Hege Library at Guilford College

I. Goals and Objectives

The Hege Library’s collection development policy supports the mission of Guilford College as a liberal arts institution for undergraduates. In the development of a collection, the staff of the library and the faculty selectors strive to support the goal of academic excellence while seeking diversity of intellectual matter — a diversity which reflects traditional as well as non-traditional thinking. The primary objectives of collection development are to gather materials which will support and enhance the curriculum and which will reflect the values of Guilford College’s Quaker and liberal arts heritage. In the building and management of the collection, attention will be given to materials consonant with the multicultural, interdisciplinary, international, and pluralistic interests of the institution. Materials will be collected in the most appropriate and most durable format. Careful consideration will be given to items reflecting current technologies, and content, not format, will be the deciding factor in acquiring materials.

II. Priorities in the Acquisition of Materials

In supporting the programs of the institution and in serving the students, faculty, administrators, and staff of Guilford College, the priorities for acquiring materials will be:

1. CURRICULUM NEEDS:

   These materials assist faculty in class preparation and students in the completion of assignments and class projects or papers.

2. GENERAL AND REFERENCE MATERIALS:

   An excellent undergraduate library collection includes materials that do not necessarily relate to specific courses at any given time. Therefore, appropriate core academic works should be available in the collection. This is particularly true of the Reference Collection but also applies to the General Collection.

3. AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST:

   These items need not be course-specific but they should meet the needs and goals articulated by the College. Some areas of special interests include environmental, multicultural, peace and conflict studies, and gender. To the extent possible, the library will maintain collections in traditional areas of strength such as History of Science, Science Fiction, and the Civil War.

4. RESEARCH MATERIALS:

   To the extent possible, materials will be provided to support the research interests of the College community. Available funds will first be directed to (a) the research needs of the students and (b) materials that identify and locate research resources outside of the College.

5. RECREATIONAL NEEDS:

   Sources of leisure provide the students with greater dimensions to their college experience. These will not be acquired at the expense of those needs stated in items 1-4.

III. Responsibility for Selection

Library staff, faculty, staff, and students share the privilege and responsibility for selection of books, periodicals, and other library materials. Any member of the Guilford College Community may initiate requests. The library staff encourages faculty to order materials to meet curriculum needs and for faculty and librarians to work together to maintain collections within appropriate subject areas. Final responsibility to insure that the collection meets its stated goals, objectives, and priorities rests with the library.

1. Responsibility for selection of monographic materials:

   The library staff will submit requests where the collection has an identifiable need or where critically acclaimed items supplement priorities as listed above.

   Faculty should submit requests for materials to the person designated by their department head, or to the department’s collection development liaison in the library.

   Other members of the College community may submit requests to the library. Students are encouraged to make recommendations for the collection either through the library or through the department in which they are studying. Questions may be addressed to the Library Director.

2. Responsibility for selection of periodical materials (newspaper, journals, indexes, etc.):

   Any member of the Guilford College community may initiate requests for new titles. Those requests should meet the priorities listed under the acquisition of materials above. The Library Director will consult with all relevant departments and the Library Liaison of the Committee on Educational Support before making a commitment to periodical subscriptions costing more than $200 per year.

   Cancellation decisions on periodicals are made by the Library Director in consultation with faculty members from the department(s) most affected by the cancellation(s). The library staff will attempt to monitor use and costs for specific titles. They will review periodicals consistent with the policy for standing orders and may make recommendations for cancellations. Availability of electronic journals and full-text online will be part of these decisions.

3. Responsibility for selection of materials on standing order:

   Standing orders should be approved by the Library Director, in consultation with librarians, relevant departments, and the Library Liaison of the Committee on Educational Support. Standing orders should be reviewed periodically by the library staff who may propose titles for withdrawal.

4. Responsibility for selection of electronic materials:

   The Library Director will oversee the selection of electronic resources. In the case of electronic materials costing more than $200 per year, the Library Director will consult with relevant academic departments, the Library Liaison of the Committee on Educational Support, and, as appropriate, the Department of Information Services and Technology.

IV. Selection Criteria

General and specific criteria will govern the selection and acquisition of material to the library collection. The primary criterion for item selection shall be present and potential relevance of the material to the curriculum, to faculty, and student needs, and to the overall educational aims and purposed of the College. Selection of individual titles shall consider the following:

General Criteria:

1. Appropriateness and effectiveness of medium to content
2. Attention of reviewers, critics
3. Importance as a document of the time
4. Insight into human and social condition
5. Reputation or purpose of author
6. Suitability of physical form for library use
7. Completeness of holdings as determined by standard bibliographies and other sources

Specific Criteria:

1. Artistic presentation and experimentation
2. Authenticity of historical setting
3. Authority
4. Clarity and accuracy of presentation
5. Comprehensiveness and depth of treatment
6. Objectivity
7. Representation and challenge through extreme or minority point of view

V. Considerations for Particular Areas

Reference materials:

Since these materials meet bibliographic needs and provide access to information, both within and beyond the library, particular attention will be paid to the acquisition of these sources. Selection will be made largely by the Head of Information/Reference who will review requests from others.

Audio-visual materials:

The Library will maintain a special budget line to collect audio-visual materials – audio cassettes and CD, video cassettes and DVDs – according to the same criteria and priorities as applied to books and periodicals. Optical media (CDs and DVDs will be preferred to magnetic media (audio and video cassettes) because of their greater durability. Faculty should submit requests for such items on the appropriate forms. All matters related to equipment should be referred to the Department of Information Technology and Services (IT&S).

Juvenile materials:

The Juvenile Collection is developed for Education Studies students who plan to teach. Professional educational standards of quality and value should apply, although there may be occasion to add for illustrative purposes examples of materials that are not recommended. Library staff will assist the Education faculty in the development of the collection.

Textbooks:

The rapid change in editions prohibits purchase of every textbook assigned for every course. The Library will, however, purchase textbooks that serve either as basic works in the field or useful supplementary material of enduring value. A request for a textbook should note the reason for purchase.

Multiple copies:

The Library discourages the acquisition of multiple copies unless there is a demonstrated need. For example, multiple copies may be needed if a material is heavily used in the reserve collection.

Replacements:

These items should meet the standards for acquisition listed in this policy. In replacing materials the value of and the demand for the item will be considered.

Out-of-print/reprint materials:

The Library will attempt to acquire out-of-print materials upon request. An available reprint will be purchased rather than spending staff time in locating out-of-print items.

Rare Books:

Rare books will usually be so designated by the Director of the Library and the Friends Historical Collection Librarian or the Catalog Librarian, with advice from other staff members if the need arises. This determination will be made on the basis of age and value. There may be occasions when the determination will be made on the basis of use, ease of replacement, condition of material, and requirements of storage.

Theses:

Theses from other institutions will not be collected unless they are the only work in the field.

Electronic Resources:

Review of electronic materials will consider content as well as technical and management criteria, including the availability of use statistics.

VI. Additional Selection Guidelines

To build the collection, specific guidelines shall set basic standards.

• Efforts will be made to procure books in the hardback library edition; however, if the desired title is only available in paperback then the paperback edition will be purchased. Material of ephemeral or short-term interest and those with a particularly large difference between the hardback and paperback editions may be purchased in less expensive formats. Mass market editions will be avoided due to poor physical quality.
• The Library will select current and retrospective books, serials, and other instructional materials to secure an adequate basic collection to support all areas of the curriculum.
• The Library will not develop any in depth collection of materials not related to the curriculum, especially in those areas already covered by another local Library.
• Personal research interests will be supported to the extent that they are reflected in the curriculum and do not undermine the balance of the collection.
• The purchase of material written in languages other than English will be limited to those languages in which instruction is offered at the College. An exception may be the purchase of basic language dictionaries for the Reference Collection.
• Censorship will not be practiced in the selection of materials; however, the Library reserves the right to collect only those materials that contribute to and support the curricular, cultural, and recreational activities of the College.
• In instances where the cost of an item is high and the demand is relatively low, the holdings of the NC-PALS consortium and other nearby libraries are considered in determining whether or not an item should be ordered.
• This policy may be supplemented by more specific policies for specific disciplines, formats, and collections as well as procedure manuals to give more detailed guidelines for the practical details of acquisitions.

VII. Gifts and Appraisals

Gifts:

The Guilford College Library welcomes gifts of materials that enhance the collection according to the priorities for the acquisition of materials. Items that do not fit the collection will be sold, exchanged, given to another library, or discarded.

Gifts of back-runs of periodicals are accepted if they fill gaps in the Library’s holdings of established titles. Other gifts of periodicals should fill library needs expressed above, and fit the criteria used in purchasing new subscriptions.

The Library does not accept gifts in kind with restrictions.

The Library will acknowledge all gifts and forward the details to the Advancement Office.

Appraisals:

In accordance with Internal Revenue Service code, the Guilford College Library can not appraise gifts. The Library can supply a count of the number of items donated, but the donor will have the responsibility for determining value. In cases of gifts of significant value, the Library will cooperate with donors to insure than appropriate and legal procedures are followed.

VIII. Weeding the Collection

Maintaining a useful and current collection requires the deletion of no longer appropriate materials as well as the addition of new acquisitions. Criteria for weeding will be consistent with priorities in acquiring materials. Candidates for withdrawal are those items not recently circulated, those with superseded, dated or obsolete information, or materials in poor condition. Surveys of usage and opinions of public service librarians and teaching faculty should determine the retention of any titles in question. An ongoing process of review, evaluation, and replacement will aid in these decisions.

IX. Participation in Consortia and Networks

The vast published literature makes it impossible for one library to supply the needs of its patrons solely from its own collection. Guilford College is a member of NC-PALS and maintains a shared database with member libraries. A further goal of NC-PALS includes cooperative acquisition of on-line and other resources. The Library subscribes to NCLIVE, a cooperative effort with the State Library, public, academic and community college libraries, to provide electronic access to serials and other resources. The Library participates in the Carolina Consortium for digital periodicals. The College is also a member of SOLINET and participates in the OCLC network.

X. Approval and Review of Policy

The librarians should review this Collection Development Policy at least every five years, and recommendations for changes should be sent to the entire library staff and to the Committee on Educational Support. Implementation of policies should be documented through the Library’s procedure manual.

Approved by the Faculty Library Committee November 30, 2004