research activities of the University. Outdated, inaccurate or damaged materials, as well as those that are no longer aligned to learning, teaching and research activity, will be removed from our Collection.
The process of deselection and disposal follows the University’s Asset Management Procedure.
Deselection process generally begins 10 years after the acquisition, based on financial considerations.
By default, we will consider for deselection the following items:
- print books received over 10 years ago; last circulated 5 years ago
- print books or journals where an electronic equivalent is held with perpetual access rights, with archival access via Portico or CLOCKSS
- duplicate holdings across campuses with insufficient demand
- items with subject matter no longer aligning with the teaching, learning or research of the University.
Exceptions to these default criteria are:
- 391s (costume and personal appearance)
- 700-793 (arts and recreation)
- 800s (literature)
- print books are retained even when perpetual access to an online version is available. Only damaged, duplicate or older editions can be deselected for disposal. Items acquired more than 20 years ago that have not circulated in the last 10 years may be moved to storage. This includes DVDs in this class
- print journals are retained even when perpetual access to an online versions is available.
Journals: additional criteria
- Incomplete or short runs of titles that are available online and not aligned to learning, teaching and research.
- The title is held in print collections at CARM, state, national or more than two major academic libraries in Australia.
Books/audiovisual material: additional criteria
- Material that is out of date, inaccurate or not a scholarly publication/publisher.
- The item is damaged. Heavily used titles should be replaced (in a digital format, where available).
- Superseded editions, such as textbooks, non-scholarly titles or out-of-date technical manuals, when later editions are held by the Library.
- Resources in formats that have become technologically redundant, e.g. audiotapes and VHS. Non-accessible format and research value does not justify transcription to another format.
- Titles in languages no longer studied (see RMIT Languages).
- The title is held in collections at CARM and/or more than two major academic libraries in Australia.
Meeting any one of the criteria does not mean automatic deselection. Identified materials for deselection require final approval by the Associate Director Library Collections or Senior Coordinator, Collection Development.
Sustainable disposal
We work with ethical vendors to ensure sustainable outcomes for deselected materials. We consult with community around return of deselected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander materials in alignment with Responsible Practice Principles for RMIT University Library.
Deselection of physical materials: RMIT University Vietnam Library
To save on shelf space, RMIT Vietnam Library will deselect items based on the acquisition date and the number of years since they were last circulated.
Titles in Arts (700-799) are exempted from the deselection process.
Principles for retention and relocation to storage (Australia only)
We will retain the following items:
- certain subject areas as indicated in the Principles for deselection of physical materials
- RMIT University authored works
- RMIT University published works
- items considered unique in Victoria or Australia, unless their formats are no longer supported (e.g. VHS, cassette). These items may be relocated to CARM Shared Collection, unless they qualify for inclusion in our Special Collection.
- RMIT University HDR theses
- gifts by significant donor or subject matter
- items by seminal authors regardless of the discipline
- items included in reading lists must be retained in General Collection to ensure easy access
- items in a set, where parts of the set are in use
- titles with frequent digitisation requests via Document Delivery
- rare or older works with potential monetary or cultural value must be relocated to Special Collection.
If any of these items qualify for deselection due to low usage or if there’s a necessity to recover shelf space, they will be relocated to storage or the Special Collection.
Print journals
Generally, the latest 10 years are held in the Library, with older issues held in storage. Exceptions to these default criteria are:
- 391s (costume and personal appearance)
- 700-793 (arts and recreation), where the latest 20 years are held in the Library, with older issues held in storage.
Deselection of e-resources
Due to the high volume of electronic materials, deselection targets superseded editions of e-books in discipline areas where currency is an important consideration, and electronic databases or collections with ongoing access fees.
Deselection process starts 10 years after the acquisition. Open access resources have no impact on the Collections Budget and may be deselected outside of these guidelines.
