Purpose. The purpose
of the Withdrawal policy is to provide rules for the withdrawal of
circulation, public catalog, and shelf list records for library materials
which have been discarded, declared officially missing, or declared
officially lost.
Discarded Materials. An item is discarded if it is worn, mutilated or defective, and/or a decision has been made not to retain it. If an item is discarded, its unit circulation, public catalog, and shelflist records are withdrawn immediately.
Officially Lost or Missing Materials. An item is declared officially lost and entered into circulation records as such after it has been reported lost by the borrower or presumed lost by the library. An item is declared officially missing and entered into circulation records as such after it has been searched unsuccessfully at the initial search request or inventory, once 15 days later, and once 30 days later. An item is searched 18 months from the date it was declared missing or presumed or reported lost. If unlocated, the item's unit circulation, public catalog, and shelflist records are withdrawn immediately. If a lost item is returned or a missing item is located after its records have been withdrawn, a decision concerning its addition to the collection will be made within the guidelines of the University of Texas Libraries Collection Development, Duplication and Replacement Policies.
Scheduling Withdrawals. The
Bibliographic Control Division will withdraw Public Catalog and Official
Shelflist records as soon as possible following procedures outlined in the
Catalog Policy Manual. Circulation units should consult the head of the
Bibliographic Control Division before sending large numbers of items for
wiithdrawal.
