CARL
A. RUDISILL LIBRARY
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY
GENERAL
PRINCIPLES OF MATERIALS SELECTION
The Library exists to support the total program of the College.
Therefore, the development of the Library Collection parallels the
development of the College itself. Library
materials are acquired and retained in accordance with the following priorities,
ranked in descending order of importance:
1) Materials to support the current teaching program of the College;
2) General reference works, and works in fields not currently directly
related to college programs but which are of such importance that they belong in
any respectable scholarly library;
3) Materials to support the research needs of the faculty and to assist
administrative and service personnel in the effective performance of their
duties (this may include works dealing with topics of current concern to members
of the campus community);
4) Materials to support cooperative programs with other libraries or
academic institutions; to maintain and develop a limited number of special
collections; to form a foundation collection in support of anticipated future
programs of the College; and to acquire appropriate varieties of recreational
library material, as funds permit.
The Library does not censor any subject or viewpoints, and vigorously
resists any censorship attempts. The
library endorses the Library Bill of Rights and the principles of that
document are considered an integral part of this policy statement.
All materials purchased with funds allocated to the Library become
library property, available for the use of the entire campus community.
Priority is given to materials in English, since that is the language of
instruction at this college. Foreign
language materials are normally limited to those languages taught at the
College, but materials in other languages may be acquired to meet specific needs
when they are unavailable in translation.
Since faculty members are directly involved with the teaching and
research programs of the College, it is important that they have the major role
in the selection of materials supporting these programs; to this end, a
substantial portion of the materials budget is allocated to the academic schools
to be spent at faculty recommendation. The
amount allocated is determined annually in consultation with all school chairs
or school liaison. Consideration is
given to such factors as total funds available, number of faculty in the school,
number of courses taught, number of students enrolled, and the average prices of
books and other materials in the subject area.
In the event that funds requested exceed the amount allocated by the
Administration, all schools are reduced equally to balance the budget.
As a rule, the Library Staff does not override faculty requests for
materials purchases as long as
funds are available and the items requested fall within the guidelines of this
statement, but the Library Staff has the responsibility for the development of a
well-balanced collection. The
Library Staff may initiate the purchase of materials in a specific subject area
and charge this purchase to appropriate school allocations.
The Library Staff has the principal responsibility for selecting
materials needed to support service and administrative programs and in
categories two and four in the list of priorities.
Students seeking to have items added to the collection are encouraged to
submit requests to library staff for referral to the Acquisitions Librarian.
Requests from students are given serious consideration whenever the
material requested meets the guidelines of this statement.
Duplicate copies of heavily used materials are acquired when genuinely
needed, but duplication is not encouraged; every duplicate added means that some
other title cannot necessarily be acquired.
It is the responsibility of the students to provide their own textbooks;
the Library will not undertake to maintain a textbook collection.
At the discretion of the instructor, one or a small number of copies of
selected texts will be purchased for the Reserve Collection, but this is not
encouraged.
TYPES
OF MATERIAL
Content, not format, is the basic criterion for deciding whether to add
any item to the collection. Since
format does affect use and cost, however, it cannot be completely ignored.
BOOKS
When a book is available in both hardcover and paperback edition, it
usually is acquired in paperback if:
1)
The difference in price is significantly more than the added cost of having the
paperback bound.
2)
The anticipated use of the book is not extremely heavy.
When multiple copies are ordered, only the first copy is normally bound.
Paperbacks for which very limited use is anticipated may not be bound at
all.
In the case of titles which have gone through several editions, the
latest edition is automatically acquired unless an earlier edition is specified
as a result of material not in the later edition.
OUT-OF-PRINT
ITEMS
When a book requested is found to be out-or-print, the order is returned
to the originator to determine if he/she wishes it searched.
The Library searches any title when requested, but it must be born in
mind that it can never be anticipated that any out-of-print work will become
available at a price judged to be reasonable by the Acquisitions Department.
Reprint editions or microformat are acquired, when available, unless it
is indicated that only the original is acceptable.
Use and space primarily determine whether to buy an individual item in
hardcopy or in microformat. At the present time, spatial problems make
microformat preferable for items that will not be heavily used.
If the Library already owns a title in microformat, hard copy is not also
acquired unless constant class use is anticipated.
PERIODICALS
Periodical subscriptions desired by a school will be placed on order and
permanently maintained with proper
evaluation of the title taking place every other year.
Backfiles will be acquired, if necessary, in microformat, if available
or, failing that, in reprint unless the original edition is essential (e.g.
microform would not be bought for art or biological journals in which colored
illustrations are an integral part of the intellectual content).
Subscriptions are maintained by the general budget and not charged to
individual schools. New
subscriptions are entered as funds are available and on a priority basis set by
schools.
DIGITAL
COLLECTIONS
In an effort to support research quickly and efficiently and in order to
provide a wide variety of research materials, the Library supports digital
collections (journals, books, media) as much as possible, funds permitting.
No distinction is made whether information is print or non-print.
Most digital collections are available to the College community both on
and off campus. Currently, all
digital collections are charged to the general library budget and not charged to
individual schools.
NONPRINT
MEDIA
The Media Center selects or responds to requests for records, tapes,
cassettes, filmstrips, film loops, slides, motion pictures, media kits and
similar multimedia instructional materials.
School budgets for audio-visuals are treated the same as book budgets.
GIFTS
Materials received as gifts are evaluated by the same criteria as
materials purchased; nothing is added simply because it is "free"
unless it enhances the intellectual value of the collection (all items generate
processing and storage costs). Everything
donated to the Library becomes library property, to be used as the Library Staff
deems appropriate; unneeded items will be disposed of by sale, exchange,
donation or discard.
REPLACEMENTS
When titles in the collection are reported missing, those requested for
teaching or research use are replaced promptly, if they are still obtainable.
Titles for which there is no immediate need may be replaced after a
period of two years, since it has been the experience of the Library that many
titles reported lost are in fact only temporarily misplaced.
When an inventory of the collection is taken, missing items are replaced
at once upon the determination of their necessity
to the collection. In the
event an item remains missing in the following year, replacement may be
considered or deferred; however, at the end of two years, missing materials are
removed from library records as permanently lost.
At any time after library materials are identified as missing, they may
be replaced upon request by a user or staff member.
PROCEDURES
Orders for print and nonprint materials are submitted on the standard
card, which is provided by the Library, or though digital format.
The form is filled out (preferably typewritten) as fully as possible,
though it is not expected that full information is always available to those
initiating orders. Especially in the case of small non-commercial publishers,
and publishers outside the English-speaking world, catalogs or brochures are a
helpful supplement to the order form itself; they are returned to the person
placing the order if he/she so requests.
When orders for out-of-print titles are submitted on the basis of a
listing in a dealer's catalog, it is essential that the catalog accompany the
order forms, and that the order reach the Library as quickly as possible.
The catalog will be returned, if requested.
Schools are encouraged to spread their ordering evenly through the
ordering period (June 1 to March 01 of each year), which facilitates processing
by the Acquisitions Department. Very
large groups of order cards, especially later in the year, are subject to
delays. On March 01 of every year,
all funds revert back to the General Fund of the Library. However, overspending or underspending of budgeted monies has
no bearing on the following years budget for that school.
Orders are processed by the Acquisitions Department in the same sequence
received to insure fair treatment to all schools. Priority handling can be given to genuine "RUSH"
orders, but this designation should be used sparingly and only for titles which
are genuinely needed by a specific date. If
large numbers of "RUSH" orders are received, it is obviously
impossible to expedite their handling and the designation will have to be
disregarded. It also must be noted
that some publishers and wholesalers do not honor "RUSH" designations.
Funds are not carried over into the next fiscal year.
Orders received after the cutoff date are held until the start of the
next fiscal year, except that urgent orders can be placed if there are still
funds in the school allocation to cover them.
Ordering and previewing of all media, print and nonprint, must be placed
through the Library.
DESELECTION
(weeding) OF MATERIALS
The removal of materials of limited usefulness is essential to
maintaining the quality of the Library collection and is a continuous process.
The process of weeding requires the same participation by the faculty as
does the selection of materials. On
a regular basis, faculty members are requested to review the area of the
collection that corresponds to their area of teaching.
The Library Staff will consult with the appropriate school concerning
those materials which should be considered for withdrawal.
As in the selection process, the recommendations of faculty are essential
and will be given full consideration. The
final decision will rest with the Director of Learning Resources.
Several factors will be involved in the decision to withdraw library
materials:
1) Value to the collection
2) Physical condition
3) Number of copies in the collection
4) Coverage of the subject by other materials
5) Obsolescence
6) Use
Discarded materials will be disposed of by:
1) Disposition to other schools on Campus
2) Library book sale
3) Gift to other libraries
4) Recycling
Approved 04/03/79
Revised 04/21/91
Revised 05/07/92