Mission and aims

Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum

Collection Development and Acquisitions Policy

April 2025

1. Purpose and Aims of the Policy

This policy sets out a general framework on how the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library (further – the the Library) acquires, manages, reviews and develops its collection of Belarus-related research resources.

The Library Acquisitions Policy covers the acquisition of published material, including books, journals and reprints in print or other formats, through purchase or donation. It should be read in conjunction with the Library Archive Acquisition Policy, which covers the acquisition of unpublished material.

The aims of the policy are:

• To maintain consistency and continuity in developing and selecting material for the Library;
• To align the Library’s resources (financial, spatial and human) with the needs of its users while supporting the Library’s mission and objectives;
• To provide acquisition and deaccessioning strategies. These will set guidelines for the selection and disposal of stock according to subject, user group and format.

2.  Role and Aims of the Skaryna Library

The Library was formally established as an independent institution in 1971, although the library collection began its existence as part of the Belarusian Catholic Mission in England in the 1950s.

The Library’s collection continues to be maintained and developed in accordance with the principles laid out in its founding documents*. They include, among others, “…the advancement of public education by promotion of the study research and general knowledge of Belarusian culture and religion” and ” … advancement of the Christian religion… in particular among or in connection with persons of Belarusian descent”.

The Library contributes to the preservation of the cultural heritage of the Belarusian people, supports and promotes academic Belarusian studies, and encourages interest in Belarus among the British public and abroad.

3. Core subject areas 

• Materials illustrating the history, creative work and other activities of the Belarusian diaspora worldwide;
• Materials related to history, philosophy, theology, and spirituality relevant to the objective of facilitating advancement of the Christian Religion among or in connection with persons of Belarusian descent;
• Belarus-related academic titles in various languages (with preference for Belarusian and English);
• Belarus-related art, humanities, religion, and social sciences publications in various formats and languages; 
• Belarus-related reference titles (encyclopaedias, dictionaries, handbooks etc.);
• Outstanding works of fiction, primarily those whose literary and/or artistic value is recognised nationally or internationally as classics or through conferring of literary prizes and awards;
• Titles banned for publication or access in Belarus for ideological or political reasons, with emphasis on publications in Belarusian; 
• Open access scholarly materials, research data, and educational resources freely available for use, modification, and sharing through various platforms, repositories, or publishing initiatives. 

4. Acquisition process

a. Purchase

The acquisition function involves selecting materials that align with the Library’s collection development goals and meet its users’ informational needs. The Acquisition and Collection development team assesses and evaluates potential acquisitions based on subject relevance, accuracy, quality, authoritativeness, currency, and anticipated user demand. 

Acquisition team work within budgetary constraints to ensure the most effective and efficient use of available resources.

Items recommended for purchase are put to the Acquisition and Collection Development team for discussion and approval. Items within the standard book budget should be discussed by email, anything falling outside this range should be discussed at the Trustees’ Board meeting. 

Newly acquired collections are recorded in the appropriate bibliographic management tool (e.g., Soutron).

b. Donations

Due to the Library’s increasing pressures of space, donations of library materials are only considered on a case-by-case basis. Any proposed donations or gifts need to support one of our areas of priority collecting, complement existing collection or represent an emerging research area that the Library wishes to develop.

Where donations are accepted, the Library reserves the right to choose only those titles which will enhance the collection. 

Items recommended as donations are put to the Acquisition and Collection Development team for discussion and approval.

c. Duplicates

The Library acquires and keeps only single copies of resources, except in rare cases when sufficient demand for multiple copies is known, can be reasonably projected, or where the item possesses particular artefactual value. The decision to collect multiple copies is carefully balanced against a variety of factors, including specific requests from researchers demonstrating need for multiple copies, the total cost of acquisition, storage constraints, and the network of partners through which users may access the same or similar materials (e.g., availability of electronic surrogates of print materials, either through open access or in other institutions (e.g., the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies, the British Library)). 

5. Deaccessioning

Decisions to remove items from the Library’s collection are made within the context of the Library’s core mission to steward the preservation of knowledge over time, and with careful consideration of the potential impact on research. 

a.  Items may be weeded when:

• Poor condition: the item has continued relevance to the profile of the Library but the physical copy is disintegrating or otherwise no longer serviceable in its print/tangible form (in these instances, either a preservation photocopy is made, a digital surrogate created or obtained, and/or the item is evaluated for replacement, provided the costs are not prohibitive);
• Obsolete: The item is in an outdated format. In such cases, the Library will generally take steps to digitise materials before deaccessioning, unless they are already readily available elsewhere. The Library will typically retain items in obsolete formats even after digitisation if they are unique, not widely held by other institutions, or have artefactual or scholarly value;
• Duplicates: multiple editions of the same item are held (keep authors’/contributors’ signed copies, first editions, as well as editions clearly different from each other as a result of censorship, etc.);
• Usage Statistics (fiction predominantly): infrequent circulation and/or readily accessible on-line or via other institutions; 
• Items are outside the scope of the Library’s core subject list.

b. Weeding Process

The Library staff composes a list of items marked for removal. After taking each book off the shelves, the bibliographic management system (e.g., Soutron) should be updated accordingly. The proper shifting and reorganisation of the shelves should be conducted. Once this process is complete, arrangements should be made to donate the deselected items over to other libraries/individuals or organise a book sale.

* Deed of Revocation and Appointment (The Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum), 

 23 July 1979, para 6(a) and (b).