November 2024

Quick Facts

• As a public agency, the Multnomah County Library must adhere to high standards of stewardship of public property.  Library materials that are no longer needed, but are in reasonably good condition are retired and donated to other agencies or organizations.
• The vast majority of retired (weeded) materials are donated to the Friends of the Library (FOL) for sale. This follows our written agreements with the FOL.
• Library staff may provide retired library materials directly to patrons at approved outreach events.

Procedure

Retired materials distributed during outreach must be accounted for following the procedures outlined at Use of discarded materials for library programs and services in the Daily Operations Manual.

Multnomah County agencies are eligible to receive small quantities of retired library materials, up to 500 items per year. Special requests from partner organizations will be reviewed by Integrated Services and Community Services as needed. To qualify for this benefit, non-county organizations must register with the library as formal partners, must meet the Library Partnership Guidelines and have a completed Library Partnership Agreement on file in the Library Director’s Office.

Periodicals can be recycled at the branch or sent to the Operations Center once they pass their retention limit. We do not give old issues away to patrons at branches.