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Wilbur Wright College Library Collection Development

Collection Development Policy Purpose

The purpose of the library's collection development policy is to:

  • state our commitments to improving the currency, accuracy, and diversity of our collection
  • inform the work of our library staff in selection and de-selection of materials
  • inform our users of our collection's purpose and goals

Diversity in our collection

In order to successfully fulfill our service and stewardship mission, those who are charged with developing collections employ strategies for acquiring, describing, and managing resources that go beyond normative structures, collections types, and established canons. Our decisions are informed by new curricula developed to meet the needs of a more diverse student body, new and emerging areas of research being conducted by a broad spectrum of researchers, including graduate students and newly-hired faculty, as well as by perspectives from the diminished or entirely lost voices of historically oppressed, marginalized, and under-served populations and communities.

The library supports the following policies and statements:

Collection Development Policy

Collection Goals

  • Support the curriculum and outcomes of the college's courses and programs
  • Provide subject-based tools such as dictionaries and handbooks, essential journals, and current monographs
  • Expand student horizons and facilitate learning outside the classroom
  • Address a wide range of learning styles and reading levels
  • Reflect diverse heritages and backgrounds of students
  • Support an effective learning environment and activities

Donations/Gifts to the Collections

Donations and gifts are gratefully and willingly accepted as long as no restriction is placed upon their use and disposition. Acceptance of gifts (of books and other library materials) will be determined by library staff on the basis of their suitability to the library's purposes and needs in accordance with the library's stated materials selection policy. The library has the right to discard any gifts that are in poor physical condition (e.g. brittle paper, water or mildew damage, torn and/or missing pages) or that do not meet the needs of the library or college curriculum.

Values will not be placed on donated items for income tax purposes, but a statement acknowledging the donation may be provided upon request.

Weeding/Deselection:

The removal of materials to be discarded is an important part of collection development. Professional librarians are responsible for thoughtful and systematic weeding of library materials. A process of continual assessment, removal and replacement of materials is maintained to ensure relevancy, accessibility, cost efficiency and attractiveness of both electronic and hard copy collections. Current periodical titles are reviewed annually prior to renewal. All other areas of the collection should be reviewed every three to five years.

Considerations for weeding include items that are:

  • Superseded by a new edition or format.
  • Outdated or contain incorrect information.
  • Duplicate volumes unless the item is in heavy demand.
  • Unusable due to poor physical condition.
  • Items determined to be of minimal value when weighed against the college curriculum or the library collection as a whole.

Every effort should be made to replace lost or heavily mutilated titles if they are judged to be of continuing relevance. Gifts can be used to replace worn circulating copies. Condition of all materials should be monitored to ensure those in need of repair/rebinding or replacement are attended to. Lost books will be reviewed at least annually for replacement.

Faculty are encouraged to review academic program areas and make recommendation for  discard/update/ replacement/expansion.