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An item is considered for replacement if:
- it has been declared unavailable and is in demand. The unavailability may be for a number of reasons, including missing and failure to be returned by a borrower.
- it is damaged beyond repair, and is in demand
- it is missing, and cannot be located quickly
If the title is no longer in print, a substitute title may be considered.
A damaged item is repaired if:
- it is needed urgently, before a replacement can be acquired
- the damage is insufficient to warrant purchase of a replacement
An item is assessed for binding on the basis of:
- the durability of original binding (e.g. items capable of standing by themselves should not be rebound)
- its usage
- the retention policy (e.g. material with a current 3 years only retention status is not bound)
The Library tenders for a binding service every five years. There is a central allocation in the Collection Development budget to support binding of collections.
Each branch library has access to a Bindomatic machine to handle the binding of less important material.
The challenge for The University of Queensland Library as a research library is to contain or even reduce the need for additional shelving and storage space. This is whilst retaining collecting levels that are appropriate for the support of high-quality teaching and research. The Library has been managing this transition by purchasing electronic rather than physical formats wherever possible, a move which also reflects the preferred form of delivery for many patrons.
The Library received approval from the Academic Board to change its collection retention policy in 2010. In conjunction with academics, the Library reviewed the profile of materials in its collections. The Library determined that most items in its Warehouse collections not borrowed for over 25 years were no longer required.
Careful attention was given to Australiana and University-related items, particularly publications by UQ authors about UQ, and these will be retained. Materials from the Pacific, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States are also prioritised for retention.
The University of Queensland Library is not, and never will be, a library of last resort. The retention of unused items, many of which arrived through exchange and gift programmes decades ago, is inconsistent with the Library's role to support the University's research and teaching directions.
The Library will continue to offer an effective document delivery service for materials not held locally.
It is recognised that there are categories of material for which the guideline of items not borrowed for over 25 years are no longer required is too lengthy, e.g. medical and technical textbooks, outdated standards, superseded editions etc. It is up to the discretion of the subject area's librarian to provide a revised guideline, which is recorded in that subject's Retention Schedule. Current disposal guidelines are:
- material that has not been borrowed for over 25 years, with the exception of Australiana, University-related resources and others as mentioned above
- superseded copies of textbooks and reference tools
- duplicates, including of theses housed in the Library's Deposit Collection
- outdated mass-market paperback editions of texts, and popular literature
- obsolete audiovisual material formats
- out-of-date directories, with the exception of Queenslandiana
- print journal runs duplicated in electronic format, with perpetual access.
In accordance with Queensland Treasury Non-Current Asset Policies for the Queensland Public Sector, Section 13, Accounting for Library Collections Guidelines and with sector practice, the majority proportion of the Library collection deemed Common Use (textbooks) is expensed annually.
The permanent Reference Collection (non-textbooks; journals) is valued separately.
The Fryer Manuscript and Rare Books collection is independently valued every five years.
Discard and acquisition figures for all are reported annually to Queensland Treasury, with statistics recorded monthly by library staff onto a shared database.
Material purchased or donated for the Library's permanent collection, is catalogued to comply with national and international standards for bibliographic description and subject classification. Some formats are treated in a brief manner. The Library monitors developments in bibliographic description such as the RDA (Resource Description & Access) Toolkit.
Standards typically applied include: full descriptive cataloguing using the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed. (AACR2) following level 2 description standards; full subject analysis using Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and Library of Congress Classification Numbers (LCCN).
Some special collections such as microforms, manuscript material and University of Queensland research theses are assigned running numbers rather than LCCN.
East Asian material is romanised for the catalogue. Chinese materials are romanised according to the Pinyin System which is officially adopted in China.
Japanese materials are romanised according to the Hepburn System, and Korean materials according to the McCune-Reischauer System.
Access to all materials is provided via the Library website. Data in the catalogue is reviewed for consistency and accuracy.
The Library uses a modified version of Conspectus methodology, developed by the US Research Libraries Group (now merged with OCLC) to rate its collection. The Conspectus evaluation for each subject describes the existing collection, using a numerical value.
Notes are made on specific considerations to be taken into account when selecting material for the collection such as language, geographical coverage, chronological coverage, type (or form) of material, and date of publication.
An assessment level statement is included in the collection development policy of each subject area of interest to The University of Queensland. The Australian Research Council's Excellence in Research for Australia FoR codes (developed by the ABS) are used to define subject areas.
The numerical values used are:
Level 0 Out of scope:
- The library does not intentionally collect materials in any format for this subject.
Level 1 Minimal information:
- Collections that support minimal inquiries about this subject and include a very limited collection of general resources, including monographs and reference works
- Periodicals directly dealing with this topic and in-depth electronic information resources are not collected
Level 2 Basic Information:
- Collections that introduce and define a subject, indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere, and support the needs of general library users through the first two years of college instruction include:
- A limited collection of general monographs and reference tools
- A limited collection of representative general periodicals
- Defined access to a limited collection of owned or remotely accessed electronic bibliographic tools, texts, data sets, journals, etc.
- The collection should be frequently and systematically reviewed for currency of information. Superseded editions and titles containing outdated information should be withdrawn.
- Classic or standard retrospective materials may be retained.
Level 3 Study or instructional support:
- Collections that provide information about a subject in a systematic way, but at a level of less than research intensity and support the needs of general library users through college and beginning graduate instruction include:
- An extensive collection of general monographs and reference works and selected specialized monographs and reference works
- An extensive collection of general periodicals and a representative collection of specialized periodicals
- Limited collections of appropriate materials in languages other than the primary language of the collection and the country, for example, materials to aid in learning a language for non-native speakers or literature in the original language, such as German poetry in German or Spanish history in Spanish
- Extensive collections of the works of well-known authors and selections from the works of lesser-known authors
- Defined access to a broad collection of owned or remotely accessed electronic resources, including bibliographic tools, texts, data sets, journals, etc.
- The collection should be systematically reviewed for currency of information and for assurance that essential and important information is retained, including significant numbers of retrospective materials.
Level 4 Research:
- Collections that contain the major published source materials required for doctoral study and independent research include:
- A very extensive collection of general and specialized monographs and reference works
- A very extensive collection of general and specialized periodicals
- Extensive collections of appropriate materials in languages other than the primary language of the country and collection
- Extensive collections of the works of both well-known and lesser-known authors
- Defined access to a very extensive collection of owned or remotely accessed electronic resources, including bibliographic tools, texts, data sets, journals, etc.
- Older material is retained and systematically preserved to serve the needs of historical research.
Level 5 Comprehensive:
- Collections in a specifically defined field of knowledge that strive to be exhaustive as far as is reasonably possible (i.e., "special collections"), in all applicable languages include:
- Exhaustive collections of published materials
- Very extensive manuscript collections
- Very extensive collections in all other pertinent formats
- Older material is retained and systematically preserved to serve the needs of historical research.
- A comprehensive level collection may serve as a national or international resource.
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