The William H. Hannon Library’s Sustainable Collection Growth Project combines strategic deselection of our lowest-use library materials with continued access and preservation of the scholarly record through agreements with partner colleges and universities. We are in the second semester year 2 of a three-year project to strategically withdraw library materials in order to make space for collection growth without compromising access to the scholarly record. Taking a disciplinary approach in evaluating materials for deselection from the library basement, we completed the project in the STEM disciplines in 2018-2019. The social sciences will be reviewed in this academic year 2019-2020, and the project will conclude with arts and humanities in 2020-2021.
The following disciplines are under review this semester We will be sharing specific dates and review instructions for each department through school/college newsletters and the librarian liaison/FLR network, but faculty from across campus are invited to participate in the review at any time. (This is especially important for these interdisciplinary disciplines!)
- Sociology
- Women’s and Gender Studies
- African American Studies
- Chicana/o Studies
- Jewish Studies
- Asian / Asian American Studies
The library developed the project plan through careful research in our own discipline and in consultation with the Faculty Library Committee and the Provost. We are committed to transparent communication and engagement with you–our faculty–throughout the entire project. In service of this, we have created a LibGuide that contains background information, policies and procedures, a schedule for faculty to physically review candidates for deselection by subject area, a FAQ, and a bibliography.
We encourage you to read the Sustainable Collections LibGuide closely, as it contains answers to most of the questions that you might have.
We hope that by reading the information in the LibGuide and discussing your questions with us in person, you will understand and appreciate both the project’s necessity and the methodology that we are proposing for review and deselection. We remain committed to dedicating all available resources –including interlibrary loan and shared collection agreements – to acquire any and all books that our LMU faculty and students need to do their research.
We look forward to hearing any questions or concerns that you have, and working together transparently and productively through the duration of this important project. Throughout this entire process, we encourage you to feel free to contact Dean Kristine Brancolini directly, connect with a Faculty Library Committee representative from your school/college, or get in touch with your librarian liaison.