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Collection Development

The Library Director, in cooperation with other library staff, is responsible for the selection of books, serials, media, sound recordings and non-print materials acquired by the library. Using allocations of the Library’s budget, faculty recommendations and requests will be considered for addition to the library collection. Selection of items to be acquired is made with the objectives of creating and maintaining a balanced collection in all curricular subject area. In addition, the Library will enhance electronic holdings such as e-books, online databases and electronic journals as the budget allows.

Each department will be assigned a share of the acquisition funds based on the size of the department and prior usage of acquisition funds. Orders for materials must be received by February 1st each year. At that time, any funds not encumbered by a department may be used to order materials for other departments as needed.

Faculty members may submit purchase requests in a variety of ways. Book reviewing notices, book publisher catalogs or flyers may be sent to the Library Director with indication of which titles are to be ordered. A book order form is available on the library web pages. Titles may also be emailed to the Library Director as a purchase recommendation.

Criteria for Selection

  • Support of curricular content, class assignments, collateral reading, individual study, term papers and presentations
  • College level content
  • Coverage of multiple and diverse viewpoints, opinions, theories, etc.
  • Accurate and up-to-date content

Materials Normally Excluded

  • Textbooks
  • Rare books and first editions
  • Extensive collections of materials in limited subject areas
  • Foreign languages
  • Popular/Pulp fiction
  • Expensive materials readily available through interlibrary loan
  • Multiple copies

No material will be excluded on the basis of religious, political or sexual content, as long as the content is deemed to be of academic value.

Periodicals Selection

Periodicals, in any format, are an important academic resource. They provide current information, new theories, discoveries, trends and viewpoints in advance of publication in book form and are essential for professional growth. Authoritative, up-to-date material, which is comprehensible to college students and adult learners, will be selected in the fields relating to the college curriculum.

Print Periodicals

Storage space is limited; therefore print periodicals may be stored for a limited time only. The time period will be determined by the library staff, in consultation with the teaching faculty, according to the nature of the material and expected and actual usage.

Microfiche

Although microfiche and microfilm are not generally collected, a microform reader/printer is provided to enable users to access this form of titles in the collection.

Electronic

An increasing number of periodicals are being published in electronic format. Selection of electronic journals is influenced heavily by budget restrictions. Subscriptions to electronic resources must be maintained in order to have continued access, unlike subscriptions to print periodicals, which can be cancelled without losing access to the issues acquired during the subscription period. If an electronic subscription is cancelled, access to the past issues may be lost.

Any title that the library subscribes to in print will be acquired in electronic format also, if available and affordable. Access to these electronic periodicals will be provided through the library web pages to the college community only.

Periodicals in all formats will be selected by the library staff in conjunction with the teaching faculty. The following criteria will be considered:

  • Relevance to the curriculum
  • Sponsoring agency - authority, objectivity, etc.
  • Access through periodical indexes
  • Cost
  • Uniqueness of content and coverage
  • Reading level
  • Usage statistics (circulation)
  • Availability in other formats
  • For electronic periodicals - the usability of the interface

Cumulations

Some "cumulative" and "annual review" issues with an expected long term usage may be acquired as bound volumes and cataloged as monographs.

Church of God Archives and Memorial Library

Due to the nature and mission of this institution, two special collections will be maintained and made available to patrons. The Church of God collection will consist of materials published by Warner Press/Gospel Trumpet Publishing, written by leaders in the Church of God Movement and written about the Church of God. This collection is non-circulating. The Memorial Library collection consists of previously donated books by early college leaders. These materials may circulate.

Gifts

Gifts and donations may be accepted by the Library with the understanding that no restrictions are placed on the disposition of the materials. They may be added to the collection, sold in a used book sale or discarded, as deemed appropriate by the librarians. The monetary value of the gifts will rest solely on the donor. The library staff does not appraise such gifts. A letter of appreciation will be sent donors at their request.

Gifts may be added to our collection or disposed of based on the following criteria:

  • Physical condition of the material
  • Relevance of the contents
  • Failure to be of sufficient use to the library patrons
  • Copies already exist in the collection
  • Awareness of the amount of time and money required to process gift collections
  • Available space is an important consideration, especially for collections donated that are to be kept in their entirety.

Media

Media items such as videos and DVDs are selected with the same criteria as books.  The cost, uniqueness and potential usage of the material are considered. Purchase of obsolete media formats is discouraged.

All media items are cataloged and housed in the library. Computer software will be installed and maintained on the network servers or as deemed appropriate, but not necessarily cataloged.

Collection Review and Discarding of Materials

In order to keep the library collection viable, out dated and superseded materials should be removed. The librarians, in conjunction with appropriate teaching faculty, will review the collection to identify materials to be removed, replaced, or repaired. Gaps in subject coverage of the collection will be identified during review and appropriate purchase recommendations to fill those gaps will be solicited from teaching faculty.

Materials to be Withdrawn

  • Outdated or inaccurate information
  • Superseded editions
  • Worn or badly marked items
  • Duplicate copies of seldom used titles
  • Materials deemed to be of little academic value

Collection review will be tailored to the nature of the subject area. For example, history and literature sections will require fewer deletions than the science or business sections, in order to remain current and balanced.

Revisions to the policies may be made at any time with the agreement of the Library staff.