A Review of relegation practices in the United Kingdom

The application of the Atkinson report in the university libraries of the United Kingdom between 1984 and 1986. Published in 1976 by the University grant committee in order to face the wide development of the collections, it was supposed to avoid the extension of new buildings. It recommended to balance the stocks by implementing a constant weeding policy (relegation and withdrawal), at the same rate as acquisitions. It appears that university libraries do not use the Atkinson method regularly, except in special circumstances or as a stop-gap measure. Not many detailed policies, all quite alike in all institutions. In general, university libraries are acquiring eight and a half times as much as they are discarding, and relegating five volumes for every four discarded. The criteria used in selecting the documents to be weeded out are at three levels : the category of the document ; objective criteria (usage, obsolescence, age, decay and, for serials, death) ; at last, the subjective criteria of the person who takes the final decision.
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