Advisory Group Discusses Retention Policy

By Lisa German, associate dean for Collections, Information, and Access Services

On January 15, the Collection Services Advisory Group sponsored a forum to discuss the Collection Retention Policy Working Group (CRPWG) Report. The Working Group was charged to evaluate the Libraries current retention policy and program, formulate a retention policy for the next ten years, and to identify and describe those collections for which PSUL will take responsibility to steward for future scholars. CRPWG was asked to deliver a set of recommendations to the Collection Services Advisory Group for its consideration and to draft an implementation schedule.

Several themes emerged as they tackled their challenge:

  • Find a balance between space for our users, collections, and services Support for the role of selectors in making data-informed decisions
  • Develop centralized, efficient processes for collection development and management
  • Increase leadership in cooperative decision making
  • Define Penn State’s responsibility as a leading research library in relation to other ARL and CIC institutions and within Pennsylvania

Please watch the MediaSite Live presentation and also read their report which can be found on the Libraries’ Intranet. You will see that there are similarities between this report and the report of the Space Consultants. I’d like to thank the members of the Collection Retention Policy Working Group for all of the excellent work they did studying these issues. Ann Snowman, chair, Christopher Walker, Dawn Childress, Sandy Stelts, Debora Cheney, Nonny Schlotzhauer, Rick Hart, Sue Kellerman, Janet Hughes and Kevin Harwell comprise the Working Group.

Next steps: more vetting, adoption, and implementation of the recommendations.