Libraries and leisure

County Reserve Stock

The County Reserve Stock is a collection of older and lesser-used books, which remain of value and interest. The collection of some 100,000 volumes is located at the Central Resources Library in Hatfield and is fully accessible to the public.

All Reserve Stock items are listed on the library catalogue, and the vast majority of the collection is available for loan – directly from the Central Resources Library or via local Hertfordshire libraries.

Around 90% of the Reserve stock is adult non-fiction. The remainder is adult fiction.(The fiction is currently housed in our stack area which is not directly available to the public. However items can be requested in the normal way and we are happy to bring any items out of the stack for you to look at or borrow.) There are no children’s or large print titles.

No new titles are purchased for the Reserve Stock. When local library collections are edited, books that no longer warrant their place on the shelves are considered for retention at the Central Resources Library.

Titles are likely to be retained if:

• They are landmark titles in their field, acknowledged standard texts, or titles by authors of lasting importance.
• They are likely to appear on reading lists, or be useful as background reading for students.
• They form part of series, other volumes of which are held in the County.
• They cover unusual subjects, for which few alternative titles are available.