Library Collection Development

Policies
• for any library- the Collection
Development Policy (CDP) is
perhaps the most important library
policy which supports the library’s
primary task of selecting,
maintaining, and providing
access to relevant and
representative information
resources for all learners.
The Collection Development Policy
serves as a blueprint and guide for:
- Selecting and Deselecting [print and
electronic] resources for the Library collection.
- Sound foundation for future planning, thereby
assisting and determining priorities, especially
when financial resources are limited
- The wider context: Individual libraries are
increasingly unable to provide all the services
by themselves, they are banding together
into cooperatives, alliances and consortia.
• LNSS project- publication of LCPD
for each PC institution

- to develop quality, relevant library

services for the future
development of library collections
in Armenia, Moldova and Belarus
- of great importance for
sustainability in the project
Collection Policies & Guidelines
Overview
What is collection
Development?
The process of meeting the
information needs of the people (a
service population) in a timely and
economical manner using information
resources locally held, as well as form
other organizations.
(Evans 2005)
What is Policy?
Official authoritative statement of rules,
judgments, decision and guidelines that is
used to:
1) define, describe, interpret and prescribe
long-range objectives, intentions, functions
and procedures: and
2) Guide and regulate activities of a group or
organization.
3) -The Dictionary of Professional Management
(1997)
Collection Development Policy
• Policy provides a theoretical
overview that explains the
educational, social, and cultural
rationale for the development of
the collection.
• Policy states directions, guidelines,
controls, and standards for the
overall management of the
collection.
Advantage of having written
CPDs
• Provide documentation
• Informs everyone about the nature and
scope of the collection
• Helps assure that the library will commit itself
to serving all parts of the community, both
present and future
• Forces staff to think through library goals
and commit themselves to these
• Helps them to identify the long and short
range needs of users, and to establish
priorities for allocating funds
• Reduces the influence of single selector and
personal biases
• Contributes to operational efficiency in
terms of routine decisions, which helps junior
staff
• Serves as a tool of complaint handling with
regard to inclusions or exclusions
• Aids in weeding and evaluating the
collection
• Provides means of assessing overall
performance of the collection development
program
Disadvantage
• consumes time and
unquestionably takes a great deal
of librarian’s effort
Collection Development & Collection Management

Collection Management

Collection
Collection Building
Development
What does Collection Management
mean?
• First, the term SELECTION was
used
• Then, COLLECTION
DEVELOPMENT
• And now, COLLECTION
MANAGEMENT

• These terms tend to be synonymous

Collection Management
Universal Responsibilities
Knowledge of the:
• Library’s user community
• Fiscal & personnel resources
• Mission, values & priorities
Responsibilities
• Selecting materials for acquisition and
access
• Weeding or deselection
• Storage and preservation
• Writing and revising collection development
policies
• Community liaison, engagement and
outreach responsibilities
• Managing budgets
• Liaison with other libraries and cooperative
collection development
• Soliciting funding to supplement allocated
collection development funds
The primary purpose of all libraries and information
centers is to assist in the transfer of information and the
development of knowledge

PREPARATION

ORGANIZATION
STORAGE

ACQUISITION
OPERATIONS INTERPRETATION

SELECTION UTILIZATION

IDENTIFICATION DISSEMENATION
(start) (end)
Collection Development Process
PATRON COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY ANALYSIS

COMMUNITY
ANALYSIS SELECTION POLICIES

DESELECTION SELECTION

ACQUISITION
Collection Development Assessment
It is necessary to know:

• The Strengths and weaknesses of your

collection
• The community you are serving and how
it is changing
• The other resources available to your
patrons locally or accessible through
interlibrary loan
Element of a Collection Development
Policy
1. Overview Overall institutional
objectives for library

Identify subject areas,

2. Details of subject areas types of materials
and formats Collected collected and primary
user groups

•Gifts, deselection &

discards, evaluation
3. Miscellaneous issues •Complaints and
censorship
•Electronic resources
Elements of a Collection Development
Policy
1. Overall statement of policy
2. Objectives of selection
3. Role of the professional staff
4. Responsibility for selecting materials
5. Criteria for selection of information resources
6. Challenged materials
7. Procedures for selecting materials
8. Revision process
Acquisitions & subject librarian Digital Environment

• Electronic resources are ubiquitous and

consulting them has become a routine for
librarians and users (Fenner, 2006.)

• The librarian must be knowledgeable with

the latest developments in library and
information management. (Buenrostro,
2009)
New Job Responsibilities
• Make decisions whether or not to add the gifts to
the collections
• Provide specialized technical assistance
• Teach courses relevant to his/her own field
• Publicized the library’s collections
• Maintain the library’s web page with links to
many other resources
• Develop good relationships with aggregators,
book dealers and publishers
• Develop a thorough knowledge of the electronic
resources
• Play an active role in fund raising for the
library
• Monitor the exchange program of the
library
• Write proposals for research grants
• Pursue and energetic outreach effort to
faculty and students
• Create access through the web to other
remote resources
Steps in formulating the Policy
1. Set the guidelines
2. Analyze community needs
3. Prepare the draft document
4. Circulate the draft document
5. Adopt the revised document
6. Provide for ongoing review
Important points to remember
• Policy statement should be written and used by
the library manager.
• CPD also enables the librarians to make plans to
respond to the technological changes such as
integration of electronic resources with traditional
print collection
• A policy for a e-resources should be a subset of the
general collection policy
• Librarians need to publicize availability of the
resources to the user community
• There is a need to conduct training for the user
community on how to make best use of the
resources.
Thank you!
☺☺☺
Selection Policy Writing
Why do I need a policy?
• To avoid overlap in content or unrelated
materials to changing patterns of instruction
• To enable school professionals to rationally
explain the school program to the community
• It will be relevant to your particular system
and include basic sections on objectives,
responsibility, criteria, procedures for
selection, reconsideration of materials, and
policies on controversial materials
Basic Components of Selection Policy
❖OBJECTIVES
- policy should state succinctly what
your system is trying to accomplish in its
educational program, and, in somewhat
more detail, the objectives of selection
- specific goals should be established by
professionals for each learning level
RESPONSIBILITY FOR SELECTION
• Locally elected or appointed school
board
• Administrators, supervisors, teachers,
library media specialist, students,
community residents
• Certificated library media personnel
• Department chairpersons or textbook
or media evaluation committees
CRITERIA
• SUBJECT MATTER
-Excellence (artistic, literary, etc.),
appropriateness to level of user,
superiority in treatment of controversial
issues, and ability to stimulate further
intellectual and social development
- consider authenticity,
appropriateness, interest, content, and
circumstances of use
• Technical criteria
- clarity of sound in audio materials and
cinematography of use
• Staff members
- significance
- contribution the subject matter makes the
curriculum and to the interest of the clients
- favorable recommendations on preview and
examination of materials by professional personnel
- reputation and significance of the author, producer,
and publisher
- validity, currency, and appropriateness of material
- contribution the materials makes breadth of
representative viewpoints on controversial issues
- High degree of potential user appeal
- High artistic quality and/or literary style
- Quality and variety of format
- Value commensurate with cost and/or need
- Timeliness or permanence
- integrity
PROCEDURES
• Should describe all steps from initial screening
to final selection
• Include provisions for coordinating among
departments and professionals working at
different learning levels, etc.; for handling
recommendations from other faculty and
students and for reviewing existing materials (
for possible replacement, etc.)
SPECIAL AREAS
• Include procedures for integrating gifts and
sponsored materials
• Stated the criteria for inclusion of gifts and
sponsored material as are the same as the
purchased materials
POLICIES ON CONTROVERSIAL MATERIALS

• Should include the statement on intellectual

freedom and why it is important to maintain

RECONSIDERATION
- Procedure for handling reconsideration of
challenged materials in response to questions
concerning their appropriateness should be
stated
Steps to be taken:
1. Asking the complaint to fill out a written
complaint form
2. Assigning a reconsideration committee to
examine the materials in question
3. Requesting the committee report their findings
to the school board

The procedure for handling complaints

should be describe every step, form the initial
response to the compliant through the highest
appeal.
Sample Letter to Complainant
Sample Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials
Library’s Inventory Program
Reasons:
• To determine the total number of missing books
and identify these titles as well, with the end in
view of replacing these titles
• To provide statistics of what types of materials
are already available in the collection
• To identify records with discrepancies and
correct these records as well

-staffing and scheduling

Inventory benefits:
1. To identify missing materials
2. To identify materials with no shelflist record
which subsequently has no representation in
the book database
3. To identify misshelved/stray materials
4. To do visual inspection of materials for
mending/binding/repair
5. To examine multiple copies for potential
weeding
Inventory approaches:
• Accession Approach
• Dummy Slip Approach
• Shelflist Approach
• Barcode Scanning Approach
• Out-of Stack Inventory
✓ Growth of the Collection
✓ Book Budget
✓ Profile of the Book Collection
✓ Unaccounted Books
✓ Missing Books
✓ Recovered missing Books
✓ Withdrawn, Lost and Paid/Replaced Books
declared Missing During inventories
Security measures
• Inspection Counter
• Depository counters
• Checkpoint Electronic Article Surveillance
• Reserved Books
Problems Encountered:

• The Integrated Library System

• File Maintenance
• Open Stacks
Concerns
• The Growing Collections
• Books on Loan to Satellite Libraries