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Introduction:
This collection development policy provides guidelines for establishing priorities for the selection of library materials and the criterial for withdrawal of materials from the collection.
Although the SVC library faculty are primarily responsible for the quality of the collection; library faculty work collaboratively with classroom faculty to ensure that classroom faculty have input in their subject areas. Suggestions for purchases are welcomed and received from all elements of the community: students, staff, faculty, administrators and community borrowers.
The library offers print and electronic resources which provide accessible library sources for the college community. Resources include multiple online and physical formats. Electronic resources include e-books, online reference and other specialized databases.
Classroom faculty are encouraged to work with library faculty to:
Intellectual Freedom:
It is the responsibility of library faculty and other selectors to ensure that all points of view relevant to the college mission are represented in the collection. The library endorses the following documents from the American Library Association: the Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read statement.
Challenges to Library Materials:
A complaint about an item in the collection should be submitted in writing and addressed to the Director of Library Services. Written complaints should include:
The director will seek additional input (typically no more than two members of the library advisory committee) to review the work before rendering a decision. A written response will be issued within 30 days of receiving the complaint.
Library and media materials and resources are selected to:
Guidelines for the selection of materials:
Items considered for addition to the library collection will be evaluated by library faculty, with attention given to:
Priorities for purchase are:
Materials not normally selected include:
Print Periodicals:
Print magazines and trade journals are selected to support instructional programs and for general interest/recreational reading. Newspapers are purchased to provide local and regional news coverage. Titles may be discontinued if full text is available electronically.
Media:
Audiovisual materials and equipment are selected to meet instructional needs. Audiovisual materials include DVDs, sound recordings, slides and kits. Sharing of costs between the library and a department may be negotiated for costly items. It is a goal of the library to add all media materials purchased and/or created by the college to the library collection regardless of their location on campus and/or the source funds used to obtain them. The library also has a collection of “browsing” DVDs for leisure use by our patrons. This collection is dependent on donations.
Government Information:
The library is not a depository for federal or state government publications. Government publications are selected according to the same criteria applied to other library materials, and are placed within the appropriate location within the collection.
Special Collections
Skagit Valley College Collection
The library maintains a small archival collection which includes the following:
When adding materials, the quality, condition and timeliness of the materials is considered. Ephemeral materials such as candidate focus sessions, budget hearing notes or meeting notes are not retained. Materials related to the internal functions of the college, such as committee meeting notes, departmental budgets, etc., and other items that fall under the records retention policy applicable to individual departments are not included in this collection and should be referred to the appropriate department for record keeping.
ESL/AESL Collection
The ESL/AESL Collection is an adult oriented collection which includes dictionaries and grammars, English language learning materials, print and media, and a leveled reading collection including listening materials to support the English Language Acquisition (ELA) programs.
Children’s Collection
The library may purchase and accept donations of children’s books to support Skagit Valley College programs, coop-preschool, college daycare, and the college community. Books in this collection are selected for infant to kindergarten age children. Chapter books and young adult materials are evaluated and added to the regular collection if appropriate.
READ Collection
“Studies show that those who read more read better. They also write better, spell better, have larger vocabularies, and have better control of complex grammatical constructions” (Krashen, 2004). As such, the READ Collection provides access to recreational reading for SVC students and other patrons.
GIFTS
The library welcomes gifts and accepts them with the understanding that the materials will be evaluated according to the same standards as purchased items and provided they support our curricula, meet collection goals are in good condition and do not duplicate our holdings, they may be added to the collections.
All donations become the property of the library and are evaluated and handled in the same way as purchased materials. Useful materials are integrated in to the collection. Gifts that are in good condition, but not suitable for the library collection may be offered to other area libraries, sold at our book sales, or recycled.
Donors may request a receipt for the gifts given. They may also request that a name plate be attached to the materials if they are added to the collection.
In general, the library does not accept the following materials:
Assessment and Maintenance / Weeding
Weeding is an integral and important part of collection development. The library collection is dynamic with new materials added and obsolete or damaged materials discarded. It is an ongoing process that reflects the changing needs of the college curriculum.
Current philosophy for community college library collections is to stress currency rather than a historical survey of materials. Lower division research does not require the depth and breadth of a major research library; however, as Skagit Valley College has begun to add applied baccalaureate degrees, the library collection is reflecting the need for more depth in certain subject areas. Foundation works will be retained where possible and in addition, reference works in support of subject fields will be maintained as the budget allows.
Materials are maintained in the collection based upon their content rather than the provenance of the item. Materials authored by local or college-related persons, may be kept in the collection for archival or historical purposes. The librarians will evaluate the collection on a 5 year cyclical basis as listed below. This will ensure that the entire collection is evaluated in a timely fashion. Library faculty will contact appropriate classroom faculty to ask for their input as we evaluate different areas of the collection. Faculty members are encouraged to survey their subject area(s) and recommend additions to and deletions from the collection. 2007/8 academic year is Year 1 in the current cycle.
Year 1: 000 – 359
Year 2: 360 – 599
Year 3: 600 – 699
Year 4: 700 – 813
Year 5: 814 - 999
Subject Area Criteria for Collection Weeding
The following guidelines for broad subject categories are to be used in conjunction with the general criteria for weeding as well as any specific circumstances pertaining to individual subject areas or programs offered by Skagit Valley College. The guidelines are generalizations and there will be exceptions to them. For example, conceptual works in several areas may have a long lasting relevance or historical value and still be of value beyond a certain date.
Applicable Disciplines: Computer Information Systems, Computer Science, Media Communications, Management Information Systems
Applicable Disciplines: Art, English, Ethnic studies, Geography, Humanities, Journalism, Literature, Music, Media Communications, Philosophy, PE, Speech, Theater, World language
Applicable Disciplines: Administration of justice, Anthropology, Early Childhood, Education, Ethnic Studies, History, Human Services, Media Communications, Paralegal, Political Science, Social Science, Sociology
Applicable Disciplines: Accounting, Business Administration, Business Management, Economics
Applicable Disciplines: Human Services, Nursing, Medical Assistant: Pharmacy, Phlebotomy, and Dialysis
Applicable Disciplines: Agriculture, Automotive / Truck / Diesel, Computer Science / Computer Information Systems / Management Information / Telecommunication Networks, Culinary, Electronics / Electronics Engineering / Engineering / Mechatronics, Environmental Conservation, Fire, Geographic Information Systems, Marine Maintenance Tech, Medical Assistant & Front office & Billing, Media Communications, Multimedia & Interactive tech, Office Administration, Welding
Applicable Disciplines: Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Earth- (Astronomy, Meteorology, Geology, Oceanography), Natural Science, Nutrition, Physics
Other weeding guidelines
Other Formats and Collections
Krashen, Stephen. "Anything But Reading." Knowledge Quest 37.5 (2009): 18-25. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 June 2015.
Mills, Revised, 10/2018
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