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about the library: collection development policy

Collection Development Policy

Contents:

Introduction
Intellectual Freedom Principles
The Curriculum
Collection Levels
Questions to Consider When Reviewing Materials for Potential Selection: A Guideline
General Collecting Principles
Issues Regarding Specific Types of Library Materials for Acquisition
De-selection
Cooperatives and Interlibrary Loan
Collection Summary
Conclusion

Introduction
The Duggan Library's mission statement reads, in part, "librarians, students, and faculty work closely together to ensure that the Library collects, and acts as a gateway for, materials that inspire intellectual vitality and support the scholarly activity at Hanover College." To properly ensure this mission a written collection development policy is necessary. The major purpose of this collection development policy is to serve as a general guide by establishing criteria for the selection and maintenance of the library's collections in a variety of formats. Additionally, a useful byproduct of this policy is to facilitate accountability to external agencies, whether due to departmental concerns, such as is the case with the Chemistry department and accreditation issues through the American Chemical Society, or college-wide concerns such as with the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools or Phi Beta Kappa. This policy reaffirms past and current practice that the library's collections are a responsibility shared by librarians and faculty while openly inviting recommendations from students, staff, alumni, community patrons, and friends. Such collaboration requires consistent effort to ensure meeting both short and long term collecting goals.

The implementation of the Academic Vision Plan, adopted in 2002, with its emphasis on an interdisciplinary approach and new course design, serves as a reminder and places a renewed emphasis on the primary purpose of the library's collections; to acquire materials that directly support the undergraduate curriculum, including classroom instruction needs. Addressing faculty research concerns constitutes a secondary aim. Peripherally, the library also considers materials relating to the recreational needs of the college community and as a general information source for the community at large.

Given the interdisciplinary nature of the Hanover curriculum, as well as promoting ease of access to materials of all disciplines, campus branch libraries are, at this writing, unnecessary and not recommended. Therefore, all materials purchased with library funds shall be housed in, or in the case of electronic resources, emanate from, the Duggan Library.

NOTE: The process by which library funds are allocated is a question of procedure rather than policy and will be reviewed separately and periodically to determine the best method for consistent collection development to support the programs and needs of Hanover College.

Intellectual Freedom Principles
In all cases, Duggan Library staff members uphold the following American Library Association's policies and statements:

These and other policies and statements are available from the American Library Association (http://www.ala.org); policies listed above are also available at Duggan Library's circulation desk under permanent reserve.

As long as materials fit within the general collection parameters of the library, all points of view and subjects will be considered without prejudice or censorship. The library staff ensures equity and freedom of access to information unimpeded by social or cultural barriers. To facilitate this access, arrangement of library materials is in accordance with standard library classification schemes. Placement of items on shelves is determined solely by the classification system employed and shelf space.

The Curriculum
Hanover College offers the following academic majors that the Duggan Library supports as its primary objective:

The following additional academic minors, Liberal Arts Degree Requirements courses, and pre-professional programs are also supported:

Collection Levels
While depth of collection in a given area will vary and change over time due to numerous factors, defining collection levels is useful as a basis for assessment and goals for future growth.

The following collection level definitions are modifications from the Research Libraries Group (RLG) and will be used for consideration of collection depth at the Duggan Library.

0: Out of Scope

1: Minimal Level

2: Basic Information Level

3: Study or Instructional Support Level

4: Research Level

5: Comprehensive Level

Hanover’s undergraduate, liberal arts curriculum is generally well served at the Study or Instructional Support Level (3) and below. Materials in areas outside our collection scope (Level 0), for example, nursing, will not be actively purchased or collected. Recreational reading material (i.e. the Fitton Browsing Collection) and materials related to career development/information will be sustained at the Minimal Level (Level 1) while the Juvenile Collection will be sustained at the Minimal to Basic Levels (1-2). Pre-health and pre-law programs along with Academic Minors (Biochemistry and Environmental Studies) will be supported at the Basic Information Level (Level 2). The only collection where Duggan Library will strive to maintain at the Comprehensive Level (5) is Hanoverian material, including all monographic publications by current faculty, Independent Studies, Richter Grants, and college publications. Other items at the Comprehensive Level (5), Research Level (4), and those considered Out of Scope (0) will generally be obtained through interlibrary loan, including much of faculty’s personal research materials (which may also be subsidized through faculty grants awarded by the Faculty Development Committee. (See the Faculty Manual for details).

In almost all cases, library materials acquisition funds should be limited to items in the following levels: Minimal, Basic Information, and Study or Instructional Support.

Questions to Consider When Reviewing Materials for Potential Selection: A Guidelin

General Collecting Principles

Issues Regarding Specific Types of Library Materials for Acquisition
General

Monographs

Serials

Government Documents

Electronic Resources

Audio/Visual Materials

Reference Materials

Gifts

Recreational Reading

De-selection
An important component to collection development is the de-selection (weeding) of obsolete materials. Such materials can be outdated books (information contained is no longer accurate or is misleading), superseded editions, incomplete sets of longer works, superfluous duplicates, worn or damaged volumes, obsolete media materials, unsolicited or unwanted gifts, titles outside the collecting scope of the library, or small runs of cancelled periodical titles. One question that can be asked as a guiding principle is, "would allowing an item to remain in the collection produce a negative value?" Appropriate de-selection improves access, allows room for new materials, encourages growth in a subject area, and saves space. The criteria for de-selection will be consistent with this Collection Development Policy. That is, does the volume in question support the curriculum?, Is the material timely?, and so forth. (See section: Questions to Consider When Reviewing Materials for Potential Selection: A Guideline.)

Usage statistics alone should not be used as an automatic indicator for deselection and neither is the age of an item, in and of itself, an acceptable criterion for such action. Of course, there are works that become classics in their field, while others may have intrinsic historical value, for example, as representative of the culture of its time. In some cases it may be deemed appropriate to transfer a volume to the Library's Special Collections. (See separate Archives & Special Collections policy at http://library.hanover.edu/aspccolldev.html.) Nonetheless, properly managing the library's collections must include allowance for de-accessioning materials that no longer support the mission of the college or the purpose of the library's collections as defined in this policy statement. And, like acquisitions, de-selection of materials, must be a consultative endeavor between faculty and librarians. Faculty will have the opportunity to review materials targeted for de-selection and make recommendations for retention of items in question. Referral to standard bibliographies such as Best Books for Academic Libraries, The Reader's Adviser, Katz's Magazines for Libraries, as well as Choice or other appropriate current awareness and retrospective evaluative sources may be recommended for consultation as part of the decision making process for a given title. Decisions about potential serials cancellations will be done in consultation with affected academic departments while government documents targeted for weeding will be done in full accordance of federal depository standards.In all cases, the library will make every effort to transfer deselected items (donation to another library, duplicate exchange program, book sale, etc.) with disposal considered only after transfer options have been exhausted.

Cooperatives and Interlibrary Loan
In today's information environment, especially with current constraints on space, staff, and budget, it is impossible to collect in any one library everything its users may need. Recognizing this fact, librarians have developed agreements and interlibrary loan policies to provide access to materials beyond those available at individual libraries. The Duggan Library belongs to several consortia and participates in multiple interlibrary loan agreements. These make reciprocal borrowing, low-cost loans, and discounted subscriptions viable options for access to items that otherwise would be beyond our means to acquire or that would be outside the scope of this policy. The existence of other area and regional libraries provides another means of access to materials not in the Duggan Library collections. These options allow us to concentrate our resources on acquiring, processing, and maintaining materials in support of our undergraduate liberal arts programs while offering access on an as-needed basis to a much broader range of materials.

Collection Summary
According to the American Library Association's, Guide for Written Collection Policy Statements, in addition to ensuring consistency in the selection and de-selection processes in order to shape more responsive collections, a collection development policy should ideally identify levels of strength and weakness in specific areas of the library's collections. However, to properly ascertain collection strengths and weakness, a conspectus approach as outlined by the Research Library Group (RLG) would need to be employed. A conspectus approach is a summary of collection strengths and collecting intensities, arranged by subject or classification scheme, utilizing standardized codes to define existing, and desired, strengths and intensity. By defining strengths, areas in need of development would thus be unveiled. While this sounds ideal, in reality, such an approach is subjective, extremely time-consuming, costly, and beyond the scope of our current resources. Nonetheless, it should be noted that some manner of collection evaluation is highly recommended. It is the perception of some of our students and faculty via recent library user surveys, exit evaluations, etc., that the library's holdings are sparse in some collection areas, contain egregious gaps in others, and still in other areas, the holdings are sorely outdated. By systematically employing faculty/librarian collaborative evaluation method(s) and comparative tools (such as the Best Books for Academic Libraries), as well as an increased awareness of our own collection development issues along with adherence to a collection development policy, we can provide the very best collection to support the Hanover College curriculum for all library users.

Conclusion
While specific rules for every set of circumstances cannot be anticipated, it is hoped this policy will be useful in helping to make sound judgments regarding library collection activities as we strive to be good intellectual and financial stewards. However, as stated in the Introduction, this policy is a guide, and is intended to be flexible for continued alignment with the development of the college and its curriculum. The Library, like the College, is a living institution, and it is understood that collection development, by its very nature, a dynamic and ongoing process, must also evolve to remain relevant. Accordingly, this policy will be periodically reviewed for updating, and suggestions are always welcome.

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last updated: 5 August 2009, HBL