Collection Development Manual
IV. SELECTION RESPONSIBILITIES
Collection development is a shared responsibility. Selections are made by both the librarians and the general faculty and coordinated by the Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarian. Nevertheless, the professional librarians remain responsible for the general balance and quality of the collection. For this reason, the librarians select or recommend the selection of materials in all disciplines.
General periodicals, electronic products, print indexes, business services, and microform subscriptions are selected by the librarians based upon known needs, faculty and student requests, and other considerations. The Collection Development and Reference portions of the book budget are spent on materials selected by the librarians:
- General and specialized reference materials.
- Notable general collection or interdisciplinary works identified from reviews, award lists, indexes, or perceived needs based upon other factors.
- Microform and electronic backfiles.
- Materials to support bibliographic instruction, internal library processing, electronic services, etc.
- Deposit accounts such as those maintained with organizational vendors.
The formula-derived "departmental budgets" are library funds spent by the Acquisitions Department after faculty selection. Each department has a Library Liaison selected by the department who coordinates the department's ordering, and the distribution of book funds within the department is a departmental decision. The Liaison is sent Choice cards monthly in his/her subject area along with a statement of the departments' book expenditures. Although these allocations are usually termed "book budgets," non-print orders are acceptable if the item in question is suitable for library use and processing (e.g., a video for class use is acceptable but software for the departmental office computer which would never be in the library is not). The same suitability standard applies, of course, to print selections.
V. SELECTION PRIORITIES AND GUIDANCE
Materials for the collection should be acquired in the following priority:
- The discipline as a whole.
- Divisions of the discipline in which courses are taught.
- Divisions of the discipline in which courses are not currently taught but are apt to be taught in the future.
- Specialized or advanced aspects of a discipline of interest to faculty members or advanced students but in which courses are not taught.
- Recreational reading materials (rarely purchased).
Current versus Retrospective Materials:
Current materials should receive greater consideration than retrospective items.
Popular Fiction and Nonfiction:
Budget limitations normally permit only very limited purchase of non-curricular materials. It is more important for the library to provide for the educational rather than the recreational needs of its clientele, and therefore popular fiction and nonfiction works are purchased sparingly.
In general, books or other materials should not be purchased for the one-time use of a single person. Faculty or student research materials, which on larger campuses are or should be met by the library's main collection, must usually be supplied by some type of remote access such as Interlibrary Loan or the World Wide Web. Research materials which will be generally useful will, of course, be ordered.
Since 1988 the University has placed increased emphasis on foreign language competence. Materials which will support instruction in languages taught at the university (currently French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, and Spanish) will be added as needed.
Local History, Genealogy, Large Print, Government Publications:
Some materials which are normally thought of as appropriate for library purchase are not collected because of the community environment. The public library system and Willard Library have traditionally been the repositories for local history and genealogical materials. This tradition, coupled with a lack of courses in these areas, means that the UE Libraries adds only very major works in these areas. The public library also has large print materials for the blind. Other provisions for blind or partially-sighted students are made on the UE campus so that collecting large format items is inadvisable. Both the University of Southern Indiana Library and the public library are government depositories, so UE adds only those government documents which are essential for curricular support, and these are purchased in the same manner as books and fully cataloged into the main collection. Many of these are now available without charge on the World Wide Web and may be linked from the Libraries' catalog.
Most selections must be made without the book (etc.) in hand, and many factors can influence the selection or non-selection of a title. Any or all of the following may be relevant:
- Reviews.
- Appearance in standard bibliographies, reading or recommendation lists or indexes.
- Significance of subject matter.
- Importance of author, artist, composer, etc.
- Accuracy or inaccuracy of data.
- Literary or artistic merit.
- Authority of publisher, producer, etc.
- Potential for use or known need.
- Faculty or librarian recommendation.
- Importance to total collection.
- Current and/or permanent value.
- Scarcity or abundance of material on subject.
- Unavailability of material elsewhere in the area.
- Price or format.
- Usefulness with respect to other materials in the collection, including the representation of all sides of controversial issues.
The most meaningful factor--in addition to a knowledge of the University and its students--is a review in a reliable reviewing source. Reviews in scholarly journals are invaluable in building a quality collection. Unfortunately, these are scattered among many journals and often--for ordering purposes-- appear very late. For this reason, the library subscribes to Choice reviews on cards. These usually appear before or soon after the book's publication, and the cards are routed to the librarians and to the departmental library representatives who only need to initial and return a card to order a book. In addition to Choice, the librarians regularly read a number of other sources, and create order cards for titles which are either ordered directly by the Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarian or sent to the appropriate department as a recommended title.
Selection of Periodicals or Electronic Products:
Recurring expenses such as electronic or print periodicals subscriptions represent long-term, complex fiscal, physical and technical commitments rather than the relatively short-term process of acquiring and processing a book. For this reason, periodicals and electronics selection must be a carefully-considered activity, and it is treated differently than book selection. Faculty members are encouraged to request titles or products for addition to the collection and to justify their requests.
At least once a year a committee of librarians meets to decide on periodicals and electronics additions and deletions using these requests and a variety of other information. Some of the factors considered are a known need based on electronic or other indexing data, Interlibrary Loan requests, Reference Desk experience, and favorable reviews. Journals which are expensive or very specialized, not indexed or not related to specific courses or programs, or which for some other reason are inappropriate for an educational institution are seldom ordered. Other factors may include:
- Number/cost of subscriptions in the field.
- Interest in the subject matter.
- Size of the relevant educational program.
- Availability by electronic access.
- Issuing organization's reputation.
- Accreditation requirements.
- Longevity of the title.
- Availability of the title at other local libraries.
Normally, new subscriptions are begun with the next complete volume after selection is made, and microfiche is the preferred permanent file form. If financially feasible, a short microform backfile will also be acquired. After one year each new title is reviewed to see if it should be retained. If so, it is considered a permanent subscription unless there are compelling reasons for its discontinuance.
Electronic services especially require careful consideration for all of the above reasons and also because of the rapidly changing array available, the equipment required, their expense, and the need to integrate them with current resources. A committee consisting of the Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarian, the Head Reference Librarian, the Periodicals Librarian and the University Librarian meet frequently throughout the year to consider new electronic products and reconsider current ones. Almost all electronic resources are now delivered via the World Wide Web and the campus network.
A periodical or other serial publication may be canceled for a number of reasons:
- Fiscal considerations.
- Change in or discontinuance of the program it supports.
- Recommendations of librarians, faculty members or departments.
- Content or format changes in the title which make it inappropriate for inclusion in the collection.
- Appearance of an alternative form of the publication or information becoming available and preferable.
Periodicals which have been recommended for cancellation by faculty members or departments may be retained at the discretion of the librarians if available data or Reference experience indicates that it is a "core" title and retention is advisable. The title is then considered a "library" title rather than being attributed to a specific department.
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Revised 7/17/2003 mg