Collection Development Policy

In support of the institution’s mission, Ogeechee Technical College’s Library identifies and acquires books, periodicals, audiovisual materials, and other resources, based on faculty and staff recommendations, program advisory committees recommendations, library advisory committee recommendations, accrediting agency recommendations, publication reviews, and evaluations of the library holdings of comparable educational institutions.

Library materials will be selected and acquired based on their relevancy to the instructional programs offered, needs of the faculty and students, diversity of format, and currency of information. The Library will strive to support the different educational programs offered at the College. Priority will be given to those materials relevant to the College's curriculum and to general reference works considered standard in most libraries as well as materials that foster intellectual development and critical thinking. After priority needs have been met, consideration will be given to other desirable materials which will give balance to the collection and which will meet the leadership, scholarship, fellowship, continuing education, and personal development needs of the students, faculty and staff.

The responsibility for coordinating the selection of those resources that support the educational programs of the school rests with the library personnel as appointed by the dean. The suggestions for the selection of those resources will involve all communities of interest: including instructors, staff, students, administration, program advisory committees, the Faculty Library Committee and the Library Services Advisory Committee.

Collection Development Guidelines

Purpose

The purpose of these guidelines is to guide the acquisition and maintenance of a well-balanced materials collection which adequately supports the curricular needs of the College as well as the general education and leisure interest needs of library patrons in order to meet institutional objectives.

Objectives

To prioritize criteria for collection development and maintenance
To establish the responsibilities of library and media services staff (Attachments 2 and 6) in the acquisition of materials
To present guidelines for selection of materials specific to subject fields and instructional programs

Evaluative Criteria for Selection

The Library abides by copyright laws in acquisition of materials.
The Library adopts the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights (Attachment 5), and the principles of that document are considered an integral part of the collection development guidelines.
All materials are selected based on the objectives of the College.
The collection reflects the diversity and the academic levels of the students.
The collection reflects an awareness of developing occupational trends and instructional methods.
The collection addresses the non-occupational needs, in addition to the occupational needs, of the students.
Gift materials are evaluated by the same criteria as purchased materials. Gifts must be appropriate to the educational program.

Guidelines Specific to Subject Fields and Instructional Areas

The selection of materials is a cooperative procedure involving faculty, administrators, students, Library Services Advisory Committee, program advisory committees, and the library staff. Selection is heavily based on the faculty's specialized knowledge in subject areas. Faculty members assess the current collection, survey department needs, obtain recommendations from their program advisory committee members, and present requests for materials to the library staff. The Dean or an appointed library staff member will actively solicit recommendations from the faculty and students regarding collection development and purchase of supplies and equipment.

The professional collection supports the research and professional development needs of the faculty and assists personnel in the effective performance of their duties.

The Dean or an appointed library staff member will receive a copy of requests for departmental materials so that quality collections will be maintained and duplication will be prevented.

Procedures for Involving Faculty and Administration in Collection Development

The Dean or an appointed library staff member will routinely scan professional journals and standard reviewing sources for reviews of materials relevant to the curriculum.
Copies of relevant reviews will be routed to individual faculty and administrators for their input regarding potential value to the library's collection.
Faculty members and administrators will be encouraged to submit requests at any time.
The Dean or an appointed library staff member will encourage new faculty members to evaluate available resources for their subject and encourage specific requests within their subject field.
Program advisory committees will be encouraged to make recommendations for additions and/or deletions to the library collection.
Program faculty will forward the recommendations to the Dean for consideration.

Acquisitions

The Library utilizes the EBSCO Subscription Service to order the majority, over 60 titles, of its periodical collection. Altogether, the Library subscribes to more than 100 periodical titles, as either paid or free subscriptions.

Books and other print material are purchased to augment and/or to update existing collections. Items are purchased directly from publishers or through established book vendors or resellers (e.g., Baker and Taylor, Gale, Amazon.com).

Donations

Donations of library books and periodical subscriptions may also be accepted from faculty, staff, students, and the general community provided the item(s) meet certain criteria.

Donated library books and other material will be accepted by Ogeechee Technical College’s Library under the following conditions: item contains no handwritten notes or highlighting to indicate prior use item is not damaged (e.g., loose bindings, torn or missing pages, etc.) item contains up-to-date information (with a publication date within the last five years, depending on subject content) item is not a duplicate copy of items already on the shelf–multiple copies are accepted of items that are heavily used item is appropriate to the library’s mission and scope.

The Dean or an appointed library staff member will provide an acknowledgement letter, upon request, to any individual who makes a donation. However, the library’s staff does not provide donors with valuation estimates for tax purposes. Individual donors should contact a tax professional for assistance.

Collection Weeding

The purpose of weeding (removing) iteims from a library collection is to discard items that have become obsolete and to continually free space for incoming materials. Faculty members periodically examine holdings (Attachment 3) connected with their program areas and recommend to the Dean or his designated person items for removal from the collection. The decision to weed items from the collection is the responsibility of the Dean and the library staff.

Items are maintained in the various library collections for a period not to exceed their practical usefulness to patrons.

In general, items will be weeded from the collection under the following terms:

items contain information that is out-of-date
items are excessively worn and/or beyond reasonable repair
items have no particular historical value and/or are not considered a special collections item (e.g., autographed copies, original manuscripts, etc.)
items no longer concurs with the institution’s mission
item withdrawal does not cause the collection to favor any particular viewpoint
Additionally, items will be periodically weeded from the collection if a conversion is made to an alternative format of a later edition. The item content and publication date will be used to determine which items will be selected for weeding, depending on the subject matter covered by the item.

Materials withdrawn because of condition are replaced if available and if the items continue to meet the criteria for collection development. Weeded materials may be given to other public college libraries or may be given to OTC students, faculty or staff through a first-come/first-served method of distribution.