Dates for various regions are customarily based upon the appearance of printing in that area. Trends in the care and treatment of books, such as the period of preserving books by stripping them of their publishers cloth bindings and replacing them with library buckram, need to be noted. Great attention must be paid to the current strengths of the collections. Caution is advised in beginning new collecting areas. Unless there is a clear present or predictable pedagogical need, such collections are in danger of reflecting individual whimsy as opposed to institutional objectives.
Security is a consideration for materials placed in the rare book collection.
Books subject to mutilation, such as erotica, books with valuable plates, unusual formats, etc. Books that are unusually expensive and would be very difficult to replace should be considered. Books that simply have a history of disappearing from the general stacks do not. It is always tempting to accept donations with the stipulation that the donor s collection is of such great importance that it will become a named collection and reside in Special Collections. This can cause a considerable amount of inappropriate material to reside in special collections because of the understandable desire to treat a considerate patron well.