Collection Development Policy
Reference Collection
The Reference Collection is a collection of materials designed to
provide quick access to factual information in all subject fields. The
works chosen for the collection should supply as many reliable facts as
possible with a minimum of duplication and overlap. Materials in the reference
collection are reviewed regularly, and outdated publications are removed
or updated. The types of materials in this collection include:
- Encyclopedias: general and specialized. The Library attempts to
acquire revised editions of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopedia
Americana, Collier's Encyclopedia, and World Book, one per year, on
a rotating basis as funds permit.
- Almanacs and yearbooks
- Handbooks and dictionaries: handbooks in all fields of knowledge,
a selection of major foreign language dictionaries, the best of
English language dictionaries at the adult or university level,
thesauri and synonym finders
- Directories - current general, national, regional, professional,
and occupational directories
- Atlases and gazetteers
- Statistical compendia
- Indexes and abstracts
- Basic legal reference sources
- Materials on careers
- Appropriate tools for Interlibrary Loan verification
Additional criteria and consideration
- Accuracy and authenticity
- Scope and depth of coverage
- Historical perspective as well as currency of data
- Ease of use, such as special locating features
To maximize usage of materials, some dictionaries, encyclopedias,
etc., on narrower subjects (e.g. Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan,
The Encyclopedia of Trains and Locomotives) and personal biographical
and bibliographical information (e.g. An Annotated Walt Whitman
Bibliography, 1976-1985) are placed in the Stacks. Electronic
reference databases and indexes are acquired as a decision of the
Library Collection Development Committee or UW System.
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