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Collection Development Policy

Brown Library at Sterling College

Library Mission Statement

The Sterling College Libraries support the educational goals of the college by providing information resources and services to the college community.

Goal: Develop and maintain an up-to-date collection of print, non-print, and electronic resources that supports and enriches the curricula, programs, and activities of the college.

Responsibility for Selection of Materials

Materials for the Sterling College Libraries are selected by the librarian with the assistance and recommendation of faculty. It is a cooperative effort, which also takes into consideration recommendations from students, staff, and other members of the Sterling College community.

To facilitate the selection process, the librarian reads and circulates reviews, catalogs, and other sources.

The librarian is responsible for coordinating the collection and making final decisions on specific acquisitions.

Criteria for Selection of Materials

Relevance to curriculum, educational programs, and priorities of the College
Appropriateness to user (level, format, ease of access)
Authoritativeness, accuracy of contents, and quality of writing
Diversity in the collection (balanced presentations)
Currency of information where applicable
Availability of materials on the subject area already in the collection
Availability of materials from other libraries (in the case of expensive or specialized materials)
Permanent or timely value
Price

Textbooks: Like most other academic libraries, the purchase of textbooks by the Sterling College Libraries is strongly discouraged. Some reasons include: the nature of textbooks being basically a simplification and summarization of a discipline, high cost, frequent revision, and poor bindings. They are generally poor investments for a library’s permanent collection. Certain types of college-level textbooks might deserve special discussion and consideration.

Fiction / Recreational Materials: Collected moderately.

Periodicals: Each fall the subscription renewal list is reviewed for additions and deletions. Criteria considered are importance of the title to college curricula, number of journals currently available in that subject area, access through standard indexes, availability of the title in full-text through one of our electronic databases, and price. A news magazine and newspapers are also provided for current events.

Non-print Materials: Acquired as needed to enrich and support the curricular needs of the college. Subject to general criteria of selection listed above. Preference is for DVD over VHS format and CD over cassette format.

Gifts/Donations

Gifts of books and other materials to the libraries are welcome
Acceptance is subject to criteria for selection of materials
Decision is made by the librarian, who will also determine classification, shelving, and circulation of gift items
Donations not added to the collection will be subject to “disposal” through sales, giving away, or recycling
Letter of acknowledgement may be sent to the donor, however the librarian will not provide appraisals, evaluations, or lists of donated items

Maintenance of Collection

Multiple Copies: Duplicate copies of materials will be held to a minimum.

Replacement of Lost or Damaged Material: Items found to be missing after inventory will be replaced at the discretion of the librarian, applying the selection criteria stated above.

Weeding: In an ongoing process, as time permits, materials will be withdrawn from the collection for one or more of the following reasons

- No longer meet curricular needs

- Superseded editions

- Outdated information

- Multiple copies of titles no longer in demand

- Damaged or worn copies

Some of the withdrawn items may be replaced by newer editions.

When appropriate, faculty will be consulted for input when weeding certain subject areas.

Adopted by the Library Committee: 2/8/2005