Acquisitions
The library collection is a community resource that must be sufficient to support a very wide variety of academic programs as well as meet the more general informational needs of everyone on campus. It is therefore essential that students, faculty, staff, and librarians all have the opportunity to select titles and influence acquisitions decisions.
The library director will make the final decision on all requests based on the state of the budget, the requirements of the college's curriculum, the strengths and weaknesses of the existing collection, the book's quality, and community interest.
Magazine and journal subscriptions will be added or deleted by the library director in consultation with the staff and with appropriate faculty. Decisions will be based on funding, academic department recommendations, index and full-text electronic status, and student use. Interlibrary loan or other document delivery availability will also be weighed when these decisions are made.
Weeding
Since the library’s core mission is to support undergraduate education, we strive to maintain a collection that will be actively used by the campus community. Damaged, obsolete, low-use, and inappropriate items are identified and weeded with the same care and criteria as new items are acquired.
Damaged, worn-out items are evaluated as to the possibility of local repair or re-binding at a commercial bindery. If neither of the above is deemed possible, the item is cancelled and withdrawn from the collection. Pending availability, items may be replaced if deemed vital to the collection.
Dated or obsolete publications are withdrawn if the information contained in them is misleading or inaccurate. In other situations, when a new edition of a title is added, the library staff may consult with the faculty in that subject area to determine whether older edition(s) should be retained.
Faculty are encouraged to survey their subject areas of the collection from time to time and recommend titles that should be removed. In most cases multiple copies of materials will not be retained.
The library staff may periodically examine whole sections of material to see what should be removed from the collection if the books contain outdated information. Faculty members are consulted concerning their subject areas.
Reference books and bound magazines are weeded by consensus of the Library Director and liaison librarians.
Gifts
Stanley Library accepts gifts of books and other materials, at the discretion of the Head of Technical Services and/or the Library Director, in addition to donations of cash. Gifts-in-kind are sometimes difficult to put to good use, and the library reserves both the right to be selective in accepting gifts and the right to dispose of unused donations as the staff sees fit. Unfortunately, we cannot provide assessment of donated items for tax purposes.
November 12, 2013