The Brittle Books Program organizes, on a monthly basis, printed volumes for review by collection managers to enable an orderly, timely decision-making to preserve materials held in the libraries collections. Volumes reviewed will be gathered from 1) volumes identified through circulation and held in the Preservation Office, 2) volumes held in the Catalog Department, and 3) volumes from the holding locations. Collection managers should request that a title be inserted into the review process whenever they believe a review is appropriate.
The process requires collection managers to review materials located in the Preservation Office or in a collection location within a designated time period, usually between the 6th through 26th of each month. CM staff who know they will be absent for the majority of a review period can request exclusion for a cycle or gain a review period extension by informing the Brittle Books Coordinator. Brittle Books Program staff try to indicate, via e-mail, what subject areas are represented during any given review cycle.
Special Collections will review materials between the 1st through 5th of the month. Titles suitable for relocation into Special Collections will be transferred.
Collection Management staff are responsible for filling out the Brittle Book Preliminary Review (BBPR) form [see page 3] and placing it in the reviewed title. A form will be placed in each volume of a monographic set if the decision varies for any given title in the set, otherwise a single form for the set is sufficient. The Collection Managers signature is required.
Collection managers are asked to redirect volumes reviewed in the Preservation Office with erroneously assigned "subject areas" by indicating the appropriate "subject area" on a BBPR form and shelving on the "reassignment" shelf. Collection Managers are also invited to request special handling of rare or special materials according to the limited circulation (CM 6.12) and Special Collections (CM 6.14) selection guidelines. Any notations made on the review forms will be acted upon by Brittle Books Program staff.
The colors of the forms will rotate to enable Brittle Books staff to monitor internal procedures and progress.
Preservation Office staff is responsible for carrying out decisions indicated, searching bibliographic sources, making printouts and reporting results. Brittle Books staff will also inform collection mangers if titles selected for reformatting are available in reformatted versions from other sources. All reformatted items will be returned to the holding location if not marked for withdrawal or not physically deteriorated (cf, Collection Management Manual, Bulletin 7.6).
With the exception of rare and special materials, items under 50 pages will be preservation photocopied rather than microfilmed. No item may be reformatted, whether microfilmed or photocopied, if commercially available. Copyright restrictions may apply in some cases (cf, Collection Management Manual, 7.5).
Volumes not reviewed within the review period will be referred to the bibliographer of the collection manager's circle. Volumes not reviewed by the bibliographer will be reviewed by the Head of Collection Management.