Grasselli Library and Breen Learning CenterCollection Development PolicyABOUT JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITYJohn Carroll University is an independent, coeducational medium-sized academic institution which is grounded in the Catholic and Jesuit traditions. John Carroll is situated in University Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. It provides liberal arts programs in the arts, sciences, and business at the undergraduate level, and in selected areas at the master's level. The university maintains three major academic divisions: the College of Arts and Sciences, the John M. and Mary Jo Boler School of Business, and the Graduate School. Degrees are offered in more than thirty major fields of study, including pre-professional study in medicine, law, dentistry, engineering, and teaching. COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHYThe Library's collection development philosophy is grounded in the mission statement of the Library. "The mission of Grasselli Library & Breen Learning Center is to advance and support the teaching and research programs of John Carroll University. The Library, in its responsibility within the University to ensure the preservation of knowledge, will build its collections and provide access to information sources here and elsewhere. To fulfill these responsibilities, the Library will establish partnerships within the University and with other institutions and will offer instructional and research services. The Library is a full partner in the Jesuit mission of the University." The University's brief statement of mission says "John Carroll is a Catholic and Jesuit University dedicated to developing women and men with the knowledge and character to lead and to serve." In addition to supporting the university and library missions, the Library's collection development policy is intended to provide a mechanism whereby the library will build the most effective collection in support of the curricular and research needs of the university. Within the constraints of its budget, the Library will maintain a well-balanced general collection to serve the needs of undergraduate scholarly inquiry. Because library resources and university curricula are subject to constant change, the library collection will be continuously evaluated and updated as necessity dictates. In so far as no library can provide unlimited resources for its own collection, Grasselli Library has established a partnership with OhioLINK to provide its community of users with access to the library resources of the OhioLINK consortium. The Library attempts to provide for the free exchange of ideas in accordance with the documents of the American Library Association which promote the rights of all individuals to information. (Insert link See Appendices.) A wide variety of viewpoints will be made available, regardless of the popularity of those viewpoints, or of the sex, race, religion, political philosophy, or national origin of authors of the ideas, issues, or beliefs. DEFINITION AND PURPOSECollection development may be defined as the set of processes whereby a library's collection of materials is acquired, modified, housed, and evaluated. These processes include the selection of materials, their acquisition or purchase, methods for evaluating the collection, and procedures for removing materials from the collection. The purpose of a collection development policy is to provide a set of guidelines for selection, and to clarify parameters for future development. The Library publishes this collection development policy to advise library staff and members of the university community of the intentions of the Library regarding material selection and development of the Library collection. DESCRIPTION OF THE LIBRARY'S COLLECTIONThe Library's collection is comprised of a number of parts. 1. The general collection. Chiefly books. 2. The reference collection. Non-circulating print materials (monographs, encyclopedias, atlases, indexes, abstracts); full text in electronic formats; vertical files; and business reference materials in the Carrie and Sam LoPresti Center for Business and Financial Information. 3. The periodical collection. Current issues and bound volumes of print periodicals; full-text electronic journals; and microform materials. 4. Audio Visual collections. Music CDs and films in DVD and VHS formats. Also online audio and video files. 5. The Grasselli Library Special Collections. • University Archives. Records, chiefly from University offices, that document the history of the University • Robert John Bayer G.K. Chesterton Collection. G.K. Chesterton writings, criticism, and other papers, including collections of his friends and associates • John R. Carpenter Cleveland Collection. Materials on the Western Reserve region and the city of Cleveland • Other rare, valuable, and fragile items. 6. The Reserve Collection. Items supporting course work that the teaching faculty wishes to make readily available to students. Some items are available electronically through ERes. 7. The Curriculum Materials Center. Textbooks for kindergarten through 12th grade with teacher guides; curriculum guides for local school systems and the state of Ohio; a sampling of juvenile and young adult literature; teaching games, kits and models. 8. The St. Francis Xavier Spiritual Reading Collection. Materials selected to nurture the spiritual growth of John Carroll University community members. These materials provide exposure to a variety of perspectives and religious belief systems. COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT RESPONSIBILITYThe responsibility for the selection of materials for the collection lies primarily with the faculty librarians with input from the teaching faculty. A Library Liaison is designated for each academic department and some programs and offices. The Library Liaison will facilitate material selection and monitor collection development pertinent to his/her department. The Library encourages all faculty members to work closely with assigned liaisons to assure that appropriate materials are collected in their specific areas of teaching and research. The Library is open to acquisition suggestions from members of the university community as well. COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIESACQUISITIONSItems are received in the Acquisitions Unit in the following ways: 1. Approval Plan: The Library subscribes to a book approval selection program that supplies newly published titles in pre-selected subject areas. Based on profiles which identify teaching and research needs of our institution, the approval plan vendor sends notices of titles to be published by major academic and trade publishers and selectors choose titles they would like to review or add to the collection. 2. Firm Orders: Materials may also be ordered individually. Order requests may go to the Library Liaison or directly to the Acquisitions staff. 3. Standing orders: Titles that departments wish to obtain on a regular basis (such as multi-volume sets and annual publications) can be acquired as "standing orders" that automatically come in as an item in the set or series is published. The Library Serials Committee meets to consider and make final decisions on these requests. Selectors are notified regarding final decisions. 4. Government Documents: The Library is a depository for selected federal and state government documents. In exchange for obtaining these documents free of cost, the library agrees to carefully maintain them and make them available to the general public. 5. Gifts/Donations The Grasselli Library and Breen Learning Center accepts donations from interested members of the John Carroll University Community and the general public. Gifts often provide the Library with needed materials that might not otherwise be available through normal purchasing channels. Decisions on the dispersal of gift material are made at the sole discretion of the library. Cash donations are welcome. RESOURCE SHARINGThe Library is a member of OhioLINK, a statewide consortium of academic and public libraries. By virtue of this membership, Grasselli patrons have access to a wide array of research databases and, through the OhioLINK Central Catalog, over 40,000,000 items held in local collections throughout the state. OhioLINK assumes a commitment to cooperative collection development whereby members agree to work together to minimize duplication, support ownership of materials needed in local collections, and ensure easy access to those items not owned locally. To meet this commitment, the library has adopted a policy stating that if a requested title is held by eight libraries within the consortium, the library will forego ordering the item. Exceptions to this rule may be requested. FUND ALLOCATIONA significant portion of the library materials budget is allocated to departments by the Library Director in consultation with the University Library Committee and approved by the Academic Vice President. Departments wishing to house items in their individual departments should purchase these with non-library funds. COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT PARAMETERSScope of CollectionThe basic collection will be made up of the following: • Those items which constitute required, non-textbook reading for courses • Supplementary and ancillary reading for courses • A basic collection in all liberal arts disciplines • A reference collection which supports the programs of the university • A collection of current periodicals and their back files Checklist for SelectorsThe following is a short checklist of useful criteria for evaluating items for acquisition. • Usefulness of the item considering the existing collection and the curriculum • Availability of the title in the OhioLINK collection • The permanent value of the material • Quality of the content, expression, and format • Favorable reviews or inclusion in guides or subject bibliographies • Reputation of the author(s) • Currency of the topic • Date of the publication • Price • Language Collection LevelsIn determining the levels of collection development appropriate for the Library, the following categories have been established as suggested in Guidelines for Collection Development (ed. David L. Perkins. Chicago: ALA, 1979): Level Zero Out of profile: no holdings in collection and nothing bought. Level One Minimal level: only a few items purchased beyond very basic works. Level Two Basic information level: highly selective collection that introduces and defines the subject and indicates the varieties of information available elsewhere. Level Three Instructional support level: collection supports undergraduate or graduate-level course work and sustained independent study. Level Four Research level: collection contains materials necessary for dissertations and for independent research. Level Five Comprehensive level: collection is exhaustive. Reference collections will cover levels one through three. Circulating collections will generally cover levels one through three, but select portions may be developed to four if required to support a Master's level program. GUIDELINES ON FORMATSThe Library makes every effort to accommodate the needs of the user by providing a variety of formats. When ordering titles for the Reference collection or Periodicals, committees of library staff members will make the decision as to format -- balancing price with ease of use and accessibility to the optimum number of users. • AudioVisual. Films will be purchased in DVD format when available. . • Electronic Resources (Internet sources, files, CD-ROMS). The Library considers these valuable resources, especially when they can be linked to the online catalog and can be accessed in many places that the university community wishes to use them. A library committee meets periodically to evaluate and consider acquisition of electronic resources on a case-by-case basis. • Maps. The Library does not actively acquire maps. However, a number of maps are received by the Library as part of the Federal Depository program. • Microforms. Microforms will be purchased when appropriate and affordable. • Paperbacks. The Library will exercise judgment when the item is available in both paper and cloth bindings. Relative price when compared to the perceived long-term value and use will be considered. • Textbooks. The Library does not generally purchase textbooks (except for the Curriculum Materials Center). Donated textbooks may be added to the collection to supplement materials of general interest. COLLECTION MAINTENANCEThe responsibility for maintaining the collection goes hand in hand with building the collection. Careful shelving and regular shelf reading will assure that materials are in their proper places. At the same time, shelves should be monitored to remove damaged materials for repair, replacement, or removal. Regular and conscientious weeding is done to maintain the quality of the collection. In the weeding process, the Library evaluates materials to determine if they should be: • moved to a different shelving area, • replaced/updated by another copy or newer edition, or another title in the subject specialty, • withdrawn from the collection. Weeding will normally be done by the subject specialist/Liaison Librarian (armed with a strong knowledge of the subject literature) in consultation with faculty members most directly related to the subject involved. A book that has been identified for withdrawal will be removed from the catalog.
Revised 2/2006 Cynthia Lenox Marcy Milota Public Services Division |