Author: Thomas Bremer

Purpose
Philosophy
Selection Guidelines
De-selection Guidelines
Definitions
Levels of Collecting at the Three Libraries

Purpose

The Tri-College University is a consortium consisting of Concordia College, Moorhead State University, and North Dakota State University. Its purpose is to provide a broader range of programs, more extensive facilities, and a greater depth of resources for the students and faculties of the three institutions than would otherwise be available. The purpose of this policy is to serve as a guide to cooperation in collection management for the three institution libraries.

Philosophy

TCU Librarians recognize that cooperation in collection management will tend to result in an interdependence of the individual collections. However, in response to the dual economic realities of increasing materials costs and tightening budgets; in accord with accrediting agencies' recognition of "accessibility" as a factor in collection building; and in accord with the continuing viability of the Tri-College University Consortium, the libraries agree to implement this program under the following provisions:

A. The implementation of this policy affirms the philosophy that supports collection management of the general collection with a view toward unified strength rather than three single, balanced & duplicated collections.

B. Cooperation shall be implemented through the TCUL Acquisitions Task Force, who are delegated the primary responsibility for collection management.

C. Task Force decisions shall be guided by the following considerations:

1. The curriculum and user needs of the individual institutions.
2. The selection and acquisition policies of the individual libraries.
3. The existing identified strengths of the individual library collections.
4. The cost of, demand for, and accessibility to an individual item.

D. Within these guidelines, TCU Libraries may:

1. Compare selections to be purchased for the purpose of reducing unnecessary duplication.
2. Combine existing holdings of items (such as incomplete sets).
3. Jointly purchase specific items.

E. This Tri-College Library Management Policy shall be reviewed as needed by the TCU Acquisitions Task Force. This review shall take into consideration the curricular growth and development at each of the Tri-College University institutions.

Selection Guidelines

The three libraries have collections which are similar in many respects although with strengths and specialized collections which differ both in depth and breadth. The development of these collections is determined primarily by the curricula of the three institutions, the degrees offered, and the research requirements of the faculty. To avoid fragmentation, maintain strength, and to develop depth and breadth in the areas of specialization appropriate to each library, these guidelines are offered.

A. Each of the three libraries has assumed the responsibility for developing an in-depth collection in certain subject areas. Broadly stated these are:

• NDSU--the sciences and technology, architecture;
• MSU--education, business, music, law;
• Concordia--religion, philosophy, classics, Jewish studies, East Africa studies.

B. Materials should be selected keeping in mind that we are building a broad basic collection which we feel is a necessity for any quality academic library. This material may be of a general nature including basic sources in each field, materials at an undergraduate level, materials which cross departmental lines, and standard and definitive works.

C. Materials may be duplicated in areas of study taught on all of the campuses, chiefly in most of the liberal arts. However, since the strength of the programs varies from campus to campus, each librarian attempts to correlate the intensity of collecting with the strength of the programs, bearing in mind the amount of material published in each area.

D. In general, limit to one copy the purchase of items specified for upper undergraduate, graduate, or professional levels as indicated by selectors from Choice or other reviewing tools.

E. Discontinue purchase of all out-of-print materials except in situations justified for special purposes.

F. Purchase foreign language materials only for the study of languages except in situations justified for special purposes.

G. Purchase the least expensive format when there is a choice.

H. Eliminate unwanted duplication of major sets such as complete works, letters, variorum editions, papers, annual reviews, progress in, methods in, etc. For ongoing publications, the library owning the most volumes will be responsible for maintaining the work and the addition of future volumes.

I. Emphasize selecting materials from critical reviews or examination of materials, recognizing that other sources may at times be used.

De-selection Guidelines

To avoid fragmentation of sets of materials, maintain strength and quality of collections, and develop depth and breadth in the areas of specialization appropriate to each library, attention must be given not only to selection, but also to withdrawal, transfer, and use of these collections. Each library must have an ongoing plan for withdrawing obsolete materials, transferring portions of sets of books to the library with the greatest need or the most complete set, and removing to storage areas those materials which continue to have value but which are infrequently used.

A. When individual collections are weeded, broken sets should be checked against Tri-College Library holdings and scattered volumes should be offered to the library with the most complete set.

B. Items weeded from a consortium library which might be of interest to another member library specializing in that area should be checked against that library's holdings, and if appropriate, offered to that library.

C. Items which are weeding candidates in any of the libraries should be checked against the Tri-College holdings and if the item is the last available copy in the Tri-College Libraries, this fact should be considered in the weeding decision.

Definitions for Levels of Collection Density and Collection Intensity

The need for library materials varies in the different subject areas. Current and projected degree and research programs determine the level of acquisitions to be attempted in order to meet the needs of these programs.

"The terms defined below are designed for use in identifying both the extent of existing collections in given subject fields (collection density) and the extent of current collecting activity in the field (collection intensity).

A. Comprehensive level.

A collection in which a library endeavors, so far as is reasonably possible, to include all significant works of recorded knowledge (publications, manuscripts, other forms) in all applicable languages, for a necessarily defined and limited field. This level of collecting intensity is that which maintains a "special collection"; the aim, if not the achievement, is exhaustiveness.

B. Research level.

A collection which includes the major source materials required for dissertations and independent research, including materials containing research reporting, new findings, scientific experimental results, and other information useful to researchers. It also includes all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as a very extensive collection of journals and major indexing and abstracting services in the field.

C. Study level

1. Advanced study level. A collection which is adequate to support the course work of advanced undergraduate and master’s degree programs, or sustained independent study, that is, which is adequate to maintain knowledge of a subject required for limited or generalized purposes, of less than research intensity. It includes a wide range of basic monographs both current and retrospective, complete collections of the works of more important writers, selections from the works of secondary writers, a selection of representative journals, and the reference tools and fundamental bibliographical apparatus pertaining to the subject.

2. Initial study level. A collection which is adequate to support undergraduate courses. It includes a judicious selection from currently published basic monographs (as are represented by Choice selections) supported by seminal retrospective monographs (as are represented by Books for College Libraries), a broad selection of works of more important writers, a selection of the most significant works of secondary writers, a selection of the major review journals, and current editions of the most significant reference tools and bibliographies pertaining to the subject.1

D. Basic level.

A highly selective collection which serves to introduce and define the subject and to indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere. It includes major dictionaries and encyclopedias, selected editions of important works, historical surveys, important bibliographies, and a few major periodicals in the field.

E. Minimal level.

A subject area which is out of scope for the Library’s collection and in which few selections are made beyond very basic reference tools.

Levels of Collecting at the Three Libraries

1. American Library Association. Collection Development Committee. Guidelines for Collection Development. David L. Perkins, Editor. Chicago: A.L.A., c1979, p.4.

2. American Library Association. Resources and Technical Services Division. Resources Section. Collection Development Committee. "Guidelines for the formulation of collection development policies." Library Resources and Technical Services, 21:42-3, Winter, 1977.

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