El Centro College Library

El Centro College Library Addendum to DCCCD Collection Development Policy

The vitality of a library's collections depends not only upon collection development but also upon collection management. An important aspect of this process is the deselection of materials that no longer support the mission of the college or the purpose of the library's collections. The same care and caution used in purchasing or accepting gifts is exercised in deselection.

In order to keep the collection viable and useful, an active and continuing program of weeding is necessary. Weeding (the removal of obsolete, damaged, or unneeded materials) is an integral part of collection development.

Weeding helps to keep the collection current, accurate, useful, and appealing to the users. The act of scanning the shelves for materials meeting the weeding criteria also serves to identify materials in need of repair, binding, re-labeling, or replacement and saves valuable space for the best resources.

The library requires systematic deselection of materials to insure the collection remains dynamic and current. This process involves evaluating materials to ascertain that they continue to be useful to the college community.

The process of deselecting materials requires as much care as the process of selection itself. It is especially important that deselection be viewed within the broader context of the library's collection development programs and policies. Like collection development, deselection of materials is an endeavor that often involves not only the librarians but may also involve faculty and other staff.

Ultimate responsibility for selecting items for possible withdrawal lies with the El Centro Librarians. Faculty in academic areas are also encouraged to review titles recommended for removal in their disciplines. The librarian selectors solicit and encourage input from the faculty in both the selection and deselection of resources for the library collections. The methods used to gather faculty members’ input include the following:

“Suggest a book” link on Library webpage
Meetings with department heads and faculty members
Collection of class reading lists
Knowledge of class assignments and research topics
Faculty sent copies of Choice, Library Journal, Booklist or other relevant reviews

Purpose

To strengthen the library collection one discipline at a time in order to insure adequate support for each and every curriculum.
Removing dated or irrelevant titles from the shelves facilitates browsing by students and faculty.
To alert faculty to areas of weakness within their areas of interest, to increase faculty involvement in developing the collection, and to develop closer working relationships between librarians and faculty. Deficiencies can be noted and appropriate materials can be purchased.
To complement the college's Program Review process.
To make the most effective use of shelf space. Shelving of library materials is inherently expensive. Deselection may be necessary to remove materials that are not needed and provide space for new titles.
To utilize acquisitions funds in the most effective manner.) Cancellation of serials and standing orders frees up fund for other titles that are more responsive to current teaching and program needs.)
To increase the relevance of the existing collections to current curricular needs.

Weeding Criteria

Older editions: Titles which are superseded by a newer edition. Generally, any reference edition replaced by a new edition or revision will be weeded, unless it has historical value, reliable information, and is in good condition; in which case, it will be transferred to the circulating collection.
Relevancy: Titles no longer relevant to current curricular needs and therefore not within the scope of the library's current collection development policies may be removed from the collections or (in the case of subscriptions) canceled. Titles too obscure or too basic for patrons may also be withdrawn (although some range is desirable for a diverse student body).

Consideration will be given to the amount of existing material in a subject area. Weeding should not have the effect of biasing the collection in favor of one viewpoint.

Obsolete materials: Titles that contain obsolete information (e.g. legal or medical reference works) may be deselected because the information they contain is out-of-date, invalid, inaccurate, or incomplete.
Redundancy: Copies or editions of titles may be deselected to minimize redundancy. Individual titles containing information found elsewhere in the collection may also be deselected for this purpose, along with duplicate copies of low-use books.
Usage: Titles with low check-out statistics (infrequent usage) may be deselected. For example, items not checked out in the past 5 years. However, weeding is not done solely on the basis of circulation statistics. A review of circulation statistics and an evaluation of other available titles for relevancy and quality will be taken into consideration. An outdated, obsolete or rarely-used item may be transferred to the DCCCD Depository.
Physical Condition: Materials may be deselected due to poor physical condition (worn, mutilated, damage which cannot be repaired, missing pages, or marked-up materials )
Format: Titles or relevant information available in electronic format via databases or via inter-library loan or the same information is available in another easier-to-use format.
Periodical: Lack of inclusion in indexing tools, including online database
Periodical/serial: broken sets or runs
Periodical/serial: Cost, overpriced (relative to use)
Periodical/serial: Declining quality of the publication
When in doubt the item in question will not be weeded.

Considerations for not weeding include:

Demand is still strong
Item is out of print
Title is on college or school reading list (if in poor condition, consider replacing or repairing)
There is little or no additional information on the topic or materials cover a unique subject
Local or regional interest, faculty authors
Prize winning titles
Classics works
Important authors in the field/subject area
Historical value
Materials meeting a curriculum need regardless of their use patterns

Replacement copies are sought as appropriate and available.

Although faculty may choose to weed a title based on their department's needs, librarians may select to keep that item based on the needs of other departments. If another librarian or faculty member has a legitimate objection to a title’s removal, it will be returned to the collection.

Responsibilities

Collection development librarians are responsible for evaluating materials, selecting new materials, and deselecting materials within their subject areas.

Material formats include: books, periodicals, standing orders, and microfilm. The Librarians also are responsible for allocating library funds among program areas and establishing an order cycle for each fiscal year.

Books

Books orders are submitted through Baker & Taylor's Title Source online system or submitted for direct order to the DCCCD ERSS Acquisitions staff. Titles may be canceled by contacting ERSS, Team Leader for Book Processing.

Serials/Periodicals

Serials are renewed annually for each fiscal year. Periodical titles are renewed annually, at which time the collection is evaluated and cancellations or additions are made. Serials orders are placed, renewed, and/or canceled through ERSS from EBSCO Subscription Services.

Online database subscriptions are, for the most part, selected at the district level by the members of the Reference Group, a peer committee of representatives from each campus library. Many current newspapers are routinely retained for stated periods and then discarded or replaced by microfilm or electronic sources.

Microfilm

Microfilm orders are placed, renewed, and/or cancelled through a blanket order. Microfilm titles are renewed annually, at which time the collection is evaluated and cancellations or additions are made. The district’s Microfilm Committee maintains a microfilm archive of titles that can be requested by DCCCD libraries if needed.

Standing orders

Standing orders are for titles the vendor supplies to the Library until further notice. This type of order specifies that updates, new publications in a series or set, or annual publications be automatically sent to the library upon publication. Standing orders are placed for titles that the library orders on a regular basis and for which prompt receipt of the most current edition is important.

The standing order lists are reviewed annually, at which time cancellations and/or additions may be made and submitted to the ERSS acquisitions department.

Gifts

The library staff will consider adding gifts of materials to the collections if the materials meet the selection criteria applied to purchased materials, as stated in the DCCCD Collection Development policy. The library reserves the right to reject materials that do not meet these criteria. Any gifts accepted by the library become the property of the DCCCD. Gifts are accepted with the understanding that they may be used as the library staff deem appropriate. Donations not kept are offered to other DCCCD Libaries or put into the Annual EDF Booksale.

The library staff does not provide an appraisal of the value of gifts or donations.

Preservation

Because El Centro is not a research library, minimal preservation is undertaken for the collection.

Criteria for selecting materials for major repair or rebinding include classic titles, high- demand titles, title in a series, or titles needed to support the curriculum. Materials in need of major repairs are submitted to the ERSS staff. The El Centro librarians make minor book repairs.

Process & Procedures

The collection reflects the cultural diversity of El Centro's student body. Materials are acquired to promote critical and creative thinking. The Library strives to provide a representation of standard works without attempting to provide a comprehensive or complete collection in any particular subject.

The Library attempts to encourage, foster and enable independent learning by meeting non-textbook needs of students, within the range of El Centro's instruction. Collection development primary emphasis is given to introductory works and to materials that present a general survey. Emphasis is given to current course-related publications and support of student information needs.

Multiple copies are ordered only with careful evaluation of usage.

Each DCCCD campus offers unique programs. The DCCCD Libraries practice active cooperative collection development within the DCCCD to optimize the use of resources.

Lost/Missing Titles

Circulation staff forward notification of lost or missing titles to the Librarians who then determine the need for replacement based on the policies outlined above.

Review Process, Replacement & Weeding

In order to maintain a collection of optimal usefulness and to assure the best utilization of library space, the librarians weed the collection on a periodic basis. Materials deemed missing, obsolete, no longer appropriate to the collection are weeded. Materials judged no longer appropriate for the collection will not be replaced.

Faculty are consulted during the weeding of program related materials. New material criteria is utilized in the selection of replacements for weeded materials.

The librarians conduct a physical inspection of the materials on the shelves, using the weeding criteria outlined and checkout information. Using the weeding criteria outlined, librarians determine if newer editions should be ordered, if there are subject weaknesses, and if the materials are still relevant to current program support.
An analysis of the holdings is done. Faculty are consulted for program areas.
Items to be weeded are pulled are put on bookcarts and placed in the Library workroom for review by other librarians. Circulation assistants insert w/d white flags for main collection or purple flags for reference collection inside each book.
Items are physically withdrawn from III by the Department Assistant. Items are put in book tubs, and sent to ERSS for disposal.

NOTE: Procedures for withdrawal are established by ERSS and will vary by the type of material.

Division Support/Liaisons

The librarians work cooperatively in recommending and selecting materials for purchase. Curricular needs are a primary consideration and the librarians endeavor to remain knowledgeable of current curricula needs. The process of collection development requires that the librarians evaluate the needs of faculty, students and staff; identify and maintain the strengths of the collection; and correct its weaknesses. In order to do this, the librarians monitor collection use and interlibrary loan requests and communicate with faculty on an ongoing basis.

The Library encourages the participation of faculty, administration, and students in the selection process. Librarians consult with and notify faculty of relevant purchases in their subject area. Librarians utilize standard collection development tools, such as Booklist, Library Journal, Choice, and recognized program area publishers in purchasing materials.

The librarians are available to provide assistance to instructors and students in all areas of library research.

Faculty members are encouraged to make recommendations for library acquisitions by email, in person, or in writing. Requests can be made at the reference desk in person or by calling ext. 2174. A request can also be made to individual librarians via email or by phone.

Liaison services include acquisition of materials, course-related bibliographic instruction, bibliographies, and pathfinders.

New Courses

Division administrators and faculty are encouraged to consult with the library in developing new course library support, share copies of library-related assignments, and provide general awareness of program needs.

Textbooks

Materials published solely as textbooks are not purchased. Faculty are encouraged to place copies of current textbooks on Reserve.

The El Centro College Library accepts gifts and memorial contributions. Donated funds and materials such as books, periodicals, and audio-visual materials are used to further the Library's primary purpose of serving the educational needs of students.

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©2006    El Centro College Library    Dallas, TX
Last Updated: September 21, 2009