LibraryGuides: Book Deselection 2022: Home

Project overview

Creighton University Libraries are preparing to vacate the Health Sciences Library at the BioInformation Center (BIC), consolidating collections, staff, and study spaces in the Reinert-Alumni Memorial Library. One project involved in this consolidation is an analysis of legacy print collections to determine how much space will be required for collections storage. While deselection, or removal of print content from the collections, is a standard part of stewardship, this project is unusual in that it involves a full analysis of all print collections across two of our libraries.

Our team is collaborating with faculty on decision making surrounding what legacy print is retained, to ensure that no resources needed on campus for teaching, learning, or research are removed from the collections. This website, containing preliminary deselection title lists, is the primary tool used to solicit feedback from faculty. Librarians from our team are available to share more information to colleges, schools, and departments upon request. Please reach out to Rick Kerns, Head of Academic Information Resources, to schedule a presentation or request more information.

Changes in circulation

The behavior of library users is changing, while circulation of electronic materials rises steadily, circulation of physical materials continues to decline. The National Centers for for Education Statistics (NCES) survey data demonstrates a 59% decrease in physical circulation among Title IV degree-granting institutions between FY14 and FY19. The decline in physical circulation (print books, journals and media) at the Health Sciences Library and Reinert-Alumni Memorial Library for a similar time period, FY15 and FY20 indicates a 48% decline.

Collaborative print retention programs

Who retains print content and how do we ensure that it isn't lost? There are a number of academic library groups, or consortia, that work together to retain print books. While Creighton University Libraries are not a part of a print retention program, our peer libraries participating in retention programs share materials with us through our interlibrary loan services. Click the links below to learn more about some of the major print retention programs in the nation.

Eastern Academic Scholars' Trust (EAST)
The Eastern Academic Scholars' Trust (EAST) is the collaborative effort of a large group of academic and research libraries to document, protect, and provide long-term access to their print collections. As of March, 2021, EAST has 82 member institutions in 13 states from Maine to Florida, EAST is focused on retaining unique, scarcely held, and frequently used scholarly books and journals in support of scholarship, research and teaching.
Maine Shared Collections Cooperative (MSCC)
MSCC was founded in 2013 by eight of Maine’s largest libraries and the state’s consortium, Maine InfoNet. MSCC has 42 member libraries, including 18 academic institutions and 24 public libraries which have collectively agreed to retain 1.5 million print books.
Michigan Shared Print Initiative (MI-SPI)
This initiatives involves 14 academic libraries across Michigan who work together on a distributed model of print retention.
Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC)
SCELC’s Shared Print Program (SPP) is a collaborative initiative to promote broad availability and long-term sustainability of print monographs as a shared collection among participating institutions through distributed retention, preservation, and resource-sharing of title-level commitments.
ConnectNY Shared Print Trust Program
The goal of the CNY Shared Print Trust Program is to preserve legacy print collections across the CNY member libraries and to provide new options for sharing the costs and efforts of long-term collection management.
Colorado Alliance Shared Print Trust
The Alliance Shared Print Trust is an effort of the Alliance’s fifteen member libraries to collaboratively store print materials, including monographs.
Consortium of Academic Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI)
The CARLI Last Copy Program seeks to preserve the last copy of monographs within the Illinois academic and research library community.
FLorida Academic REpository (FLARE)
The FLorida Academic REpository (FLARE) is the statewide shared collection of low use print materials from academic libraries in Florida.
TriUniversity Group (TUG)
TUG is a partnership between three academic libraries which collaborated on a shared print storage facility and maintains a Last Print Copy program.

Book Deselection 2022

Useful Links

What is legacy print?

What counts as circulation?

Project overview

Changes in circulation

Collaborative print retention programs