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The primary purpose of the collection of the College of DuPage Library is to support the academic and vocational programs of the College with print, audiovisual, periodical and electronic resources. The library’s collection also serves the professional growth and development needs of the College’s faculty and staff. In addition, the collection will supplement other sources to address the cultural and enrichment interests of students, staff, faculty and the community as a whole.
This policy is designed to guide the systematic development and management of the College of DuPage Library's collection of print, audiovisual, and electronic materials. Rising costs, increases in publishing output, and increasing demand for information in a wide variety of formats require careful materials selection based on an understanding of the mission of the Library and the College. The collection must be systematically shaped and developed in order to make the best use of our financial resources.
This policy is intended to present collection development and information
access
program guidelines to meet the following objectives:
To assist librarians in selecting current, diverse, balanced collections
of
materials to support the instructional and institutional needs
of
students, faculty and staff in support of the stated purpose
of the collection
To provide a basis for the consideration and incorporation of faculty suggestions as part of collection development and management
To serve both traditional and distance education students and faculty
by supplying
integrated access to collections of materials in all appropriate
formats in the
most cost-effective manner
To assist with short-range and long-range fiscal planning
The mission of College of DuPage is to be at the forefront of higher education, serving the needs of the community. The College will be the first place residents turn to for the highest quality educational and cultural opportunities. The College will serve as a model of distinction for community college education.
To achieve this mission the college will:
Collection development, including materials selection and deselection, is the responsibility of each full-time faculty librarian serving as Library liaison to specific departments or disciplines at the College of DuPage.
This includes responsibility for:
•
Long and short range planning for developing the collection.
•
Evaluation of collections and needs.
•
Regular communication with the Library’s Technical Services staff.
•
Active liaison with their faculty and administrators.
•
Judicious and timely expenditure of their materials budget within
the budget set by the Library administration.
The Dean and Associate Dean are responsible for overseeing the overall growth and development of the collection, the allocation of the materials budget, and the expenditure of funds under the policies, procedures and guidelines developed by the library faculty in conjunction with the administration. The Dean and Associate Dean are responsible for final approval of the collection development policies and expenditures.
The Technical Services Librarian monitors the collection development budget including book, continuation, audiovisual, periodical, and electronic resources funds, maintains vendor relations, and regularly updates librarians on budget activities and status.
Librarians select print and non-print materials using a number of selection tools.
These include:
• Professional journals.
• Popular reviewing sources.
•
Book vendors’ “slips” listings.
• Standard bibliographies.
•
Publishers’ and producers’ catalogs.
• Requests submitted by the community of Library users.
• Particular attention is paid to faculty requests for titles to support
instruction in
the College’s academic programs.
The Library also accepts gift materials (see separate policy for donations)
When selecting materials, an overriding consideration is appropriateness for
community college use. Most materials should be written or produced on a level
that the average community college student can use or benefit from, or at a level
that students in a particular field are expected to attain.
Other considerations may be:
Books/monographs are collected in both hardbound, paperback or audio editions based on the librarian’s judgment as to which format is suitable. The Library supports the research needs pf faculty pursuing advanced degrees primarily through the use of interlibrary loan for items not in our collection.
Electronic books will be considered when they provide the most current and/or cost-effective format or when they provide collections in support of distance education courses and programs.
Reference works are judged for inclusion in the Reference collection on the basis of the recommendation of the subject librarians (taking into consideration any faculty input), timeliness, cost, suitability of item for the community college library (i.e. level of item written for community college or undergraduate college student), ability to fill a need in the existing reference collection, plus review source recommendations and inclusion in end-of-year “Best Reference Title” lists.
The Library licenses access to electronic resources including article and digital image collections. Selection decisions are made on the basis of content, utility, ease-of-use, potential for off-campus access, subject specialist recommendations, evaluations from trials, collection overlap, affordability, and usage. Databases that are offered by consortial arrangement may be preferred when they offer the best pricing structure. The Library Technology Committee monitors the budget for databases and makes recommendations to the faculty librarians as a group for purchase and deletion based on the listed selection criteria.
Titles that have appeared on the New York Times or Chicago Tribune Bestsellers' lists for fiction are given first consideration for the popular fiction and nonfiction collection. Selection criteria include appeal to the local community, media coverage of the author or title, and the number of awards won.
The Library collects textbooks selectively to support current College of DuPage courses. In some instances, the selecting librarian may decide to purchase a textbook if he/she feels that this is necessary and if the textbook presents subject information in a way that is useful to the students. Textbooks may also become available through gift donations and will be evaluated according to gift procedures.
Subject librarians make recommendations to the Collection Development Committee for the purchase of periodical titles to be added to and maintained for the Library’s collection of magazines, journals and newspapers based on such considerations as faculty recommendation, support for the curriculum of the College, cost, indexing in electronic or print form, and the presence of alternative access full-text/full-image versions in the library’s electronic databases.
eJournals will be added based on such considerations as faculty request, cost and support for College of DuPage coursework, particularly in distance education classes.
When back issues of periodicals are to be retained indefinitely, they may be maintained in either microform or bound form based on the recommendation of the respective subject librarian.
Government publications in all formats may be added to the collection
either through purchase or as gifts. Individual subject librarians will
decide on the selection, location and retention of such materials based
on the item’s content and use in support of research and instruction
at the College. The Library does not maintain a separate collection of
government documents.
Patrons needing government documents not owned by the Library
will be referred to Interlibrary Loan or local depository libraries.
Librarians will decide on the selection, location, and retention of maps or atlases based on the item’s content and how it will support research and instruction at the College.
Non-print materials (e.g., VHS and DVD videos, compact discs, models, streaming media services) are evaluated on the same basis as are books according to the “Criteria for Selection of Materials” with special emphasis on the suitability of the format to the content, the quality of the production, and the Library’s ability to provide the equipment, access and support that is required in order to use the material.
The Library’s collection of rental video titles is limited in size due to space and technological considerations plus budget priorities. Selection criteria include enduring value, artistic or cultural merit, quality of technical production and number of awards won. Our focus is on academic rather than recreational use, although these two may overlap.
These electronic media are collected by librarians according to the needs of their subject areas. These resources must meet current technology standards and be able to run on library machines without elaborate installation processes (i.e. they must be "plug and play"). The Library does not collect software application packages such as CADD/CAM, Adobe Illustrator, etc. to support coursework at the college, leaving access to these programs to appropriate College computer labs.
The Library selects and provides access to Internet resources based on the resource’s content and how it will support research and instruction at the college. Evaluative considerations such as authority, purpose, currency, accuracy, presentation, and stability will also be used to determine the inclusion of Internet resources in the Library’s catalog.
The College of DuPage Archives, housed in the Library, organizes and maintains a collection of historical and official records of the College. Items such minutes of the Board of Trustees, legal documents relating to the organization of the College, College catalogs and quarterly class schedules, newspaper clippings, news releases, books and articles written by faculty and staff, minutes and records of campus-wide committees, and College-produced brochures, photographs, slides, and videorecordings will be collected for and preserved in the Archives. The Archivist reserves the right to discard duplicate material and to decline to add items not closely related to the history of the College. The Archives does not collect student, personnel or departmental records, syllabi, and financial records unless they have historical interest or value.
The juvenile collection supports coursework in Children's Literature and Early Childhood Education. The Library collects selected standard juvenile reference materials, core non-fiction, children's best-sellers and classics. Every effort is made to include titles that have won prizes such as Newbery, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King Awards.
The College and Career Information Center collects print and non-print materials relating to careers, colleges, scholarships, the job search, professional school examinations, career certification tests and related topics. Print catalogs from colleges throughout the United States will be requested and obtained for the collection if available without charge. Duplicates of book titles will be purchased for heavily used items.
Materials are added to the Philanthropy Center collection on the basis of suitability for local nonprofit users, the recommendation of major review sources (utilizing primarily the Chronicle of Philanthropy with additional sources), the recommendation of Donors Forum librarians and the recommendation of individual nonprofit staff and/or local philanthropic groups.
The Natural Science Center collects scientific models, specimens and posters relating to all fields of the natural sciences for display in the Natural Science Center room on the upper level of the Library. Heavily studied models, bones and slides that duplicate laboratory collections are available for in-library use. The collection includes selected textbooks and supporting reference titles. The Natural Science Center Committee, with representatives from the Library and various disciplines within the Natural and Applied Science Division, chooses items for this collection. The Natural and Applied Science Division funds almost all purchases for the Natural Science Center.
The Center for Independent Learning (CIL) provides the Library with copies of required audio-visual materials for telecourses currently offered by the College. Telecourse video titles which are licensed for in-house duplication will be available at the Circulation Desk for term-length rental; audio titles will be available for short term circulation. Telecourse audio and video titles not licensed for in-house duplication will be purchased by the CIL . A Library Use Only copy and limited numbers of loan copies for home use will be made available at the Circulation Desk.
The Library reserves the right to accept or discard gift materials as it deems fit, with no restrictions being imposed by the donor.
Librarians will base their add/discard decisions using the same criteria as for purchased materials. Additional considerations include:
The weeding of materials from the Library's collection is a normal and necessary function of responsible librarianship. Items may be discarded due to poor physical condition, outdated information, lack of shelf space, and lack of use (as demonstrated by the item's circulation history).
Considerations for weeding Internet resources include:
The Library performs:
Periodical binding decisions are made by the respective subject librarian. The decision to purchase microfilm in lieu of binding is made by the subject librarian based on cost and availability of funds, frequency of publication, history of holdings, space constraints and problems with theft/mutilation of issues.
The Technical Services Department notifies an individual librarian when an item in his/her subject area is damaged or missing. The Librarian will decide whether or not to order a replacement copy. Some factors to be considered are the item’s past circulation history, information content, cost and expected use in the future.
The Librarians have the responsibility to develop a collection
in their subject areas that supports the teaching, research
needs, and cultural interests of a diverse constituency. This
may involve selecting materials that some individuals or groups
may find incorrect or offensive. As an institution of higher
education, which encourages the contemplation of many different
issues, the Library collection should have materials that express
a variety of views and opinions on various topics. This Library
supports the "Library Bill of Rights" and intellectual
freedom as stated by the American Library Association.
http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Our_Association/Offices/
Intellectual_Freedom3/Statements_and_Policies/Intellectual_Freedom2/
Library_Bill_of_Rights.htm/
Cooperative collection development means collaborating with other libraries, government agencies or outside organizations, to obtain resources for the Library. Cooperative collection development may take place directly with neighboring libraries, through the Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program (ICCMP), or through other means and agencies.
Collection Development Statement developed by the Library Collection
Development Committee and approved at meeting of Full-time Librarians
and Dean of the Library
24 September 2003
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