ABSTRACT
Preservation decisions, whether to fix, film, replace, defer, or weed, are resource allocation decisions. Collection development librarians should be involved because the decision to retain is as important as the decision to purchase. Decisions about what should be preserved in academic libraries should be made by materials selectors, preservation librarians who base their techniques on work done by materials preservation scientists, and the faculty. Not only should brittle or structurally unsound materials identified by library users be preserved but collection development librarians should also incorporate systematic condition evaluations into their collection development/assessment programs. What items merit the expenditure of funds should be based upon a systematic examination of the suitability and cost of conservation treatments or the availability, suitability and cost of variant printings, editions, or formats.
