SPEC Kit 337: Print Retention Decision Making · 97
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
UW-Madison Libraries Campus Collections Plan
UW-‐Madison Libraries Campus Collections Plan
Approved: 2/20/2012 by the Space Planning and Shelving Committee
and 2/24/2012 by Resources Management Group
The University of Wisconsin-‐Madison’s Collections have over 8 million volumes, over 125 miles of shelving, and is
the 11th largest research collection in North America. Our collections are vital for supporting the research and
teaching needs of our faculty, students, staff, residents of Wisconsin, and the mission of our university. As we
continue to expand our collections, adding over a mile of books and journals per year, we continue to need space
to shelve and access these materials. Our goal is to maintain our campus libraries below the American Library
Association’s standard of 80% capacity which is considered “critically full.” Although electronic resources have
become an important medium, print materials will continue to play an important role for historical and future
research purposes. In order to guarantee access to our collections in the future while making room for both
expansion and alternative uses of library space UW-‐Madison’s Library System have developed a shared campus
collection plan:
Active Campus Collections (the publically accessible shelves within our campus libraries):
Campus libraries are committed to maintaining dynamic and accessible collections. We will continue to participate
in on-‐going assessment and review of our collections in order to make sure our active collections meets the current
needs of our users, that will serve the anticipated future needs of our users, and that build on our unique collections
strengths. The following guidelines determine which materials remain on active and publicly accessible on-‐campus
shelves:
• Items which demonstrate high use based on circulation, browsing and other usage statistics are likely to
remain on active shelves.
• Protecting efficient intellectual access to information remains a high priority for campus libraries. As such,
transferring currently vital resources to facilities inaccessible to library users would have adverse
consequences to research and teaching.
• Browsable collections are the cornerstone to our success as a research institution. Materials identified as
needing browsable and immediate access are likely to remain on active shelving.
• Fragile materials that may be damaged in transfer will remain a part of our on-‐campus collections.
• Special collection materials, because of their rarity, value, and necessity of controlled environmental
conditions, will remain on-‐our campus shelves.
• Large volumes/sets which would be costly to move from one collection to another or lack sufficient
bibliographic access will remain on active shelving.
UW-‐Madison Shelving Facility Collections (the closed stack facilities located both on and off our campus):
The following factors will contribute to the decision of moving materials to one of our shelving facilities: pressures
on shelving capacities in campus libraries, the historic and predicted usage of an item, the local uniqueness of an
item, and formal agreements with storage and access partners. Titles transferred to shelving facilities which
experience significant use can be returned to a campus library quickly. The following guidelines determine which
materials may be shelved in one of our campus shelving facilities:
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
UW-Madison Libraries Campus Collections Plan
UW-‐Madison Libraries Campus Collections Plan
Approved: 2/20/2012 by the Space Planning and Shelving Committee
and 2/24/2012 by Resources Management Group
The University of Wisconsin-‐Madison’s Collections have over 8 million volumes, over 125 miles of shelving, and is
the 11th largest research collection in North America. Our collections are vital for supporting the research and
teaching needs of our faculty, students, staff, residents of Wisconsin, and the mission of our university. As we
continue to expand our collections, adding over a mile of books and journals per year, we continue to need space
to shelve and access these materials. Our goal is to maintain our campus libraries below the American Library
Association’s standard of 80% capacity which is considered “critically full.” Although electronic resources have
become an important medium, print materials will continue to play an important role for historical and future
research purposes. In order to guarantee access to our collections in the future while making room for both
expansion and alternative uses of library space UW-‐Madison’s Library System have developed a shared campus
collection plan:
Active Campus Collections (the publically accessible shelves within our campus libraries):
Campus libraries are committed to maintaining dynamic and accessible collections. We will continue to participate
in on-‐going assessment and review of our collections in order to make sure our active collections meets the current
needs of our users, that will serve the anticipated future needs of our users, and that build on our unique collections
strengths. The following guidelines determine which materials remain on active and publicly accessible on-‐campus
shelves:
• Items which demonstrate high use based on circulation, browsing and other usage statistics are likely to
remain on active shelves.
• Protecting efficient intellectual access to information remains a high priority for campus libraries. As such,
transferring currently vital resources to facilities inaccessible to library users would have adverse
consequences to research and teaching.
• Browsable collections are the cornerstone to our success as a research institution. Materials identified as
needing browsable and immediate access are likely to remain on active shelving.
• Fragile materials that may be damaged in transfer will remain a part of our on-‐campus collections.
• Special collection materials, because of their rarity, value, and necessity of controlled environmental
conditions, will remain on-‐our campus shelves.
• Large volumes/sets which would be costly to move from one collection to another or lack sufficient
bibliographic access will remain on active shelving.
UW-‐Madison Shelving Facility Collections (the closed stack facilities located both on and off our campus):
The following factors will contribute to the decision of moving materials to one of our shelving facilities: pressures
on shelving capacities in campus libraries, the historic and predicted usage of an item, the local uniqueness of an
item, and formal agreements with storage and access partners. Titles transferred to shelving facilities which
experience significant use can be returned to a campus library quickly. The following guidelines determine which
materials may be shelved in one of our campus shelving facilities:
