Withdrawing Items from Duke University Libraries Collections
Scope: Documents high-level policies and the desired end-state in Alma for withdrawn items. Please note that this policy does not include extraneous items deleted in the course of managing orders, holdings, or bibliographic description.
Contact: Elena Feinstein, Natalie Sommerville, Jacquie Samples
Unit: Collection Strategy & Development; Resource Description, Metadata Systems & Initiatives
Date last reviewed: Jan 29, 2026
Date of next review: Jul 1, 2026
Policies
Collection Strategy & Development (CSD), or staff working on approved collection management projects, identify items to be withdrawn
Barcodes for identified items are submitted via an AskTech ticket to be withdrawn from Alma
DUL staff not in CSD may identify candidates for withdrawal while performing tasks. For example, items in poor condition, obsolete physical formats, or duplicative copies of a resource. Consult with CSD, and as needed, with Conservation Services when condition is a factor
End-state for Withdrawn Items
The end-state of withdrawn items is removal from the Alma repository through use of the “Withdraw” function associated with the “Edit items” menu
Important: Item data is available in Analytics after removal from the Alma repository. Analytics becomes the system of record for items withdrawn from DUL collections. It is imperative that withdrawn items include a note documenting the reason for withdrawal as described below. Use Internal note 2 to record withdrawal reason.
Before using the “Withdraw” function, add a structured note documenting the reason for withdrawal in the Internal note 2 field of the item record
Notes must follow a structured pattern that uses dashes between distinct elements of the note, and underscores to link words within elements, such as project names; notes always end in the date of withdrawal in YYYYMMDD format
List of approved notes:
withdrawn-damaged-[YYYYMMDD]
withdrawn-lost-[YYYYMMDD]
withdrawn-project-[name_of_project-YYYYMMDD]
withdrawn-weeding-[YYYYMMDD]
Example notes:
withdrawn-damaged-20260105
withdrawn-lost-20260105
withdrawn-project-metadata-cleanup-20260105
withdrawn-project-jstor_journals-20260105
withdrawn-weeding-20260105
Consult with the heads of Collection Strategy & Development, Resource Description, and Metadata Systems & Initiatives if an addition to the list is needed.
Related pages:
How to Manually Withdraw Items in Alma
Withdrawn item reporting in Alma Analytics