Collection Development
cdedept@colorado.edu
303-492-4414 (ph)
303-492-8775 (fx)
Norlin, 2nd Floor
Services for Students & Faculty
|
|
|
|
University Libraries > Libraries & Departments > Collection Development >
III.
Policies
A. University Libraries Collection Development
Policy
The University Libraries will seek to collect, preserve, and provide access
to materials in print and other physical and electronic formats to support
the research, teaching, and service mission of the University. The Libraries
will seek to select appropriate consortial involvements that will maximize
the Libraries’ ability to acquire and access scholarly resources.
The Collection Development Policy of the University Libraries of the University
of Colorado, Boulder, seeks to complement the Libraries’ Mission by
providing to the University community materials and resources to support
instruction, research and scholarship, and public service. A secondary objective
will be to provide for Colorado residents resources to support individual,
business, cultural, educational, governmental and other information needs.
In addition, we hope to create a collection that will, through sharing, benefit
the national and international higher education community.
This policy will be administered by means of collection development policies
formulated for specific subject areas in order to guide bibliographers in
their decisions. These comprehensive documents, established in partnership
with the faculty and user communities, will provide a foundation for a coordinated
collection development program throughout the Libraries. These collections
will be developed based on a continuing analysis of the evolving academic
programs, research interests, user needs, and the strengths and weaknesses
of the collections already in place. The University Libraries reserve the
right to make the final decision on those materials and resources that will
be acquired for or deselected from its collections.
In selecting materials, the Libraries fully subscribes to the Library Bill
of Rights, issued by the American Library Association. Among other rights,
this statement affirms that no materials shall be excluded because of the
origin, background, or view on current and historical issues, and that censorship
should be challenged.
B. Gifts-in-Kind Policy
1. Gifts-in-kind should meet the same selection criteria as purchases.
While the gifts are free, the processing is expensive as well as the space
in which to store them.
2. Potential donors should be referred to the Faculty Director for Gifts unless they have already made contact with a specific bibliographer.
3. Once accepted, gifts become the property of the University Libraries.
The Libraries reserves the right to dispose of each gift within state guidelines.
Disposition includes retention and cataloging, sale, exchange, or discard.
4. It is usually not possible to promise special treatment for gifts,
such as designated shelving or keeping the gift together. Exceptions may
be discussed with Acquisitions, Collection Development, or Associate Director
for Public Services. Special Collections Department, Archives Department, and Music Department (including American Music Research Center)
maintain their own gift policies.
5. By law, assessment of the value of gifts must be the responsibility
of the donors who must arrange for their own appraisals. The Libraries
may assist by supplying names of qualified appraisers.
6. The Libraries requests that a listing of materials in a gift be submitted
by the donor, especially for large gifts.
7. Generally donations of gifts-in-kind are delivered to the Libraries
by the donor. If shipped, it is usually at donor's expense. Exceptions
must be referred to Collections Development Librarian.
8. Gifts will be acknowledged by a letter from the Dean of the Libraries.
9. Gifts of money must be referred to the Faculty Director for Gifts.
10. Appropriate records of gifts accepted by the Libraries are maintained
in the Acquisitions Department. Acquisitions must be informed of all gifts
for tax purposes.
11. The Libraries will not accept as a part of its permanent collection
those materials to which it cannot provide physical and intellectual access.
Unique materials which are at immediate risk may be accepted on deposit
for a term not to exceed five years, if the Dean approves the deposit in
writing. Such materials will be transferred as soon as possible to the
appropriate repositories.
12. In order to help the Acquisitions Department process gifts in an efficient manner, Acquisitions Department staff may discard duplicate items. It is noted that some duplicate items may be valuable to other departments such as Special Collections and Archives, so items of potential value may be flagged and passed to bibliographers and/or the Head of Acquisitions for evaluation.
C. Collecting Journals in Electronic Format
I. Purpose
As publishers continue to develop electronic publishing capabilities, an increasing number of journals are available in electronic format, either as an alternative or a counterpart to the print version. Some journals are now only available electronically. According to results of CU Libraries user surveys, including the LibQUAL+ survey, faculty and students indicate that research needs for journal literature are changing. Users have a strong preference for the accessibility and convenience provided by electronic journals. As a result of these factors, the Libraries’ collection of electronic journals has grown dramatically in recent years.
This policy is intended to guide the evaluation and acquisition of the electronic version of journals. This collection policy applies to selecting new subscriptions and provides criteria for the potential cancellation of the print format in favor of the electronic version. This policy focuses primarily on format, access and archival issues. The Libraries’ objective is to collect the full equivalent of an electronic journal title that is obtained as a paid subscription and to ensure that access to the purchased content is available in perpetuity.
A substantial portion of the Libraries’ materials budget is allocated to electronic resources. Additionally, there are costs related to the maintenance of print journals—shelving, binding, retrieval and delivery of articles from storage. As budgets change from year to year and inflationary increases spiral it is important that the Libraries seek cost effective strategies for funding annual subscription costs.
The policy of the Libraries is to subscribe to journal subscriptions in one format and to avoid duplicating content and subscription costs. This does not apply to content that may be duplicated in databases where journal titles are aggregated through a single search interface, as those databases change frequently. Electronic journals must meet the criteria outlined below. Print journals should be evaluated according to the criteria for print, also outlined below. Bibliographers are expected to communicate and work closely with academic departments and user needs when evaluating journal formats and new acquisitions. Any exceptions to the policy will be made on a case by case basis by Collection Development.
II. Electronic Journal Criteria
The print version of the journal (or collection of journals) could be discontinued if the electronic equivalent meets all of the following criteria. Some of these criteria can be evaluated by examining the electronic version of the journal, and by visiting the vendor’s website. Other information will reside in the license, which should be reviewed by Collection Development before a final decision is made.
- Content: The online journal should contain at least the full scholarly content of the print equivalent. For instance, not only should it include all research articles, but it should also include content such as supplements (if included with the print journal subscription), letters, calls for papers and other professional announcements, editorials, job openings, and book reviews.
- Timeliness: The full content of each issue should be available online no later than publication of the print.
- Format: The electronic journal should be provided as PDF files or an equivalent full-image format identical to the print edition.
- Image and Graphics Quality: The quality of illustrative materials (photographs, tables, figures, artistic renderings, etc.) should be of a standard sufficient to meet intended use and should be at least the quality of such images in the print edition. Bibliographers will consult with appropriate departments and will not cancel print if departmental faculty members have concerns about images.
- Vendor Reliability: The speed of loading/accessing content must meet Libraries’ users’ expectations. Server downtime should be minimal, and vendors should notify the Libraries in advance of scheduled changes and anticipated downtime.
- IP Access: Access to the electronic version should be provided via campus-wide IP authentication. Resources that require users to login with a username and password will be carefully evaluated on a case by case basis.
- Printing and Downloading Capability: All content must be printable and downloadable.
- Stability: There must be a reasonable guarantee of the stability of the electronic journal. Since stability in aggregated databases cannot be guaranteed, such databases will not be considered a substitute for print journals as part of this process. Electronic journals must be subscribed to from the publisher or equivalent.
- Pricing: Migration to electronic journal should be cost effective.
- Perpetual access: The Libraries must have a guarantee of perpetual access to paid-for content if we subsequently cancel the electronic journal. Such access must be in the same manner (or equivalent) as provided when we subscribed. It is very important that access continue to be provided in this manner. Leasing of an electronic journal is not sufficient to allow for the cancellation of the print equivalent.
- Archiving: The vendor should pledge to provide archiving of the electronic content, either in its own archive, via a third-party initiative such as Portico or CLOCKSS, or through other mechanisms outlined in the license.
- Licensing Terms of Use:
- The license must not be overly restrictive regarding local use;
- must allow off-campus use by authorized users and walk-in use by visitors
- must not be overly restrictive regarding simultaneous users
o must allow interlibrary loan and fair use of content
- should allow cancellation of the print.
III. Print Journal Criteria
In addition to the criteria above, the following specific criteria may be considered to warrant retention of a print journal.
- Function:
- If the title is especially high profile or is heavily used in print format
- If research practices or methodologies in a particular discipline dictate the ongoing importance of the use of the print format
- If the print journal functions better as a browsing journal or current awareness source (perhaps due to poor interface design in the electronic version)
- If the quality of images or graphics is demonstrably poorer in the electronic journal
- If the print has significant artifact or aesthetic value
- Ongoing Access and Archiving:
- If there is no guarantee that the publisher will continue to provide access to the electronic version beyond the subscription period, in the case of future cancellation or failure of the vendor/publisher
- If there is no evidence of an institutional commitment to the journal’s long-term preservation
- Resource Sharing:
- If the Libraries has either a consortial responsibility to retain a paper copy or another strong responsibility to retain a print archive of this journal title or the subject area to which it belongs
- If the license does not allow us to provide interlibrary loan or document delivery services using the electronic format
- Timeliness and Reliability:
- If there is significant delay between publication of print and availability of online content
- If the provider of the electronic journal is technically unreliable
- Content:
- If the content of the print differs from that of the electronic (e.g., the print version contains significantly more material than the electronic version). Not only should the electronic version include all research articles, but it should also include content such as supplements (if included with the print journal subscription), letters, calls for papers and other professional announcements, editorials, job openings, and book reviews.
IV. References
Written and Revised by Yem Fong and Heather Wicht; Reviewed by Bibliographers, September 2007
D. Subject Collection Development
Policies
- American & English Literature
- Anthropology
- Applied Mathematics
- Architecture, Environmental Design, and Planning
- Art & Art History
- Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
- Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
- Business
- Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Classics
- Comparative Literature
- Computer Science
- Communications
- Economics
- Education
- Engineering
- Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology
- Film Studies Program
- French
- General Science
- Geology
- Geography
- Germanic Language and Literature
- Gifts-in-Kind
- History
- Humanities and Social Science Reference
- Italian
- Journalism
- Juvenile Literature
- Integrative Physiology
- Library Science
- Linguistics
- Map Library
- Mathematics
- Minority Studies
- Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
- Museum Studies
- Music
- Philosophy
- Physics
- Physiology
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Religious Studies
- Slavic
- Sociology
- Spanish & Portuguese
- Speech, Language, and Hearing
- Theatre and Dance (Performing Arts)
- Undergraduate
- Women and Gender Studies
E. Procedures for Terms of Use Violations
|
|
|
