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Permalink Reply by Sahil Hussain on August 5, 2018 at 1:10

Dear Ms Bijaylaxmi Bhattamishra

There may be no objection to the Librarian disposing of mutilated/ damaged/ obsolete
volumes to the best interest of the library. However, the disposal of such volumes should
be made on the recommendations of a Library Advisory Committee to be appointed by
the competent authority (Principal) which shall decide whether the books
mutilated/damaged/obsolete are not fit for further use.

 write-off which is unserviceable/damaged/mutilated
books by the recommendation of Library Advisory committee. (Incase books/reading
materials are found to be physically damaged due to low quality of papers, bindings,
eaten by the mites, torned, and out dated syllabus books besides absolute space problems
in the library to preserve such books/reading materials shall be written-off).

Procedure for Write-off
i. List the documents not found during stock verification;
ii. Library staff to make all possible efforts to locate the document not found during
stock verification (the process can go up to six months but not as an exclusive task);
iii. Prepare pre-final list of the documents not found and publicize;
iv. Compile a final list of documents not found;
v. Compare with the list of earlier stock verification to identify common entries;
vi. Compare losses with borrowing/ consulting / photocopying statistics;
vii. Put up the list of common entries to the Director (Management in case of Private
Aided Colleges) along with justification for the losses (open access, limited staff,
inadequate security system, large number of students visiting library, losses within
permissible limits, etc.);
viii. Get approval from the Principal/The Library Advisory Committee;
ix. Issue Official Memo (OM);
x. Make necessary entries in the accession register, write-off register, assets register, etc;
xi. Remove records from databases;
xii. Close file.
Improve the system with additional precautionary measures .

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Permalink Reply by Narendra Rohila on August 8, 2018 at 19:17

Dear Sahil,

you have described very briefly nice. Yes this the method to weed out the reading materials in the library. with regards.

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Permalink Reply by Urvashi kaushik on January 21, 2025 at 20:04

hi sir 

i want to know can the accession number be reused for other upcoming material to library of that weed out books

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Permalink Reply by Siddhartha Shankar Ray on August 5, 2018 at 18:34

Dear Ms. Bijaylaxmi Bhattamishra,

Thanks for your post.

There are two components for writing off.One is institutional and the other is financial. (which depicts the rank of officers eligible to write off books of specific amount) The GOI has specific financial rules for Govt.Organizations. If you are a govt. funded organization, please go through the rules

For "Institution" part, you need to proceed with several steps:

1. You need to propose to your competent Authority with justification.

2. A committee comprising people (subject experts) from different Depts & people from Accounts & Admin Depts. is to be constituted.

3. Their SIGNED RECOMMENDATION by the members to be submitted to your Authority indicating the bibliographic details, Acc. No. & cost of the books & finally the total cost with number & copies thereof.

3. Upon FORMAL OFFICIAL APPROVAL, you may write off the books and submit the list to your Administrative Dept. with a copy of the approval order. 

4. Submit the above papers (as in 3) to your audit party upon consultation with your Admn. & A/C Depts.

5. Mention the office order/approval No. & Date in the Remarks colomn of Accession Register. If practicable, paste a copy of the signed order on your Accession Register. 

6. Withdraw the Catalogue cards of withdrawn books & delete the entries from your OPAC.

Hope I could explain the issue.

With Regards,

Siddhartha S. Ray, Calcutta

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Permalink Reply by Rathna Papanna Reddy on August 5, 2018 at 22:30

Very useful suggestion sir,

My doubt in this regard is, are the weeded out books are considerable in meeting UGC/ AICTE norms of books requirement. 

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Permalink Reply by Siddhartha Shankar Ray on August 6, 2018 at 0:47

Dear Ms. Rathna Papanna Reddy,

Thanks for your post.

Weeded out books are generally excluded from the collection as their cost is written off.

As such they cease to be in your collection.

Producing them as "Mainstream/Active Collection" is not ethical. It may raise serious question about the feasibility of weeding out and it will involve both the Librarian and head of the institute as well.

However, Librarians often keep those collection in a different place outside the Library and name the room as "Special Collection Section" or "Archival Resources" so that, in need they can serve the purpose.  However, if you have disposed off the collection, NEVER include them to your collection.

Hope I could explain your query.

Sincerely,

Siddhartha S. Ray, Calcutta

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Permalink Reply by Dr. shankar B Nelogal on August 7, 2018 at 2:07

Dear Professional friend

Follow the weeding procedure as per library science that you learnt during STUDY. CONSULT THE NEARBY SENIORS BY VISITING THE LIBRARIES. Also consult your management KEY PERSONS whether to weed out theses OR keep in Library for future reference OLD IS GOLD you know some times these may be useful.

However your management AND your decision matters most. 

All the best

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Permalink Reply by Dr. B.K.Jha on August 7, 2018 at 18:57

My question is how to dispose off the weeded out books?

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