Regular lifecycle management of a library collection includes both acquisition and deselection to ensure that the institutional collection remains relevant and of the highest possible quality.
This list of deselections was created in accordance with the Senate Library Collections Policy. Liaisons have been and are continuing to solicit feedback from relevant teaching departments. We appreciate campus feedback on retentions and personal requests by Friday, May 23rd, 2025.
If you have questions about this process, please contact Melanie Sucha, Chief Information Officer, at sucham@brandonu.ca.
The initial criteria used to compile deselections lists includes items that:
For health studies materials, the timebound criteria are reduced to 10 years, as currency and accuracy of information is safety-critical on health professions.
Academic Librarians then refine these lists based on disciplinary criteria, recommending deselection of content that is outdated, not aligned with institutional and research priorities, or are duplicate copies. Deselection is also recommended where content is any of the following:
We also look to retain works by important scholars within the field, items of significant historical importance that meets institutional teaching and research priorities, and content that reflects Indigenous experiences and perspectives or that are by Indigenous scholars.
The library is soliciting feedback to further refine our deselection lists so that we can continue to manage a collection of high quality and scholarly value.
Please find below a listing of items the Library is proposing to deselect from the collection. This includes items from music, economics, and items from multiple subject areas that were moved from the Archive's rare books area but were not assessed as "rare" (i.e., copies of this content remain readily available in our collection, through other library collections, or online). Many of these items are damaged beyond repair.
To note, the Library has assessed its rare books, and is making arrangement to maintain its rare books in the second floor alcove area, where such material can be best protected going forward.
This list of deselections was created in accordance with the Senate Library Collections Policy. We appreciate campus feedback on retentions and personal requests by Friday, May 23rd, 2025.
If any materials on the deselection list are of use only for your research or interest, rather than to the broader community teaching and research priorities, please us the Request Deselected Items Form to request the item for your personal use. The most effective access that we can provide to esoteric resources is via Interlibrary Loans from our partner institutions, rather than keeping them in our Library "in case".
If any of the damaged materials are relevant to current teaching and learning priorities, and should be replaced with the same content in a different and readily available format, please use the Replacement Request Form. You may also use this form to suggest a different title with similar content.
The Library acknowledges that the system statistics capture usage in a comprehensive, but not exhaustive, manner. This list was compiled through the statistical analytics module in the library system. If you see items on the list that you know you have used (either in the Library, or via loan), please share this using the Report Statistical Errors Form.
In instances where the materials are required for institutional teaching or institutional research at BU, please use the Retention Request Form to submit criteria for retention of the item.
