Collection Rightsizing Effort at the Morisset Library

April 2024 update

Project activities are now focused on the 3rd floor where library staff are actioning decisions from multiple assessments of government publications, with the aim of receiving part of the 4th floor collection. Library staff are also continuing to manage the collection on the 6th floor, with the aim of receiving part of the 5th floor collection. In addition, most duplicate copies of books identified throughout the Morisset General Collection are in the process of being withdrawn.

October 2023 update

The comprehensive review of the Morisset Library collection on the 6th floor is ongoing. Over the summer, library staff actioned decisions from completed assessments of print collections on the floor. 
As the work continues on the 6th floor, members of the Library’s Collection Strategy team have initiated two additional assessments to ease pressures in other areas of the Morisset Library. These include:

• A review of the government publications collection on the 3rd floor.
• An analysis of duplicate copies of books throughout the Morisset General Collection.

March 2023 update

Collection Lifecycle Management (CLM) work is now focused on a comprehensive review of the Morisset Library periodicals collection on the 6th floor. This collection includes journals, indexes, directories, government publications, and publications by international organizations—all in print.

The University of Ottawa Library electronic collections provide reliable and permanent full-text access to many e-journal titles. As part of this review, we expect to deaccession most print copies of 6th floor journal titles to which uOttawa community members have permanent and reliable electronic access. Some print material will remain accessible locally in the Annex or in collaboration with our shared print partners.

We expect that this comprehensive review of the 6th floor collection will make additional capacity available for easing pressures in other areas of the collection, where the collection has reached or exceeded shelving capacity

November 2022

The library’s collections have a key role in the uOttawa Library mission: “The uOttawa Library advances cutting edge research and supports transformative learning by connecting the uOttawa community to expertise, services, collections and technology in a welcoming and supportive environment” (Strategic Plan).

The active management of the Morisset Library print collection is the focus of the Collection Lifecycle Management (CLM) project. Some areas of the library stacks are under acute pressure due to long-deferred collection maintenance; navigating and browsing those parts of the collection can be challenging for library users.

The objective of the project is to develop and implement an active collection management plan to address the user experience in the stacks and to ensure that the collection aligns with the learning, teaching, and research needs of the uOttawa community.

The goals of the project are to

• Identify and retain relevant material in the Morisset stacks.
• Ensure that library users can locate and retrieve the material they need from the stacks.

The project is in the planning phase. Next steps include data gathering and analysis, and consultation with stakeholders. The project was presented to the Library Advisory Committee in October 2022; more conversations with the uOttawa community will follow.