This policy is designed to guide the systematic development and management of the Lane Community College Library collections of print, audiovisual, and electronic materials. It is intended to define a collection development and information access program that meets the following objectives:
The primary goal of the Library’s Collection Development Policy is to provide guidance for the selection and maintenance of collections that support and enhance the curriculum and instructional programs of Lane Community College, as well as the general information needs of students, faculty, and staff who comprise the College’s community of lifelong learners. This community possesses a broad range of interests and prior educational experiences. Therefore, the Library’s collection should also include a variety of general information resources in subject areas not covered by classroom instruction, but generally supportive of a learning environment. Within the constraints of available funds, facilities, and staffing, the Library will acquire and make available materials and media in a wide variety of formats.
For those members of the college community whose scholarly or research needs are beyond the scope of this policy, librarians will help to identify, locate, and borrow such materials through interlibrary loan.
Lane's current mission is to be a learning-centered community college that provides affordable, quality, lifelong educational opportunities that include: professional technical and lower division college transfer programs; employee skill upgrading, business development and career enhancement; foundational academic, language and life skills development; lifelong personal development and enrichment; and cultural and community services.
The primary goal of the Library is to further the College’s mission by providing library services and resources that support the curriculum and fulfill the information needs of students, faculty, staff, administration, and community.
Responsibility for Collection Development
Each full- and part-time reference librarian, as well as the Library Director, has collection development responsibilities. Specific responsibilities are to:
Although the Library Director and faculty librarians are ultimately responsible for the library’s collection, the entire College community is encouraged to suggest additions at any time. In recognition of their individual areas of expertise, and their experience of students’ information needs and interests, all library staff are encouraged to participate in an annual purchasing trip to local bookstores
Implementation of the concept of academic freedom in the Library involves selecting some materials which may be considered controversial by some individuals or groups. Reasons often cited for materials considered offensive may include profanity, divergent viewpoints, controversial authors, sexual explicitness, use of nonstandard English and dialects, and violence and criminal acts. The acquisition of such materials does not imply approval or endorsement of their contents. These materials are acquired to support the curriculum and to represent all sides of controversial issues. The selection criteria used by Lane Community College must remain broad and flexible in order to provide a collection which supports the wide range of academic and technical programs and diverse backgrounds of its clientele. The Library endorses the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights, which is attached as an appendix, and the principles of that document are an integral part of this policy statement.
Patrons with a concern about an item in the collection should submit their concerns in writing to the Library Director. A committee of librarians and faculty members will review the complaint and make a recommendation to retain or withdraw the item in question. The complainant will receive a written response. Procedures for handling complaints include allowing individual(s) to complete a Statement of Concern form requesting that the material be reconsidered.
In order to provide an orderly procedure for the review of questionable materials, the following outline has been developed:
a. concern shall be in writing on the approved form, which must be filled out before consideration can be given. This form shall be submitted to the Library Review Committee.
b. the Library Review Committee shall be composed of the librarian in whose subject or selection area the title falls, the Library Director, and a member of the Library staff. This Committee shall consult with faculty from the affected discipline(s).
c. statements of concern are given serious and objective review. The best interests of the students, the community and the College shall be paramount considerations. The Review Committee shall report its action to the complainant as soon as possible.
d. the Committee may recommend that the questioned materials be:
- retained.
- not retained.
Budget Allocations Including New Programs
Each area of the curriculum has its own materials budget allocation. Allocations are made by the Librarians Council, which consists of all faculty librarians and the Library Director, and are based on curricular relevance, program size and research needs, publishing costs within specific disciplines, balance of collection, and general overall collection needs. Faculty and staff planning new courses and new programs are encouraged to contact the Liaison Librarian for their discipline. The amount of the Library capital budget reserved for book allocations may fluctuate depending on periodicals and continuations costs.
The following guidelines are presented to assist library staff, faculty, and administrators in selecting quality materials for inclusion in the collection. It is recognized that some of the criteria included in the guidelines are more important than others and that the quality of content should be a primary consideration. General factors to be taken into account are:
Limitations and Basic Standards
Specific Criteria for Selection of Materials
Types and Formats of Materials Collected
Reference Materials
Reference materials support the research needs of Lane Community College students, faculty, and staff. The reference collection contains, but is not limited to, encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, directories, indexes, bibliographies, statistical compilations, and handbooks. Though items selected for this collection primarily support the academic programs offered at Lane, core academic reference works published in other subject areas are also selected when they provide fundamental bibliographic access to, or an introductory overview of, an academic discipline. Items in the reference collection normally do not circulate. The reference collection is reviewed by the librarians annually to insure currency and accuracy. Reference materials are collected in print, electronic, and online formats.
Books
Books that should be frequently updated (nursing/medical texts, computer manuals, test preparation materials) are purchased in paper formats when available.
Established literary works and new works receiving critical acclaim in the literary field are considered, especially those works that support literature course offerings. Literary prizewinners are purchased when funds permit.
Serials
Serials/periodicals/journals/newspapers are publications issued in successive parts bearing numeric or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. Serials are issued in print, microform, and electronic formats. All formats will be considered in the libraries' purchase and/or access decisions. Serials are acquired via subscription. Individual issues or reprints will rarely be purchased.
The selection of serials requires a continuing commitment to the cost of the title, including maintenance, viewing and reproduction equipment, and storage space. The escalating cost of serials subscriptions demands that requests for serials subscriptions be carefully reviewed before they are purchased for the collection and that an ongoing evaluation of current subscriptions be conducted.
Since it is often more cost-efficient to purchase electronic access or document delivery services for serials instead of acquisition through print subscription, this delivery method will be chosen when fiscally prudent. Cooperative acquisition (regional and statewide) of electronic serials databases is actively pursued. Electronic serials subscriptions licensing contracts may limit access to currently enrolled students, faculty and staff. The professional library staff reviews local serials collections and accessibility of online titles annually.
The serials collection supports the Lane Community College curriculum as well as providing a core collection of general interest periodicals. Factors to be considered in the acquisition of serials are:
Electronic Books
Electronic books are considered when they provide the most current and/or cost-effective format, or to support distance education courses and programs. Cooperative lease/purchase of electronic books is pursued as a cost-effective method of providing access to book collections. Duplication is considered for electronic books provided by such cooperative lease/purchase. In addition to general selection criteria and online resources/Internet-based materials selection criteria, consideration is given to the availability of an archival copy of electronic texts purchased in perpetuity.
Non-Print (Audiovisual Media)
Non-print media may be relatively expensive. Because of the size of the Library’s materials budget, inclusion of these materials in the Library’s collection should meet the following guidelines in addition to general selection criteria:
The Library will contribute $150 towards the purchase of media titles requested by faculty if all of the above criteria are met, and at least three of the following four criteria are met:
The Library will not purchase a video over $150 if it is available through
Maps
Maps are a very small part of the collection. Additional maps will be purchased as needed to provide direct support for classroom instruction and only at the request of the instructor. Atlases are included in the reference collection.
Subscription Databases
Subscription to commercial online databases will be considered when they provide the most current and/or cost-effective resources. The following online resources will be actively selected:
Internet Resources
Lane Library supports the instructional programs of the College by collecting or providing access to materials in multiple formats. One important resource, the Internet, is readily available to any library user. However, while the Internet is easily accessible, careful selection of Internet resources and availability of these through the Library's Web site and catalog will accomplish several objectives:
Sites in this collection are selected based on the relevancy, quality, and currency of the contents, and the navigability and ease of use of the site's design. Sites included should have an identifiable content authority and be reliably accessible. A search engine or other form of index to the site's contents is desirable.
In addition to general selection criteria, the following criteria will be used for selecting general and subject specific Internet resources
ACCESS
DESIGN
CONTENT
SCOPE
AUTHORITY
Weeding, the removal of materials to be discarded, is an important part of the total collection development process. Building a viable collection of materials to serve the college community is a dynamic process that includes assessment and the removal of materials that are obsolete, damaged beyond repair, or no longer relevant to the curriculum.
Librarians are primarily responsible for weeding the collection. Instructional faculty are strongly encouraged to review their subject areas to identify items which should be withdrawn and bring such materials to the attention of their library liaison.
The following categories of materials will be considered for weeding from the collection.
DESELECTION OF PRINT AND AUDIOVISUAL RESOURCES
DESELECTION OF SERIALS
DESELECTION OF ONLINE RESOURCES
Ongoing deselection of Internet resources is a necessity because of the dynamic nature of such resources. The following guidelines are used:
Decisions are made regarding the replacement of lost, damaged, missing, or worn-out items, are based on the following criteria:
The Library welcomes gifts of materials that are consistent with the collection development policy provided there are no restrictions attached as to their disposition. Because all items added to the collection generate processing and storage costs, materials received as gifts will be evaluated by the same criteria as materials purchased. Gifts are accepted with the understanding that materials may not be added to the collection and may be put on the sale shelves or offered to another library, College department or outreach center, or other non-profit agency.
Liaison librarians are responsible for providing collection profiles for each program or discipline offered by the College. These profiles will include, but are not limited to, the following elements:
SUBJECT, including Library of Congress classification(s)
PURPOSE - The academic programs served, topics included, history of collection growth.
OTHER PROGRAMS SERVED - Interdisciplinary ties to other programs, including what other programs use the collection in this subject, and what other areas of the collection will be used by faculty and students in this area.
COLLECTION GUIDELINES
The Library will not buy books solely to be placed on reserve, nor will it buy copies of textbooks just because they are used in a class. The Library will buy a title and place it on reserve for a specific class if the book is one otherwise suitable to the Lane Library collection.
