Grossmont College
Collection Development Policy
Responsibility for the Selection of Learning Resources
Selection Guidelines for the Collection of Material
Formats of Materials Collected
Intellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries
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Donation Policy |
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Periodical Retention |
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Librarian Liaison list |
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Subject Assignments by Call Number |
Purpose
The
Grossmont College Library Collection Development Policy is the basis for the continual
assessment, growth, and enrichment of the collection; print, audiovisual, and
electronic resources. This policy was created in accordance with the
missions of both
The Library provides the research materials for the information needs of our college community. This policy establishes guidelines for the evaluation and selection of resources that will support and enhance the curriculum and instructional programs, promote scholarship, enhance student-life, and provide for the general information needs of students, faculty, and staff that comprise of the College’s community.
In summary, the maintenance of a comprehensive, relevant, and balanced collection of materials requires implementation of the collection policies which follow that accomplish those goals.
Mission Statement
The library is committed to providing convenient access to a broad range of information resources that support the educational and professional goals of students, faculty, and staff. We support our College mission and initiatives in promoting educational excellence and valuing the diversity of our community.
Responsibility for the Selection of
Learning Resources
The Dean of Learning and Technology Resources has overall responsibility for Library services, including collection development. Although librarians are primarily responsible for the quality of the collection, the selection and withdrawal of materials are collection development activities shared with other members of the college community. Teaching faculty, students, and other staff are encouraged to suggest additions to the collection. To encourage active participation of faculty, administration, students, and community members in the selection process, as well as acquire resources that are both current and relevant to assignments and course offerings, each librarian is assigned liaison and collection development responsibilities with specific subject departments.
Selection Guidelines for the
Collection of Material
General Guidelines
Support of our college’s curriculum
Probable need based on existing programs and collections
Quality of content and scholarly worth or informational
value
Collection balance among subject areas according to the
curriculum
Collection balance among formats of information
Specific Guidelines
Timeliness and lasting value of material
Reputation of the author, producer, or publisher
Presentation: style, clarity, reading level
Creative considerations: literary merit, artistic, or
social value; appeal to the imagination, senses, or intellect
Special features: detailed, logical, accurate index,
bibliography, footnotes, appropriate illustrations
Physical and technical quality: paper, typography,
physical size, binding, durability
Ease of access or user-friendliness
Presentation of alternative viewpoints
Appropriateness of format based on intended use or
suitability of content to form
Relative cost in relation to the budget and other
available materials
Acceptability based on professional selection tools
Demand, frequency of requests for materials on the same
or similar subjects
Program accreditation requirements
General information for college community
Coverage in library owned indexes
Clearly identified sources of information
The purchase of items in only one format – the most
appropriate one
Special
Circumstances
Duplication
One
copy of any individual item in the circulating collection is considered
sufficient unless high demand is anticipated. If duplicates are available
through gift sources, or new and authoritative editions are published, they may
be added to the collection.
Foreign
Language
Items
written in languages other than English will be acquired when they support the
Foreign Language curriculum requirements and English as a Second Language
program.
Gifts and
Donations
The
Grossmont College Library reserves the right to accept or refuse gift
materials. The library will accept gift materials with the understanding
that the subject area specialist reserves the right to catalog, discard,
locate, and display gifts in the best interests of the collection. If
adequate storage space and processing time are not available, gift materials
may be declined. All gifts become the property of
A notification
of a gift purchase will be sent to the donor. All gifts become the
property of
InterLibrary
Loan
The Grossmont
College Library will participate in mutually beneficial resource sharing
agreements in order to expand depth and breadth of resources available to the
faculty and students.
Out-of-Print
Out-of-print
materials are rarely purchased. The library recognizes the need for some
out-of print purchases, primarily for replacement of heavily used items which
are lost or withdrawn due to poor physical condition. However, in view of the
difficulty and expense in obtaining rare, out-of-print, and reprinted material
it is important to purchase current publications of long-term worth.
Replacement:
Lost/Damaged/Missing
When
considering a title for replacement, resources missing from the collection,
declared lost, or those too worn for further circulation, may not be replaced
automatically. The same criteria in effect for the selection of new
resources will be used.
Standing
Orders
(refers to materials not considered periodicals that are received on an ongoing
basis).
Standing orders will be periodically evaluated as to whether the intervals and
titles constitute an efficient use of the collection development budget.
Deselection Guidelines
To insure the best use of library space and the maintenance of a collection that is both current and relevant to the curriculum, librarians, working with their liaison faculty, will engage in an on-going evaluation of materials in all formats. Those materials that are no longer appropriate to the collection will be removed.
Criteria
Materials which are obsolete or which contain inaccurate
data
Materials in formats that require equipment that is
either obsolete, or not available in this library, or at
Superseded editions
Incomplete sets or multi-volume works of which the
individual volumes do not meet selection criteria, or are no longer available
Multiple copies of titles for which there is not adequate
justification
Worn, badly marked, or severely damaged materials
Lack of use
Appropriateness and relevance of the subject matter to
the current collection or curriculum offerings of the college
Expense of continuing subscriptions or continuations
Replacement by comparable product or material
Periodicals Retention List
Refer to appendix 2.
Deselection of Online Resources
To be addressed as needed.
Formats of Materials Collected
Archives
The archives consist of previously collected
materials with historical value as they pertain to
The Library
recognizes that it cannot function as a records management facility for the
College; we lack facilities, funds, and staff. Due to these restrictions
future collecting will focus on
Materials will be stored in the best feasible archival protective conditions that budget allows. Retrieval provided through the on-line catalog will be made available when funds and staff provide.
Atlases
Atlases are collected selectively to support general reference and research needs, particularly for the departments of Geography and Geology. Outdated atlases may be retained if they are of political or historic value or are out of print. Road atlases are collected very selectively.
Audio Books
A small audio book collection is maintained. At present, priority is not given to audio books. When budget and demand permits ordering, primary focus will be on unabridged titles with abridgments considered when unabridged format is either unavailable or it is otherwise appropriate. In addition to the general criteria for selection, the following criteria are taken into account when selecting recorded books: authority and competency of producer; artistic merit and reputation of the reader; technical quality, i.e. sound quality; and value for the price.
Audio Tapes
Audio tapes include music, language and lecture tapes and excludes books on tape. In general, A-V formats including audio tapes are driven by current technology and are only collected upon faculty demand; otherwise, we are not collecting this format.
Children’s books
Selected children’s books that support the Child
Development program and the
Compact Discs (CD)
CD’s are ordered primarily upon faculty request, and by librarians secondarily, as needs arise, using the general collection development criteria guidelines.
Databases
Databases are almost completely consortium-driven (CCL), due to negotiated savings. Databases are added using the following criteria: support of the curriculum, ongoing need as replacement for previous print item (Examples: CQ Researcher, Opposing Viewpoints, print journals), quality of the interface, multi-disciplinary as primary need, accreditation needs and/or faculty recommendations.
Digital Video Disc (DVD)
DVDs are preferred over VHS, whether purchasing new or replacing. DVDs are ordered first upon faculty request, and by librarians secondarily using the general collection development criteria guidelines.
Additions to the DVD collection must be close-captioned. Our existing collection is being converted to close-captioned by legal mandate. Until then, non-close-captioned items will still circulate, as we make a good-faith effort towards conversion.
Since DVDs can be expensive, it is recommended that they first be previewed before committing to buy. Additionally, DVDs can only be purchased for Grossmont if they are NOT already in the SDICCCA consortium, except by faculty request. In general, A-V formats are driven by current technology.
Electronic Books (e-books)
At the time of this writing electronic books have mostly been purchased as collections through the CCL consortium, thereby limiting the choice.
The library collects e-books from authoritative organizations affiliated with cataloging who have generated a bibliographic record for the item. However, we must exercise caution in choosing items that result in multiple vendors and therefore varying compatibilities.
An exception to the requirement for bibliographic record is when our library owns the material in print we may link to a credible website that contains the exact content.
Grossmont is careful to coordinate the collecting of e-books with the Cuyamaca College Library coordinating on vendors and acknowledging the need for different subjects to support our varying curriculums.
As we move into the future, Grossmont Library’s balance of e-books and print books will likely favor e-books because they save shelf space, circulation problems are minimized, there is 24/7 access, keyword capability, and de-selection is not labor intensive. Certain subject areas are more desirable in electronic format: materials that become outdated quickly such as computer and medical sciences. A less desirable subject area would be fiction, where reading online could be difficult and keyword searching is not necessary.
Electronic Periodicals (e-periodicals)
Individual e-periodicals will not be collected until there is a more expedient way to provide access to the content of these journals, both on and off campus. Currently, each journal requires a unique password to get access to that journal rather than allowing for universal authentication from a series of IP addresses. Until this situation is changed, we don’t have the staff or budget to pursue e-periodicals.
Electronic Reference (e-reference)
All things being equal, e-reference is to be chosen over print reference because they save shelf space, there is 24/7 access, keyword capability, and de-selection is a not labor intensive.
At the time of this writing, electronic reference books have mostly been purchased as collections through the CCL consortium, thereby limiting the choice.
Our commitment is to collect electronic reference books from authoritative organizations affiliated with cataloging who have generated a bibliographic record for the item. However, we must exercise caution in choosing items that result in multiple vendors and therefore varying compatibilities.
An exception to the requirement for bibliographic record is when our library owns the material in print we may link to a credible website that contains the exact content.
Electronic Reserves (e-reserves)
Electronic reserve items are exclusively instructor generated. E-reserves will be placed in the collection based on the determination that the item is appropriate under Grossmont Library’s copyright policies or that permission may be obtained at a reasonable cost. E-reserves will be reevaluated each semester for copyright compliance and instructor needs, then deselected accordingly. E-reserves are considered a service to faculty and are not part of the library collection.
General Collection
Clothbound editions are preferred over paperback; however, paperback editions are purchased if that is the only fo