Statement on the Removal of Books and Library Materials

The New College Library is following its longstanding annual procedures for weeding its collection, which involves the removal of materials that are old, damaged, or otherwise no longer serving the needs of the College. This process is carried out by professional Librarians trained to assess the collection. A library needs to regularly review and renew its collection to ensure its materials are meeting the current needs of students and faculty. The images seen online of a dumpster of library materials is related to the standard weeding process. Chapter 273 of Florida statutes precludes New College from selling, donating or transferring these materials, which were purchased with state funds. Deselected materials are discarded, through a recycling process when possible. 

Separate from the New College library weeding its collection, a number of books associated with the discontinued Gender Studies program were removed from a room in Hamilton Center that is being repurposed. These books came from a number of sources, primarily donations over a number of years. Again, Gender Studies has been discontinued as an area of concentration at New College, and the books are not part of any official college collection or inventory. When the books were not claimed for pickup from the room, they were moved to a book drop location by the library where they were later claimed by individuals planning to donate the books locally.