Collection Development Policy

I. PURPOSE OF THE COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY

The main purpose of the Collection Development Policy is to establish operating guidelines for the planned development of a quality collection of materials to meet the educational needs of students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point as guided by the missions of the University System, the University, and the University Library. 

From the mission statement of the University Library: The mission of the University Library is to provide users with information and access to information in support of scholarly activity and research, student learning, teaching excellence, and curricular development.

The University Library is a vital instruction and information resource for the University. Primary users are the undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff. Its collection should serve instructional, curricular and research needs of all its primary users, including those with disabilities. At the same time, the exploding production of books, periodicals, audiovisual media and electronic resources, rising costs and a limited budget demand a prudent selection policy which acknowledges the need to rely on cooperative resource sharing.

The policy provides general guidelines for allocating funds fairly and formulating objective selection criteria. The goals are to ensure consistency among those who have responsibility for developing the collection and to provide a tool for evaluating and improving collections for all relevant subject disciplines.

The library collection includes all formats, i.e., books, periodicals, microforms, audio-visual materials, electronic resources, etc. The University Library upholds and promotes the following statements from the American Library Association:

II. COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT RESPONSIBILITY

The general responsibility for Collection Development belongs to the Collection Development Coordinator under the supervision of the Library Director and with the collaboration of the Library faculty.

Special collections which are not under the direct supervision of the Library Collection Coordinator  include:

• Government Documents (supervised by the Government Documents Librarian)
• Reference (supervised by the Coordinator of Reference)
• Reserve
• Instructional and Audiovisual Materials (supervised by the IMC Coordinator)
• Special Collections: Rare Books, Assassination Collection, and Native American Collection (supervised by the Government Documents Librarian)

The development of a collection that meets institutional, instructional, and research needs is the joint responsibility of departmental and Library faculty and the Collection Development Coordinator.  The library welcomes faculty recommendations and solicits faculty help in building the collection.

III. GENERAL GUIDELINES

A. GENERAL CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF LIBRARY MATERIALS:

1. Appropriateness for the undergraduate and/or graduate programs at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point as stated in the missions statement.  Materials that go beyond the academic curricula but meet the cultural, career, recreational and information needs of the campus community are also given consideration.
2. Possibility of use for one or more courses.
3. Building on identified strength of the existing collection in a particular subject area.
4. Filling identified gaps or weaknesses in the existing collection.
5. Permanence of the material.
6. Currency and timeliness of the material.
7. Expected usage: for occasional needs, interlibrary loan may be used as a viable alternative to ownership.
8. Appropriateness of chosen format (printed, digital, audio, visual) for the subject matter.
9. Cost of the material.
10. Critical reviews of the material

IV. ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR VARIOUS COLLECTIONS:

V. GUIDELINES FOR DEPARTMENTAL BUDGET ALLOCATIONS

VI.  WEEDING/COLLECTION MAINTENANCE POLICY

Weeding or deselection of library materials is essential for the maintenance of an active, academically useful collection and for the best utilization of limited space.  Library liaisons will coordinate the weeding of the library collection in their liaison areas.  Whenever possible and necessary, departmental faculty members will be invited to participate to assure that materials of historical or research interest are not inadvertently removed.   

If the condition of an item suggests removal but the content cannot be replaced, consideration is given to rebinding and repair.  Some materials may also be retained for their historic significance regardless of condition.

Criteria for evaluation for possible removal from the collection will include the following: 

1. Age of titles in relation to subject matter. 

2. Duplication (multiple copies which are no longer needed).

3. Physical condition.

4. Use (past circulation record).

5. Authoritativeness.

6. Curricular value.

7. Superseded editions.

8. Title is not 'last copy' in University of Wisconsin System library collections.

Note: this document borrows from the Collection Development Policy of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Our thanks to UW Whitewater's Collection Development Advisory Committee for allowing us to share their work.

Your comments are welcome. Please send comments to Tom Reich (346-4200) Collection Development Coordinator, or Kathy Davis (346-4193), University Library Director.