Library Policies: Collection Development - Wheeling Jesuit University

Library Policies: Collection Development

The WJU Library collection’s primary goal is to support the curriculum of the faculty and students in all disciplines. The library reports annual collection statistics each year for the WJU Fact Book. The library currently uses the Library of Congress classification scheme. The library has experienced some ups and downs with its growth and de-selection policy over the past few years. Effective with the 06/07 year, the library has begun reviewing certain areas of the collection and working with faculty in areas of collection development and de-selection. This policy is to help define where the library currently is and our future goals.

Selection guidelines:

Budget – The Library is allocated a materials budget each year by the University to purchase books, serials, multimedia, and electronic resources. The Library Director administers the library budget allocations and makes recommendations to the Dean of Academic Affairs regarding the amount of monies required on an annual basis. The Director of the Library has the authority to approve amounts of less than $999. Any amount exceeding $1,000 must be approved by the Academic Dean. In addition, any amount exceeding $2,500 must be approved by the University Controller. The Library usually does not have amounts exceeding $25,000 or $50,000 which would require approval by Division Vice Presidents and/or Vice President of Business & Finance accordingly. The Library processes purchasing using the University’s Purchase Requisition procedures otherwise know as B1’s.

Consortial Role – The Library maintains advantageous relationships with several consortia.

ACA (Appalachian College Association) – The University, as a whole, is a member of the ACA. This organization has afforded the library an opportunity to have access to many resources that normally would not be available based upon our current budget. Example: JSTOR, Artstor, and netLibrary.
Ohionet – Hodges Library is a member of the OCLC Regional Network known as Ohionet. The Library utilizes this membership for cataloging, interlibrary loan, electronic resource purchasing, workshops/training, and library supplies.
West Virginia Library Commission – Though not an official consortia group, the WVLC does through state funding provide the Library with access to several key databases that the library could not afford based upon our current budget.

Method – Hodges Library, effective with this policy, will rely on three sources of recommendations for purchases of collection items: Faculty, Librarians/Library Staff, and Students.

Faculty – are encouraged to make recommendations in their respective discipline and other areas of academic interest that would support the curriculum. Items are purchased if funds are available and if the amount of the department’s request is not disproportionately unfair to the other departments.
Librarians/Library Staff – Library personnel are encouraged to submit requests for purchase if they see a particular need. For example, if an item that is being requested via ILL on a regular basis, our community would most likely be better served if that item were purchased. In addition, it is understood that not all Faculty have the time available to devote to making purchase requests. As a result, librarians will use the recommended tools below to help maintain a well rounded collection in all academic disciplines.
Students – Students may also make purchase recommendations. Students are encouraged to make purchase recommendations based upon items that would assist with their academic success at WJU.
Recommended Tools – The librarians will utilize several tools in the selection process.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries - reviews significant current books and electronic resources of interest to those in higher education.
In addition, librarians will also utilize reviews from subject specific scholarly journals, Library Journal, Catholic Library World, New York Times Book Review, and Publishers Weekly.
Standard Lists such as: Award Lists: Caldecott and Newbery Medal Winners for Juvenile Literature Selections.
For Health Sciences Items, librarians will utilize two sources:

The Library Health Center which maintains updated lists of what was formerly known as the Brandon Hill Lists.

Doody’s Core titles

Format – Today, the library must maintain a collection that is diverse in formats. The library currently has items that are print, microform, multimedia, and electronic.

Print – the library currently maintains two types of items in print: books and serials.
- Guidelines for Print Books:
- Guidelines for Print Serials (specifically Journals and Newspapers):
Microforms – The library utilizes two types of microforms: microfiche and microfilm. Microforms are purchased selectively, usually to replace print serials which can not be retained due to storage issues.
Multimedia – The multimedia collection currently includes VHS, DVD, music CD, spoken word CD, audiocassettes and software with the possibility of other formats being added in the future.

Guidelines for Multimedia

The library specifically excludes formats considered obsolete such as records and 8-track tapes for which most students do not have access to playback equipment. DVD and CD are the preferred formats for new purchases.
VHS should be *NTSC standard only. DVD’s should be encoded for **North America (Region 1) only.
Materials are added to the collection regardless of their MPAA rating or content advisory warnings.
For software and other multimedia items, it is up to the individual requesting the title to review the licensing guidelines to make sure that the item can be used in the manner intended.

Electronic Resources – The library provides numerous electronic resources commonly referred to as ebooks and databases.

General Guidelines for Electronic Resources

Preferences

IP Authentication
Remote Access Included (Library is part of the ACA Proxy Server which allows all faculty and students access to Electronic Resources remotely.)
Purchase via consortial agreement with ACA, Ohionet, or Solinet to take advantage of discount pricing.
Ability to capture and report usage statistics. Preferably following ICOLC guidelines.

Licensing – The library is often required to sign license agreements for electronic products. The library will utilize LIBLICENSE to examine and review licenses for appropriateness of language in the license.
Cost is to be taken into consideration in proportion to the number of students in the subject specific disciplines.

Guidelines for ebooks

Purchased via the ACA as part of the Bowen Central Library’s Core Collection. The library expends no monies on these ebooks, Cost is borne by the ACA’s grant funding.
The library will consider purchasing ebooks that are considered “professional disciplines” (example: Health Sciences) to help support the needs of our distance learners.
Subscriptions to ebook collections will be reviewed on an annual basis and may be discontinued on the basis of budget constraints and/or usage statistics.
When possible, ebooks are cataloged within the library’s current Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) and are accessible remotely using the access link in the library’s OPAC. In addition, some of collections of ebooks such as: netLibrary and Greenwood are listed on the library’s Electronic Resources web page as an additional access point.
Ebook purchasing models include: one time purchase with perpetual access (ex: netLibrary), one time purchase with maintenance fee, and/or subscription basis.

Guidelines for Databases – This category includes Electronic Indexes, Abstracts, Full Text, and Reference Resources.

Selection Criteria

Support academic curriculum
Review and positive recommendation by a subject specific faculty member.
Annual review of usage statistics. Resources with low usage may be considered/recommended for cancellation. Discipline/subject specific faculty departments are to be notified of possible/impending cancellation.

Language – The library currently focuses on the collection of items in the English language. Items in other languages are sought only to support the foreign language curriculum. The collection does contain older items in various languages including: Latin, Italian, and German.

Gifts – The library accepts gifts of all formats with the understanding that the library may dispose of any items that are not added to the collection. Items not added to the collection will be sold and funds will be used to purchase other items. The library does not provide an appraisal of donated items. IRS regulations prohibit the library from providing an appraisal as the library is designated as an “interested party”. The library, at the request of the donor, will provide a letter listing and indicating receipt of donated items. Gifts of monetary donations can be made through the University’s Advancement Department and designated for the “Library”. All gift items are to be reviewed by the Library Director, to determine appropriateness. The Library Director may designate other staff to review items as needed.

Special Collections

Leisure Reading – The library, at the request of students, began a leisure reading collection. The library will primarily use the New York Times and Publisher’s Weekly – paperback fiction and non-fiction best seller lists to select items. But, the library will also solicit suggestions from students.
Wheeling/Appalachian/WV Resources – The library collects items related to all aspects of Wheeling, WV history, Appalachian history, and West Virginia history. As appropriate, these items will be placed in either the library’s general collection or the Rare Book Room.
Rare – the library retains a small collection of items that are considered rare. These items are housed in the Eileen Carpino Rare Book Room. The Director of the Library will determine whether an item is considered rare and should be housed in the EC RBR Collection.
Archival – the library maintains a collection of items related to the University that are considered archival such as Yearbooks, Newspaper Clippings, Programs, Jewelweed, etc. These items are located in either the library’s workroom or the EC RBR Collection. The Director of the Library determines whether an item is considered Archival and should be retained.

Collection Maintenance/Evaluation

Lost Items/Replacement – Records for items that are not returned or lost will be reviewed by the Library Director to determine if the item should be replaced. Replacement will be obtained by the most reasonable costing mechanism. Replacement cost is determined based upon the following:>

$10.00 Processing Fee for WJU students/employees or $25.00 for ILL

PLUS

Replacement cost of the item. Head of Circulation will research replacement cost of the item on Amazon.com and/or Alibris (out of print). Item should be replaced as close as possible to item that was lost. If lost item was a hardcover book it should be replaced with hardcover and so forth. If price cannot be obtained from Amazon or Alibris, Bowker price will be substituted.

Deselection (Weeding)

General Collection – library resources need to be continuously reviewed to determine their relevance to the current curriculum. Due to growth of collections, deselection of items is necessary.

Criteria:

worn or damaged items (broken spines, defaced or faded pages or covers, missing, torn or brittle pages, etc. Items that receive extensive use but are no longer useable should be considered for replacement. Items are to be reviewed for rarity and consideration given to removing from the circulating collection and movement to EC RBR.
Items with no circulation as determined by the library’s OPAC system.
duplicate copies of low-circulating items
items containing outdated or inaccurate information
items that no longer support the university’s curriculum
superseded editions of items which are not classics or support historical research
periodicals that are available in duplicated formats including microforms or electronic format
periodicals that are not indexed

Procedure:

The library director in consultation with other library staff will select items that should be considered for deselection. Items will be categorized based upon their discipline and an electronic spreadsheet will be prepared with the title, author, and copyright date. The Library Director will email the spreadsheet to the faculty department chair and copy all members of the department. This will enable the faculty to have the opportunity to review the items. Faculty will normally have thirty (30) days to respond. Faculty may review any physical items slated for deslection in the library. If a faculty member feels strongly that an item should remain, the library will make every effort to retain said items. It is important to have faculty involvement in the deselection of items as they know what is needed to support their curriculum better than the librarians. Once a final decision has been made the library will decide either to sell the item to a reseller or donate to a charitable organization. Faculty members can request discarded items be forwarded to their departments. The library will no longer sell items directly to the public.

Preservation

Items purchased for the library’s collection represent a significant investment by the university. Thus, the library strives to preserve items for use by future generations of WJU students/employees.

Methods:

Periodicals that will be retained in print format are collected, processed, and sent to the Heckman bindery in the summer session of each academic year.
Books that are in need of repair may be sent for rebinding if the paper is not brittle and the content will not be damaged.
Items that will not withstand frequent handling will be reviewed. If considered rare they will be placed in the EC RBR and no longer available for circulation.
The library strives to buy books that are printed on archival quality, acid free paper.
The library, with the University’s support, strives to maintain an environment that has stable temperature and humidity.
The library strives to protect the collection by using security devices to prevent theft.

*NTSC : Short for National Television System Committee. The NTSC is responsible for setting television and video standards in the United States (in Europe and the rest of the world, the dominant television standards are PAL and SECAM).

**DVDs are coded by regions. Region 1 discs are intended for use with standard DVD players in North America. For instance, DVDs sold by Amazon.co.uk are encoded for Region 2 or Region 0 and will not play here.