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In order to guarantee that its collections are renewed and up-to-date, the Bpi regularly "weeds out" materials that are less relevant, which means that the documents in question are removed from the collections and are no longer mentioned in the Library's catalogue.
The following general criteria are used for this process: the content is out-of-date, a new edition has been published, a new interpretation has been produced (for music), physical wear or damage, change in the documentation policy, expiry of exploitation rights (for films).
The "weeding out" is modulated according to the type of document and the topic, following a programme that is defined each year. In fields where change is rapid, such as the law, economics, computer science, vocational guidance or daily life, the weeding out can be very frequent.
The period for which the paper copies of periodicals are kept is between one and ten years for most titles; for the printed press, it is between one week and six months.
The kits for learning languages are renewed every five years.
The rights to non-commercial films are acquired for ten years and are rarely renewed.
The documents which are weeded out are either destroyed or presented to institutions as gifts.