Our library provides access to millions of items spanning a wide range of disciplines, supporting research and learning at every level. While we offer extensive resources across all fields, our collections are particularly strong in certain areas, reflecting the rich history and expertise of our region. These include:

• Agriculture
• Appalachian Studies

We also prioritize:

• Scarce items nationally
• Tennessee Publications
• Southeast Publications

Aspirational Peers are institutions selected by University Administration that we strive to emulate. They also list Comparative institutions.

Below are additional Comparative Groups that we use when conducting reviews.

• ASERL -- Fellow members of the Association of South Eastern Research Libraries (Free exchange through Resource Sharing)
• SEC -- Fellow Members of the Southeastern Conference (Free exchange through Resource Sharing)
• Tennessee Libraries -- Other academic libraries located in Tennessee.
• AVMA Accreditation -- Libraries which support accredited veterinary medicine programs, for collection comparison purposes

UT Libraries was designated a land-grant selective depository library for U.S. Government Documents publications in 1907.The current selection rate is approximately 24 percent of the publications in the List of Classes that are made available to participating depository libraries. UT selections are primarily digital format.

Other Knoxville depositories are:

•       UT Law Library
•       Knox County Public Library

The regional depository library for the state of Tennessee is located at the The University of Memphis.

Goverment Info LibGuide

Retention Partnerships 

ASERL Scholar's Trust, a journal retention cooperative. Per this agreement, UTK is committed to retaining more than 150 journal titles. Current title list and date coverage can be found on the Scholar's Trust webpage. (Note: also referenced as Information Alliance retention from prior cooperative.)

HathiTrust Shared Print Program, a monograph retention cooperative. Per this agreement, UTK is committed to retaining more than 17,000 monographs.

Examples of documentation to retention agreements in MARC 583 and display in OneSearch:

If you have any questions about these Retention Agreements, reach out to the Collection Strategist at apcs@utk.edu.

Emergency Scenarios for the Physical Collection

• If you come across a leak in any of our locations, immediately contact Library Facilities at libfs@utk.edu
• If you come across items with mold, immediately contact Collection Logistics at closedstacks@utk.edu
• If you are uncertain about who to contact, start with Library Facilities at libfs@utk.edu

Damaged Items

MORE INFO COMING SOON!

Collection Logistics often comes across damaged items in the stacks. They have a procedure in place to address these damaged items. This procedure processes the item through the ELDBR process and Preservation if necessary. 

The Libraries supports VolBooks' Total Access program by providing all UTK students with direct access to any required textbooks that we have unlimited electronic access to as part of the Collection. This list of books is updated for both external and internal use weekly as the library acquires new books and as VolBooks learns of new course information. 

How to Access the VolBooks List

For Students: Students can access this list via the Resources at UT Libraries widget in Canvas. This is automatically available for all students, but professors are able to opt out if they wish.

For Staff: The list is part of the Automagic LibGuide, which is linked here. From this page, click on the Select a Course button under the Textbooks section to see all of the courses and books included for the current semester.

Deselection is an important part of maintaining a healthy collection. Assessment Programs & Collection Strategy perform cyclical reviews with subject specialists and others in the library to determine good candidates for deselection. See the Cyclical Reviews tab for more information.

COMING SOON!

We will have a request form where you can submit a request for items to be withdrawn from the collection.

Contact apcs@utk.edu for the time being.

Assessment Programs and Collection Strategy conduct annual Renewal Reviews of our electronic resources with Acquisitions and Continuing Resources. APCS also regularly works with the Licensing Team to review licensing terms and Big Deal Packages. 

Assessment Programs and Collection Strategy can offer valuable data about our electronic resources like usage.

See the E-Resources and Data and Reports tabs to the left for more details.

Contact the E-Resources Team for more information: eserials@utk.edu

Would you like to request a review that falls outside the Cyclical Review schedule?

Assessment Programs and Collection Strategy can map out a plan with you! Contact apcs@utk.edu.

Reasons for additional reviews:

• Physical space concerns- When looking at a particular space, shelving is full. A deselection review might be needed or shelf shifting.
• A new college or discipline added- UTK's Emerging and Collaborative Studies is an example of newly added courses for students. A review may be needed to see gaps or areas for electronic resources growth in our collection.
• Circulation concerns- You may notice that a particular part of the collection is not circulating well. We can work with you to review this collection area.