Niagara University Library
Collection Development Policies

Introduction

Niagara University Library’s primary role is to collect and provide access to materials that support educational programs. An attempt is also made to support the research needs of faculty and administrators and to provide materials that support the personal and intellectual enrichment of the University Community.

Intellectual Freedom

In supporting educational programs, the Library attempts to purchase materials representing a wide variety of viewpoints. No censorship is exercised on materials of a controversial nature or because of the unpopularity of an author's point of view or mode of expression.

Books

It is the responsibility of the Director of Libraries to allocate the materials budget to departments. The total amount of money devoted to book purchases consists of what is left after ongoing commitments are subtracted (binding, periodicals, databases, document delivery, and bibliographic utilities).

Up to 25% of the total book budget is reserved for:

  • purchasing reference books, replacement copies, and books to which no department can be assigned
  • strengthening weak areas and buying second copies of books in areas of high circulation

Each department is allocated a minimum of $3,000 for book purchases. Purchases in departments that are heavily engaged in supporting General Education (English, Philosophy, History, and Religion) tend to exceed $3,000 annually.

Departments with graduate programs are allocated a minimum of $5,000 for book purchases.

Selection Responsibility

Responsibility for selecting books resides with Faculty, the Library Liaisons to academic departments, and with the Library Director.

Selection Guidelines

Although the Library attempts to acquire books that support the general intellectual and recreational interests of the University Community, the primary goal is to acquire materials that support the curriculum.

The Library purchases books based upon the following considerations:

  • Existing strength of subject
  • Likelihood that the item will circulate
  • Lasting value of content
  • Suitability of the subject
  • Authoritativeness of author
  • Reputation of the publisher
  • Cost

The most important factor in a purchase decisions is circulation—will the book be used? But an attempt is also made to maintain a core collection that represents the intellectual heritage of various disciplines.

The Library does not usually purchase textbooks, except in disciplines that are textbook oriented.

Duplicates are only purchased in subject areas of high circulation.

The Library acquires primarily English language materials. Exceptions to this are foreign language dictionaries and materials that are used in the teaching of foreign languages.

The Library normally purchases current materials and does not attempt to build or maintain extensive discipline specific historical collections.

Journals and Databases

The following guidelines are followed:

  • Journal and database subscriptions should directly support the curriculum or be necessary for accreditation. Departmental allocations are based on need and accreditation standards rather than formula.
  • Journal prices have risen dramatically through the years, so cost considerations are an important aspect of collection development.
  • Given a choice, the Library chooses electronic journal subscriptions over print subscriptions and will not endeavor to maintain the same titles in print and electronic formats.

Weeding

The Director of the Library is responsible for weeding the collection and will call upon the subject expertise of faculty when needed.

The Library follows ACRL’s Standards for Libraries in Higher Education statement on weeding: “Collection currency and vitality should be maintained through judicious weeding.”

Specific questions that are asked in deciding to weed a book include:

  • Does the book still support the curriculum?
  • Is the book a core or standard work in the a discipline?
  • Should the book ever have been purchased in the first place?
  • Has the book circulated recently?
  • Is the book falling apart to such an extent that it is not worth re-binding?
  • Have circulation patterns changed so that duplicate volumes are no longer necessary?
  • Have old editions been superseded?
  • Is the material dated or of limited historical significance?
  • Is the content still of high quality and reliability, and not misleading?

Collection Development Policies for Individual Collections

Recreational Reading Collection

The purpose of the Recreational Reading Collection is to provide access to newly published books that enlighten, entertain, or amuse.

The Recreational Reading Collection consists of two components:

  1. A small collection representing the best of romance/chick lit (these books circulate)
  2. Current bestsellers, which are chosen primarily from the New York Times and Booksense.com bestseller lists. The collection includes fiction and nonfiction. In general, the following exclusions apply:

    • Books in languages other than English
    • Children's books
    • Reference books
    • Graphic novels (which will have their own collection)
    • Career advice books (which have their own collection)
    • Most self-help books, unless also appropriate for a college-age demographic
    • Cookbooks, unless they have a significant narrative component
    • Nonfiction books that are more appropriate for the general collection
    • Older books that happen to become bestsellers for one reason or another (though we will tend to acquire "Oprah" books)
    • Most science fiction because, for whatever reason, that genre doesn't circulate at NU
    • Fiction in a series where the individual titles aren't intended to stand alone

Since the goal is to keep the collection fresh and current, books will reside in the bestseller collection for no more than two years. Exceptions will be made for books that continue to circulate at high levels. Books removed from the bestseller collection will either be moved to the general collection or discarded and sold in book sales.

Highly-regarded contemporary fiction which does not reach bestseller status will still be acquired, but will be shelved in the general collection.

Audio Collection

The Library allocates about $1,500 annually to acquire the following types of sound recordings on compact disc:

  • Music compilations that support study of world cultures--for example: "Anthology of the Music of China."
  • Language Instruction
  • Tony Award nominated musical cast recordings
  • Historical speech collections. For example: "A Call to Conscience: the Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."
  • Well-known authors reading selections of their own work (not audio books though)

Due to budgetary constraints and the fact that Niagara University does not offer a music major, the Library does not acquire music other than what is described above.

Recreational DVD Collection

The Library maintains a DVD collection of important films in the history of cinema as well as a diversity of new releases of a popular nature. Emphasis is placed on English language films, but award winning international films in a variety of languages are also acquired. The Library generally does not purchase television shows unless the number of episodes is small in number.

Educational Video Collection

The Library attempts to maintain a balanced collection of documentary and educational films on DVD, with an emphasis on inexpensive DVDs costing less than $50 each. The Library is unable to be the primary supplier of educational video for the classroom.

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