THE COLLECTION POLICY OF BALDWIN LIBRARY
I. INTRODUCTION
The Collection Development Policy of Baldwin Library has been developed by the Library Committee with the assistance of the library director and is designed to guide the systematic development and management of the print, audiovisual and electronic collections. It is designed to achieve the following goals:
1. To provide for planned development and management of the library collection through the consistent application of policies regarding the acquisition of all library materials.
2. To communicate the library’s acquisition policies to all members of the college community.
II. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this policy are as follows:
●To assist librarians in providing current, diverse and balanced collections of materials to support the instructional, institutional and individual needs of students, faculty and staff. A secondary objective is to provide the community of Tifton and area with an additional source of high quality library services to encourage a culture of lifelong inquiry and learning
The caveat to the above statement is: For those members of the college community who have scholarly and research needs beyond the focus of the Baldwin Library collection, the librarians will help identify, locate and borrow the required materials through a combination of co-operative agreement lending and Interlibrary Loan
●To provide access to materials in appropriate formats including print, audiovisual media and paid access to on-line databases, consistent with the college’s fiscal resources
●To encourage participation in collection development by all members of the college community
●To serve the various branch campus students and faculty by providing local and remote access to library instruction and resources in the most appropriate and cost-effective manner possible
III. SELECTION RESPONSIBILTY
Ideally, materials selection is a joint activity of the library staff, the faculty and the other constituencies the library serves. Faculty members are encouraged to submit requests for purchase whenever they encounter an item that would be an appropriate addition. Reviews from standard selection sources such as CHOICE, Library Journal and The Chronicle of Higher Education are routinely circulated to faculty and other interested members of the community in order to facilitate the selection process. Faculty and staff planning new courses and new programs are STRONGLY encouraged to contact the library, submit sample syllabi and course descriptions in advance of the course being offered, in order to allow the library time to identify and acquire core resources.
The library director has the ultimate responsibility for maintaining balance in the collection and providing for an equitable distribution of funds to all academic areas. The director will review all requests for purchase and any that do not meet collection development criteria are returned with a written explanation for denial. Requests that cannot be filled in one fiscal year because of financial restraints will be held for possible purchase the next year unless the requestor withdraws the suggestion.
IV. FUND ALLOCATION
The library materials budget is allocated annually by the college administration. Line items include books, serials, microforms, audiovisual materials, reference databases, binding, SOLINET/OCLC and GALILEO costs. Specific divisional allocations are not assigned.
V. GENERAL SELECTION GUIDELINES
General guidelines to be taken into account, recognizing that the quality of content is the most important criteria to be considered:
1. Relevance to the present and proposed future instructional needs of the
faculty
2. Estimated probable need based on existing programs, collections and
history of use
3. Intellectual content and scholarly worth
4. Degree to which resources directly support subject areas and
vocational emphases currently represented by credit courses
offered at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.
Limitations and Basic Standards
◘ Items may be purchased in either hardback or paperback editions. Mass market editions will be avoided because of their lack of durability.
◘ The library will collect current and retrospective materials in order to establish an adequate core collection to support all areas of the curriculum.
◘ The library will not develop any in-depth collections not directly related to the curriculum, but will develop a collection that includes a wide variety of general information resources that may not be covered in classroom instruction, but is supportive of a general learning environment.
◘ Personal research interests will be supported only to the extent that they are reflected in the curriculum and do not undermine the balance of the collection.
◘ With the exception of foreign language dictionaries and materials needed to support foreign language courses, all materials are acquired in English.
◘ In the case of low demand, high cost items, the feasibility of requesting the item through such programs as GIL Express is seriously considered.
◘ Current, in-print publications will generally be given priority over out-of-print publications. Out-of-print titles are acquired if they can be obtained at a reasonable price and are needed to fill significant gaps in the collection. When possible, reprint, rather than original editions are acquired to reduce cost.
◘ Popular fiction having short-term interest among readers is not purchased, but acquired through the Baker and Taylor Lease Agreement.
◘ Specific career materials are not collected and may be obtained through the Office of Student Development.
◘ Bound scores are purchased upon request and availability. They are cataloged and integrated into the general collection. Sheet music is not acquired by the library.
◘ Dissertations and theses are not purchased. Relevant ones received as gifts are cataloged and shelved in the general collection.
◘ Textbooks are not collected unless specifically recommended by faculty as exceptional resources, a classic in a particular field or for a particular user group.
◘ Multiple copies of an item are acquired only if heavy, continued use is anticipated.
◘ The library will attempt to balance media in different formats to, as much as possible, avoid duplication. However, duplication of resources will be considered when
○ The resource has significant historic value
○ One format is unstable
○A significant cost benefit for purchasing multiple
formats exists
○Multiple formats meet the different needs of different
user groups
○Usage justifies additional copies
The following criteria are considered in selecting materials for the library collection
●Relevance to the curriculum and to other materials in the
collection
●Timeliness and lasting value of the material
●Inclusion in recognized bibliographies and indexes
●Reputation of the author, issuing body, and/or publisher
●Presentation; style, clarity, reading level
●Availability of materials on the subject
●Aesthetic considerations: literary, artistic, or social value; appeal
to the imagination, senses or intellect
●Suitability of content to form
●Ease of access or user-friendliness
●Demand, frequency of interlibrary loan requests placed on the
same or similar subject
●Physical and technical quality; paper, typography and design;
physical size; binding quality and durability. Material in spiral
binding or in three ring binders is avoided, if possible.
●Special features such as detailed and logical indexes,
bibliographies, footnotes and appropriate illustrations
●Cost of material relative to the budget and other available
materials
●Availability in alternate physical or online formats
●Likelihood of GALILEO providing a consortial purchase
opportunity in the near future
VI. SPECIFIC COLLECTION POLICIES
A. Archives
The library collects and preserves as many materials related
to the history and development of Abraham Baldwin College as space
and personnel permit. Appropriate materials in any format and artifacts
are accepted according to guidelines set forth in the library’s gift policy.
Limited retention records which are governed by the college’s records
management programs are not accepted for the archival collection.
B. Dorothy King Children’s Classics Collection
The Dorothy King Children’s Classics Collection is
maintained by the George H. King family and other donors. The library
will purchase the winners of the Newbery and Caldecott prize,
replacements for lost or dilapidated items. The library will also purchase
other noteworthy children’s books such as the Coretta Scott King and
Georgia Book award winners as funds permit.
C. General Collection
Only books are included in the library’s general circulating
collection. Books that should be frequently updated are purchased in
paper binding whenever possible. Acquisitions are based on the general
selection criteria.
D. Reference Collection
Reference materials support the research needs of the
college community in a quick and efficient manner and are most
effectively used in the library. The materials in this collection include, but
are not limited to, encyclopedias, yearbooks, almanacs, annual reports,
dictionaries, handbooks and indexes. Although items selected for this
area primarily support the programs offered at Abraham Baldwin, core
reference works may be chosen when they provide fundamental
bibliographic access or an introductory overview of a particular discipline.
Duplication of information contained in reference sources is kept to a
minimum and retention and shelving location of superseded editions is
determined on a title-by-title basis. Reference materials are collected in
print, electronic and on-line formats.
E. Reserve Collection
Materials included in the reserve collection are in high
demand by groups of users, usually for a limited time. These items may
be part of the library collection or may be owned by the person who requests the item be put on reserve. Books, issues of periodicals and ephemeral items are placed in the reserve collection at the request of a faculty or staff member. Baldwin Library will seek to be in compliance with United States copyright law at all times and will refuse any requests that would be in violation of the legislation. The library does not buy an item solely to be put on reserve. In the interest of fair access, library staff may decide to put items on reserve if they notice a large demand for a limited number of resources in a particular area even if no instructor has requested the material be temporarily added to the Reserve Collection.
G. Special Collections
1. General policy
Special collections of materials are housed in a secured area
and are available for use only under the supervision of a library
staff member. Library funds are not used to establish or to
purchase additional materials for Special Collections. Acceptance
of such collections must be approved by the Vice President and
Dean of Academic Affairs, the Library Director and the Library
Committee. In addition to the general guidelines regarding gifts,
donations of special collections must satisfy the following criteria:
a. Compatibility with institutional mission and curriculum
b. Research value suitable for restricted use rather than
general circulation
c. Uniqueness not duplicated in collections of other
libraries in the region
2. Lillian Britt Heinsohn Georgiana Collection
Materials are added to the Lillian Britt Heinsohn Georgiana
Collection only if they are considered rare or upon request of the
donor’s family. Standard Georgiana materials are placed in the
reference or general collections.
VII. SPECIFIC/SPECIAL FORMAT POLICIES
A. Audiovisual Materials
Division chairpersons will submit audiovisual requests to the library
director. In addition to the general guidelines for materials
acquisitions, the following criteria should be considered
●Item has demonstrated applicability in more than one course or
discipline
●Treatment and presentation of subject content are on an
Appropriate academic level
●Technical quality of the production is high
●Format is cost effective, durable and accessible and likely to
continue this way for a reasonable length of time (3-5 years
minimum)
Audiovisual acquisitions are housed in the Reserve Collection and
made available to all library users.
B. Maps
A separate collection of purchased maps is not maintained.
Maps received with National Geographic and other publications
are held in the vertical file. Atlases are purchased and kept in the
Reference Collection.
C. Newspapers
Newspapers are acquired to meet instructional, informational
and leisure reading needs. Selected titles provide national, state
and local news coverage. Requests for foreign newspapers are
considered based on curricular needs, international student
demands, availability of content on-line and cost.
Newspapers are retained for the current and the previous
month. The library maintains a backfile of The New York Times on
microfilm and has purchased perpetual rights to ProQuest’s
Historical New York Times database. Requests for articles from
back issues of other newspapers are satisfied through the Lexis-
Nexis database or interlibrary loan.
D. Serials
Serials/journals/magazines/newspapers/periodicals are
publications issued in successive parts. They have some sort of
numeric or chronological designations and the intention of the
publisher is that they will continue indefinitely. The serials
collection at Baldwin Library is designed to provide curricular
support and supply the general informational and leisure reading
needs of the college community.
Because a serial subscription represents a continuing fiscal
commitment (the subscription must be renewed, the issues
maintained and stored), the addition of a journal title should be
scrutinized more closely than requests for single items. Ongoing
evaluation of the serials collection should be conducted to
ascertain the need for continuation of the titles to which the library
presently subscribes.
Requests for new periodical subscriptions are submitted to
the library director. Each request will be reviewed in relation to the
disciplines’ current periodical holdings as well as:
○ whether the requested title appears full-text in an existing
on-line database
○indexing and abstracting are in sources accessible to
library patrons
○the predicted usage by a continuingly significant number of
patrons.
○interlibrary loan demand
○all costs, including increasing subscription, storage,
microfilm/binding
Possible deletions of titles should always be considered
when making requests for additions to the print subscriptions holdings in order to stabilize periodical expenditures.
Since it is often more cost-effective to purchase electronic
access for serials instead of acquisition through print subscription,
this delivery method will be chosen whenever fiscally prudent.
Cooperative acquisition of database access through GALILEO is
actively followed and the library will participate in this program to
the fullest extent possible.
Decisions regarding disposition of periodical backfiles are made on a title-by-title basis. Paper issues are replaced with microfilm unless they meet one of the following criteria in which case they are bound.
1. Title not available on microfilm
2. Quality of illustrative material is not reproducible on
microfilm
3. Articles are lengthy and of a scholarly nature
E. Subscription databases
Subscription to commercial online databases in addition to what is provided to Baldwin Library through the GALILEO program will be considered when the provide the most current and/or cost effective resources. Licensed commercial, fee-based resources and databases will be actively considered for acquisition when they provide cost-effective means of providing resources for the library. These resources may include electronic books; citation, abstracting and full-text databases covering journals, magazines, newspapers or reference materials; and databases providing information portals for specific subject areas.
In addition to general selection criteria, the following criteria will be
used
●the product has a broad appeal to a large number of library users
●the product adds a significant amount of unique, high quality
information to the collection (taking both print and online collections available to the library from every source into consideration)
●the product compares favorably with similar products
●unlimited or multiple user access is preferred
●interface is user-friendly to library users
●appropriate online help is available
●good technical support is available
●usage statistics are available
●vendor allows a trial of the product before purchase
●library is not required to subscribe to both print and electronic
versions of the product unless desired
●license agreement allows normal rights and privileges accorded
libraries under copyright law
●license agreement gives the library indemnification against third
party copyright infringement litigation
●GALILEO is not presently pursuing a consortial acquisition of the
product
VIII. GIFTS
Baldwin Library encourages gifts of materials or funds given through the ABAC Foundation. The collection development guidelines which govern the purchase of materials also apply to the acceptance of gifts.
The library director is responsible for the acceptance and disposition of gifts. When necessary, the Vice President, Dean of Academic Affairs and the Library Committee are consulted before a final decision is made regarding acceptance.
If a gift of materials is accepted, the following regulations apply:
1. The library is not bound by any restrictions regarding any use of gift
2. The library retains the right to dispose of gifts at any time and in any
manner deemed appropriate.
3. The library integrates gifts into the collection to best serve the needs of
users. Generally, collections of materials are not retained intact or housed
separately in any way.
Funds donated to the ABAC Foundation which are earmarked for the library are used for the purchase of materials in any format or for the purchase of equipment. In the case of any restrictions, acceptance will be at the discretion of the Library Director in consultation with the Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs and the Library Committee when necessary.
In accordance with the Association of College and Research Libraries’ “Statement on Appraisal of Gifts (approved 1973),” the appraisal of a gift to Baldwin Library for tax purposes is the responsibility of the donor. The library assumes no responsibility for the use donors make of gift acknowledgement letters.
IX. COLLECTION EVALUATION
The growth and development of a quality library collection is dependent upon systematic evaluation. Weeding, the removal of materials to be discarded, is an important part of the total collection development process. The removal of items that are obsolete, damaged beyond repair or no longer relevant to the curriculum is an integral part of developing an effective, useable and strong collection.
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 to bring such materials to the attention of the librarians.
The following categories of materials will be considered for weeding from the collection.
●Outdated materials
●Superseded editions
●Excessively worn or damaged materials. Items in poor condition, but still
valuable in terms of intellectual content will be considered for repair,
commercial binding or replacement
●Multiple copies of monographs which are no longer needed to support
the curriculum
DESELECTION OF PRINT AND AUDIOVISUAL RESOURCES
●Superseded editions are routinely deselected from the collection
●Materials that cannot be repaired or rebound or for which the cost of
preservation exceeds the usefulness of the information contained are
deselected
●Because currency of information is extremely important in some fields,
older material must be regularly deselected so that outdated or inaccurate
information is eliminated.
●Materials that do not support the current curriculum may be deselected.
●Materials that have not been used (based on circulation and browsing
statistics) may be deselected after five to ten years of inactivity.
However, some library materials are of such long lasting value as to be
considered classics in their fields. They should be kept in the collection
despite the lack of use.
●The title may be retained if it is included in a standard list or bibliography
(Books for College Libraries), or if the author has a reputation for being an
authority on the topic
● The title may be retained if it is determined that there are no other
sources for the title in the Georgia University System Libraries as part of
our responsibilities to the system as a whole
DESELECTION OF SERIALS
●Incomplete and short runs of a title may be withdrawn, particularly if the
title is no longer being received.
●Titles that do not contain substantial amounts of information supporting the current curriculum
●Items where information currency is of the essence, such as newsletters and trade magazines. These have predetermined holding limits such as “Library keeps current year only.”
●Annuals, biennials and regularly updated editions of guidebooks, handbooks, almanacs and directories. Often one or two older editions are retained in the Reference or general circulating collection.
DESELECTION OF ONLINE RESOURSES
Ongoing evaluation of online resources is necessary because of the constantly changing nature of the various products and delivery systems. The following guidelines will be used:
●Large increases in price may result in dropping a subscription
●Major changes in content, amount of full-text material available or other
major component of the product that made it desirable when it was first
acquired may be reason enough to drop a subscription
●Consortial acquisition of the product or one with similar content by
GALILEO
X. COLLECTION MAINTENACE
A. Preservation
The library strives to preserve the physical condition of
materials by carefully monitoring temperature, humidity and dust control.
Staff members are trained in proper handling of materials and disaster
preparedness.
B. Replacement of Materials
Missing books are not automatically replaced. The following
criteria are used when determining to replace an item:
● Does the item meet the current library collection policy?
● Does past usage justify the expenditure?
● Is the item part of a course’s requirements (required or suggested
reading list, reserve item, video is shown once a year for a
class, etc.)
● Is the information contained in the item available in a more
convenient, more accessible, more durable or less
expensive format?
C. Binding
Binding an item may be done if frequency of use and
difficulties in obtaining the content in some other way or format warrants.
Modern library practice is to use binding much less frequently than in the
past. This is especially true in institutions such as Abraham Baldwin
Agricultural College which is not a flagship research institution and is a
member in good standing of a state-wide library consortium that allows
the quick and efficient borrowing of hard to find, low demand and/or
difficult to maintain materials.
XI. COOPERATION AND RESOURCE SHARING
Baldwin Library is an active member of GALILEO, the GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning Online, an initiative of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. As such, students at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College have access to many high quality resources that would have been fiscally impossible to provide for them if the library had been forced to rely solely on its own budget. In addition, ABAC participates in the GIL Express program, which allows students to request materials they find in other University System of Georgia Libraries and have them delivered directly to Baldwin Library. Requests for materials not available through GIL Express or the GALILEO programs are met through the traditional OCLC Interlibrary Loan program.
XII. INTELLECTIUAL FREEDOM
Baldwin Library endorses the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights and its statements concerning challenged materials and labeling.
XIII. COPYRIGHT
Baldwin Library abides by all regulations of relevant sections of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976.
XIV. POLICY REVISION
Realizing that Baldwin Library must respond to changing institutional needs and rapidly advancing technologies, this collection development policy is subject to review at all times. It will be carefully reviewed and revised every five years.
Adopted June 2005