Connie, Perhaps some resources at the Society of American Archivists could be of help. There are guidelines and standards for reappraisal and deaccessioning: http://www2.archivists.org/standards/code-of-ethics-for-archivists Traci Thompson, MLIS, CG Local History/Genealogy Librarian Braswell Memorial Library 727 N Grace St Rocky Mount, NC 27804 252-442-1951 ext 247(voice) Opinions expressed are my own. CG and Certified Genealogist are proprietary service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and are used under license by Board-certified genealogists after periodic genealogical competency evaluations. The Board name is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2015 11:06:05 -0700 From: Connie Sheets <[email protected]> Subject: [TGF] Projecting Library Shelf Space Needs To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I am a relatively new board member for a non-profit organization that has developed a large, private genealogical library operated entirely by volunteers. Most of the volunteers are not librarians or archivists, and the genealogical expertise of the Board and library volunteers varies. For many years, the person primarily responsible for the library made every effort to make space for most materials that came her way. She has retired and we have come to the point where available space does not allow us to continue on that course. On that we all agree. Where we disagree is in the specifics of what constitutes a valuable genealogical resource that needs to continue to be made available, and what we need to find another home for. I may be posting later about one or two specific types of resources, but this is a more basic question. I am being told it is impossible to project, even in a general "guesstimate" way, the amount of linear shelf space we will need each year for new acquisitions because we cannot project the books, etc. that will be donated. We also have a limited purchasing program. We are in the process of developing written criteria for what we will accept as donations, what we will deaccession, etc. but I'm feeling like a voice in the wilderness advocating that those criteria need to be developed before the "decluttering" proceeds further. To my untrained eye, we have sufficient shelf space for a year or two at least. Surely, others deal with this issue all the time and have developed some method for figuring it out mathematically? Am I being unreasonable to suggest that it does not make sense to eliminate all school yearbooks and a significant portion of our periodical collection, how-to books, etc. without first having some objective idea of when we will actually need the shelf space? Connie Sheets Phoenix