Background
The American Antiquarian Society cultivates a deeper understanding of the American past, grounded in its ever-growing collection of printed and manuscript sources. Printed and manuscript sources are acquired according to the priorities outlined in the AAS collection development policy. AAS staff works to avoid acquiring duplicate or out-of-scope material, but in some cases individual duplicate material may be part of a collection donated or purchased as a unit. When possible, AAS secures the permission of donors to sell or donate duplicates. In the course of regular review and inventory work, duplicate or out of scope material may also be identified in collections already held at AAS.
Deaccessioning is the process of permanently removing materials from the Society’s ownership (title) and custody. This policy governs the deaccession of duplicate, out-of-scope, or highly deteriorated collection materials of all types, including books, pamphlets, graphic arts, manuscripts, periodicals, and newspapers. A duplicate is defined as an identical copy or an inferior copy with no distinctive research value. Materials can be deaccessioned through sale, donation, or discard.
The ultimate intention of deaccessioning is to create a collection that is more useful to researchers, and the goal of a deaccession policy is to assure that this process is undertaken in the best interests of the Society, within the scope of the ethical standards of the library profession. Deaccession may occur for a variety of reasons: to comply with national and international law, to comply with current institutional collecting policies, to refine collecting focus, to implement a change in the institution’s mission, and to better balance research potential of collections with the necessary allocation of resources for their care and preservation. Duplicate or out-of-scope materials, if retained, represent a needless burden for collection management.
Principles
The Society subscribes fully to the deaccession standards set forth in the Standards for Ethical Conduct for Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Librarians, 2nd ed., section I.A.2.b (Chicago: ACRL/ALA, August 2019). In addition, the Society subscribes to the following tenets:
- The Society does not deaccession unique, in-scope materials to raise money.
- All income from the sale of duplicates and out-of-scope materials is reserved expressly to support new acquisitions.
- In the interests of scholarship, curators may transfer out-of-scope collections, even those in which there may be monetary value, to other research institutions.
- When deaccessioning any item bearing the Society’s ownership mark, it is advised that no attempt should be made to remove said mark. See Appendix I of ACRL/RBMS Guidelines Regarding Security and Theft in Special Collections (revised 2019).
Procedure
The Society’s Vice President for Collections is responsible for the management of deaccessions in accordance with this policy. The Vice President for Collections shall obtain the concurrence of relevant curatorial staff before approving a deaccession.
Curators are responsible for completing relevant research around provenance for any material proposed for deaccession. Curators will prepare all documentation related to the deaccession process. The Vice President for Collections and the Associate Librarian are responsible for overseeing that proper documentation for all deaccessions has been completed before the deaccession is executed. Documentation must include the following:
- A completed AAS deaccession form. This certifies that the object or group of objects described or listed as a spreadsheet have been formally deaccessioned from the Society and have been permanently removed from the Society’s ownership (title) and custody.
- A written summary of known provenance for the deaccessioned material based on curatorial research.
- As appropriate to the situation, a gift agreement, transfer documentation, or bill of sale, accompanied by contact information and relevant correspondence with recipient.
- As appropriate to the situation, the relevant curator will use available resources to research the most advantageous method of disposal, including sale at public auction, direct sale or trade with booksellers, or sale or exchange with libraries.
- In the case of any item of potentially significant value (i.e., more than $5,000) or any deaccession about which it is felt questions might be raised, the Vice President for Collections will seek advance approval of the President of the Society and of the Council. It is understood that market estimates can only be established to the best of the curatorial team’s ability and that auction sales are unpredictable.
A deaccession cannot be finalized until all appropriate documentation has been completed. Deaccession documentation will consist of both a set of physical paper files and an electronic copy. Documentation will be filed and maintained both in the Acquisition Department (overseen by the Associate Librarian) and in the AAS Archives (overseen by the Vice President for Collections).
Materials to be excluded from this policy are:
- Contemporary research tools. These are revised volumes which are annually or bi-annually superseded, and the previous edition is without monetary and research value. This policy places no limitation on the disposal of such volumes.
- The archives of the Society. These are managed in accordance with accepted principles of professional records management.
- All U.S. government documents. These are received by AAS as a participant in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and are subject to the regulations set by the U.S. Government Printing Office. Depository documents are held by AAS but owned by the federal government. The majority fall completely outside the collecting interests of the Society and must be retained for five years.
-Approved by the AAS Council April 20, 2001. Revisions approved January 26, 2004, October 20, 2006, and April 21, 2023.