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Collection Development Policy

I. Purpose:

The mission of Nash Library is to support teaching and research at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO). The Library fulfills that mission, in part, by maintaining an effective, up-to-date audiovisual, electronic, monograph, and periodical collection.

The main purpose of the general Library Collection Development Policy is to establish guidelines for the planned development of a quality collection of materials to meet instructional, curricular, and research needs of USAO faculty and students. The Policy has three general goals:

  1. Provide a balanced collection of high-quality materials, in all formats, for undergraduate research and teaching.

  2. Provide consistency among those who have responsibility for developing the collection and to provide a tool for evaluating and improving materials for all subject areas.

  3. Provide general guidelines for allocating funds fairly.

This Policy is intended to be flexible enough to respond to long- and short-range objectives of Nash Library and USAO. Periodic review of this Policy will ensure that it reflects any important changes to the academic programs.

Responsibility for Selection:

Official responsibility for budget management and materials selection is delegated to the Director of the Library. The USAO faculty are responsible for requesting selections in their fields. Each faculty member is allotted $300 for materials that can be ordered with the Library's online request form. The Library staff is responsible for selecting a core collection of materials in all areas.

II. Selection Criteria

The Library collection includes all current media forms such as books, periodicals, microforms, audiovisual materials, CD-ROMs, and computer software. Unless absolutely necessary, the Library will not collect obsolete formats such as filmstrips, record albums, and slide presentations.

The Library staff is responsible for choosing the most appropriate format of material, including the purchase requests from faculty. Softbound volumes are generally preferred for library use because the cost of the paper volume is substantially less than the cost of the hardbound volume

The Library normally cancels the subscription of any hard-copy journal that is available in electronic format.

English is the primary language of the collection.

Basic scholarly and trade monographs, reference works of all types, and electronic formatted materials are emphasized. Older editions are rarely acquired. Advanced, scholarly research materials such as proceedings of conferences, symposia, dissertations, letters, diaries and specialized government documents are only rarely purchased.

Older standard works are purchased only as required. Out-of-print books are generally sought only when justified by the high circulation of older copies. An effort is made to keep only the most recent edition of any given work.

III. General Collection Priorities

The proportion of Nash Library expenditures in any subject area will generally match the percentage of USAO students in the major. The Library’s four priorities in for purchases are:

Specific Requests From USAO Faculty

Each faculty member receives $300 per year to purchase both materials. Unless absolutely necessary faculty purchases will conform to the selection criteria outlined above. Faculty will submit the request directly to the Library Director, via the Library's online request form.

Award-Winning Monographs in the field

Nash Library acquires award-winning monographs to help build a solid monograph collection suitable for the subject area and to assure that USAO gets the most value for its expenditures. As a general rule, Nash Library will acquire the award winners dating back to 1990, if the item is still in print and if the Library has the necessary funds.

Electronic Resources

Nash Library subscribes to third-party electronic resources that are suitable for an undergraduate education to assure that USAO gets the most value for its expenditures; and to complement its audiovisual, monograph, and periodical holdings. As a general rule, Nash Library will subscribe to Web-based electronic resources that provide full-text searching and downloading, and allow for at least four simultaneous users.

Other Selections

When funds are available, the Library will make additional selections for the collection. The selections will balance cost, strengths and weaknesses of the current holdings, and changing research and teaching needs.