{"id":292209,"date":"2026-06-08T07:28:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T07:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/blog\/make-smarter-weeding-decisions-with-electronic-title-matches\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T07:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T07:28:26","slug":"make-smarter-weeding-decisions-with-electronic-title-matches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/blog\/make-smarter-weeding-decisions-with-electronic-title-matches\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Smarter Weeding Decisions with Electronic Title Matches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Deselection is one of the most strategic and sensitive collection development activities. Every decision to withdraw a physical title carries long\u2011term implications for access, discovery, and trust. Libraries need more than item counts and duplication reports; they need clarity about what access truly remains once a book leaves the shelf.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With <strong>Electronic Title Matches<\/strong> in <a href=\"https:\/\/exlibrisgroup.com\/products\/rialto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Rialto Collection Development Workflows<\/strong><\/a>, users gain a clearer, more holistic view of their collections, bringing print and electronic realities together to support confident, defensible weeding decisions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>From Print<\/strong>\u2011<strong>Only Comparisons to Format<\/strong>\u2011<strong>Aware Decisions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Until now, deselection workflows in Rialto enabled libraries to compare physical book titles within their own collections or against holdings at external institutions. These comparisons remain a powerful way to identify duplication and low\u2011use materials.<\/p>\n<p>Electronic Title Matches build on this foundation by introducing a <strong>new, complementary perspective<\/strong>: visibility into <strong>electronic equivalents of physical books held by your institution or Network Zone<\/strong>. Rather than focusing on where else a print title exists, this capability focuses on <strong>how your users can still access the content <\/strong>and whether that access is temporary or owned.<\/p>\n<p>Used on its own or alongside existing comparison options, electronic title matching helps libraries move from format\u2011siloed decisions to <strong>access<\/strong>\u2011<strong>informed deselection strategies<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>See When Print Is Backed by Electronic Access<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When working on a deselection project, Rialto now automatically identifies electronic versions corresponding to physical book titles under review. This gives users immediate insight into whether a print withdrawal still leaves patrons with electronic access, and what kind of access that is.<\/p>\n<p>Electronic matches are identified only within your institution or its Network Zone. External library holdings are never considered, keeping recommendations anchored firmly in your local access landscape.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Align Recommendations with Your Deselection Philosophy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Electronic title matching is configurable during project creation, allowing each deselection initiative to reflect your library\u2019s risk tolerance and space\u2011planning goals.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the <strong>Electronic Matches<\/strong> section, you can choose to:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Suggest only items that have an electronic match in my institution<\/strong><br \/>\nPrioritizes print titles where an electronic version already exists.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Suggest only items that have a <em>perpetual<\/em> electronic match in my institution<\/strong><br \/>\nLimits recommendations to titles backed by owned, long\u2011term electronic access.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do not consider electronic matches in recommendations<\/strong> <em>(default)<\/em><br \/>\nKeeps electronic availability informational without influencing suggestions.<\/p>\n<p>These options ensure that recommendations support local policy, whether your goal is aggressive space recovery or cautious, access\u2011first deselection.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rich Context, Not Just a Yes<\/strong>\u2011<strong>or<\/strong>\u2011<strong>No Match<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For each recommended title, the <strong>Electronic Matches<\/strong> section displays all matched electronic records, ordered by the number of associated portfolios. Each match includes detailed bibliographic information and perpetual (owned) access information.<\/p>\n<p>For maximum transparency, the <strong>full list of all matched records<\/strong> is always accessible, supporting careful review and decision making.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Weeding with Confidence, Grounded in Access<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Electronic Title Matches shift deselection from a purely physical exercise to an <strong>access<\/strong>\u2011<strong>aware decision<\/strong>\u2011<strong>making process<\/strong>. By bringing electronic availability directly into the workflow, Rialto reduces manual verification, removes uncertainty, and supports choices that are both practical and principled.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Create space responsibly. Preserve access intentionally.<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For more information see Rialto Collection Development <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com\/Rialto\/Product_Documentation\/Collection_Development_Workflows\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">documentation<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deselection is one of the most strategic and sensitive collection development activities. Every decision to withdraw a physical title carries long\u2011term implications for access, discovery, and trust. Libraries need more&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":292210,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1483],"tags":[1487,1491],"class_list":["post-292209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-library-software","tag-community","tag-library-management"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":292209},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clarivate.com\/academia-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}