Collection Development Manual
VI. GENERAL ACQUISITIONS POLICIES
The Libraries adheres to the applicable copyright laws of the United States. Therefore, unpublished or copied materials in any form will be added to the collection only when copyright compliance can be verified.
Video recordings (VHS or DVD) are a legitmate acquisition and are charged against the same budget as are books and other non-serial materials--normally, the departmental book allocation of the requesting department. Videos are purchased for educational rather than public presentations and public presentation rights are not included in the purchase process. All copyright restrictions are respected.
Because it is desirable to acquire as many titles as possible, ordering more than one copy of an item should be done only when need is certain such as in the case of the World Cultures sequence or recurrent assignments. Use of reserve services as an alternative is encouraged. An exception to this guideline is the case of placing a copy of a work in both the general collection and one of the special collections. In no case should additional copies be ordered simply to make student textbook purchases unnecessary.
In general, the library will order quality paperback versions of works when available unless anticipated high usage or other considerations dictate a more durable version.
Any book lost or stolen will be considered for replacement. The title may be ordered directly from the Collection Development budget at the discretion of the Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarian if the title is essential to the collection. However, in many cases, the relevant department will be notified if the item is still in print and will have the option of ordering the replacement from the departmental budget. Outdated or superseded editions will not be reordered unless there is a specific need.
Monographs written primarily as instructional material are usually not considered desirable additions to the collection and should not be ordered; presumably, a textbook is an introductory presentation similar to that which the student has already purchased. Those that transcend this tutorial level or which for some reason will significantly enhance the collection will be added as needed by faculty request. In the case of gifts, only textbooks less than three years old will be considered for addition to the collection.
World Wide Web access to out-of-print dealers now often makes location of these items relatively convenient. As with other acquisitions, o.p. titles will be acquired if there is a clear need to have the specific item in the collection and the price is reasonable.
Retention of Serial Publications Received in Microform:
Most current periodicals are still received initially in paper form. Because periodicals are especially subject to theft, vandalism, and deterioration, it is usually necessary to bind them or subscribe to microform copies. In the case of journals and magazines received in microform, for the convenience of the patron and to reduce reader/printer usage, a minimum of three years of paper copy will be retained even though the microform copy may have arrived. Newspapers received in microform will be retained only until the microform has been received. Exchange, recycling, and discarding arrangements and schedules will be determined by the Periodicals Department.
Retention of Serial Publications Available Electronically:
Serials which are available electronically, either in database suites or individually, but for which there is no assurance of archival permanence (unlike the titles in JSTOR) will be preserved as if they were print-only subscriptions--either bound or archived in microform. Titles which will be added to electronic archives (JSTOR or similar databases) may be discarded after the volumes have been added to the archive.
For monographs, paper is the preferred form unless the work is only available in microform. Journals or newspapers which are not electronically archived, however, must usually be bound or kept in microform to preserve them from loss or deterioration. Following the initial three-year high use period after publication, microform is the preferred retention form for journals unless the content dictates otherwise (e.g., art journals with color illustrations).
For most new journal subscriptions, positive microfiche in the standard 24:1 reduction ratio is preferable, while consistency of format (film versus fiche) should be maintained for older titles. If film is the established form, the preference is for 35 mm. In all cases, non-silver microform is the form of choice for financial and durability reasons. Care should be taken not to acquire microforms not readily usable on standard microform equipment as the lack of suitable equipment can lead to loss of readability (for example, LAC and LEL).
Reprints and Individual Journal Issues:
Reprints of articles or individual issues of general journals are seldom purchased because they are usually costly to acquire, process and retrieve. Reprints of books are ordered if they are the only means of obtaining a title. Reprints of faculty publications are welcomed as gifts for the Archives.
The Libraries' pamphlet file was discontinued many years ago. Pamphlets will be purchased only when they meet a specific need as the costs of processing, storage, and preservation usually exceed their value to the collection. Workbooks or other items which by their very nature are inherently consumed and rendered unfit for subsequent use are not truly library materials and should be ordered from departmental instructional funds.
The availabilty of newspapers on the worldwide web has reduce the library's need for newspapers. The Libraries' in-house newspaper collection now consists of a limited file of the local paper and a very limited number of others kept in microform for research purposes (such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times) as well as a very few foreign, national or regional papers retained for short periods of time for pedagogical purposes. Local Evansville papers have never been retained in permanent form because they were indexed and microfilmed by the public library and are now available online, and also because the University does not consider local history one of its areas of strength.
Government documents are ordered like books or journals as needed and then processed into the main collection. Both the public library and the University of Southern Indiana Library are Depository Libraries and no attempt is made to duplicate their holdings. Moreover, many of these materials are now available without charge on government websites.
A number of telephone directory sites on the World Wide Web are readily accessible and are to be used for directory purposes. The library does purchase a few local phone books and as well as others from major cities which experience has shown to be useful.
The library subscribes to the CollegeSource database on the World Wide Web, and it is linked to the library's electronic resources Web pages. The library no longer collects college catalogs in paper form.
Electronic access to corporate information is provided by the Hoovers Online database linked from the library's electronic resoures page.
World Wide Web databases are now ubiquitous. CD-ROMs and print indexes have virtually disappeared from the Libraries' subsciptions. Publisher acceptence of the inclusion of Harlaxton College is a factor in each Web-based product considered for acquisition and most of the general databases available at the main campus are also available at Harlaxton College.
Before purchase each of the points in the Checklist for Consideration of an Electronic Product should be evaluated.
Non-Reference CD-ROMs may be checked out for a 7-day loan period. Faculty may check out Reference CD-ROMs at the discretion of the Reference Librarian.
Library expenditures for computer software should be limited to those programs which will be used in the same manner as other library materials, that is, they will be fully processed, be a permanent part of the collection, and will either be checked out or used in the library. Software which will be used for departmental purposes in computer laboratories or departmental offices should be purchased from non-library funds.
The library accepts donations of money as well as gifts of books and journals which can fill existing gaps and support the curriculum. Gift materials are evaluated by the same standards as purchased materials, and while all materials will be accepted as donations, only those which will improve the collection will actually be added. The libary does not provide evaluations of gifts (See Appendix Item 3 for the Library Gift Policy).
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Revised 7/17/2003 mg