May 2024 

Quick Facts

• All staff are authorized to discard materials based on condition. This can be when an item is returned, being shelved, or fulfilling a hold. If you are touching it and the condition is bad, you can discard it.
  • Communication is encouraged. Please see 'Special Circumstances' below and talk to your colleagues to work through harder decisions.
  • Do not set aside materials that you would not want to touch for others to evaluate.
• Damaged materials should be discarded even if there is a hold waiting. Selectors receive reports on titles that need more copies to fill holds.
• These criteria apply to all circulating, physical material in our collection.
• Books withdrawn from the collection are sent to the Sort Center. Put them in a crate with a FOL streamer, after stamping them with the Withdrawn stamp. Discs that have been withdrawn can be put into the designated bins at each location.

Procedure

For all types of withdrawn materials, follow the Discarding/Withdrawing procedure in the Circ manual.

Books

Discard if the item:

• Has a broken spine
• Pages are falling out
• Is dirty, stained, or smells bad
• Pages are torn or damaged
• There are lots of markings by patrons - underlining, highlighting, comments
• General condition is worn, dirty, grimy
• If you don’t want to touch it - patrons don’t want to touch it.

If an item needs simple repair follow the procedure for your location. Examples:

• New barcode, jacket, call number label or cleaning.
• Minor tape repairs for spines or torn pages.

For information on rebinding, see Mending/Binding/Re-Casing.

More extreme damage:

Immediately bag up and throw away items that are wet, moldy, have a strong odor, have bodily fluids on them, etc. Do not send these to any other work group.

If a book has other serious damage, send it to the Friends of the Library with other discards. Staff at the Operations Center will recycle these items.

Disc Media: DVDs and Blu-rays, Spoken Audio and Music CDs

All branches have designated bins for recycling these materials.

Discard items if:

• The disc has multiple scratches; has one or more deep scratches; is pitted or is cracked.
• Discs are broken or missing

Multi-disc sets: examine the first disc. If the first disc meets the criteria, discard the set.  If the first disc is marginal, check the second disc.  If the condition of the second disc is poor or marginal also, discard the set.

Is the disc full of fingerprints and dirty?

• It can be cleaned using a soft cloth or mild dish detergent.

Is the case cracked, broken, or doesn't stay closed?

• If the condition of the disc(s) is fair or poor, discard the item.
• If the condition of the disc(s) is good, get a replacement case

Special Circumstances

In these cases, follow your branch's procedure to collaborate with your colleagues: 

• Northwest, Oregon or Portland material
• BIPOC creator and/or relevant representation of historically marginalized groups
• Rebound materials

If you have concerns or feel uncertain, talk with your regional librarian, your youth librarian, or check with the appropriate selector. Information Services staff may choose to request replacement copies. Selectors receive purchase alerts for titles that need more copies, and reports of holds on titles with no copies. They also regularly review the collection for gaps and welcome suggestions for purchase and other communication to let them know about needs.