Decisions to discard specific items, like decisions to acquire new titles for the collection are made within the context of the total collection policy, so that the integrity of the total collection is not impaired but in fact may be enhanced when unneeded materials are removed from the collections. Materials identified for discard in one library are first made available to other units of the University libraries; if there is no interest at this level, these materials may be used for exchange with other institutions, sold to students or dealers, given to other libraries, or in some other way applied to the University’s benefit. In some instances, materials may be so deteriorated or otherwise useless that disposal through any of the above channels is not possible; such materials may simply be discarded.