Our Lady of the Lake College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is an independent, private Catholic College founded by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady.  Over 2,000 students participate in a student-centered academic community, which promotes a holistic approach to student growth and development.  Our Lady of the Lake College Library supports teaching and learning of the college to engage students in the pursuit of academic excellence and foster a concern for the needs of society. 

Our Lady of the Lake College Library provides support for degrees in nursing, health sciences, humanities, behavioral sciences, and arts and sciences at the associate and baccalaureate levels, and master’s degree programs in nursing, anesthesiology, and physician’s associate studies. 

The OLOLC library exists to further these endeavors by providing the necessary support materials required by the various curricula, through both its growing collection and cooperative efforts with other libraries.  To accomplish these goals, a core collection of materials, at the introductory, informational, and research levels, will be collected in fields pertinent to courses offered.  OLOLC is a member of the Louisiana Library Network (LOUIS), allowing student’s convenient access to other collections around the state.

A secondary, but no less important, goal of the library is to provide an atmosphere that students will find friendly and inviting.  The OLOLC library supports information literacy, intellectual freedom, unlimited access to materials, and copyright protection.

The purpose of the collection development policy statement is to serve as the basis for selection and acquisition of materials that best serve the above goals and will guide future program development.

Collection Development Overview

The Head of Public Services and/or Director of Library Services with the input from faculty, students, and staff, are responsible for the final selection and purchase of all materials and the development of cooperative agreements with other institutions.  This includes:  coordinating the development of the libraries’ book and serials collections which include periodicals, newspapers, standing orders, historic collection, reference collections, government documents, and audio visual resources.

Standards and Criteria

Full and part-time faculty and staff are encouraged to make recommendations for materials in their area of expertise.  SACS accreditation requirements for the college as a whole are considered critical guidelines in the development of libraries’ collections.  New materials are selected based on relevance to one or more areas of the curriculum.  The academic level of most materials will be undergraduate level, but professional level materials will also be purchased in subjects where it is required.  Intellectual freedom is fostered within the library by the collection of materials presenting the widest range of viewpoints possible.  Selection of materials does not imply endorsement of the content; however, the quality of all works must meet the standards as set forth above. 

The library fully subscribes to the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, and the joint statement entitled The Freedom to Read issued by the American Library Association and the Association of American Publishers.  Both documents are appended to this policy.  The library abides by the U. S. Copyright Law at all times.  Items produced in violation of this law will not be added to the collection.

Budget

Library material budget lines are designated to accommodate all areas of the curriculum as equitably as possible, taking into consideration library collection strengths and weaknesses, circulation statistics, and the size and nature of the curricular programs.  Priority is given to specific subject areas as the need arises, such as the addition of new courses or the implementation of new curricular programs.

Selection Criteria

Materials are selected in accordance with one or more of the following guidelines:

·          Artistic, literary, historic, and /or scientific value

·          Price, in relation to total budget

·          Authority and competence of author

·          Awareness of significant new trends in literature, technology, and formats

·          Clarity and accuracy of information and/or presentation

·          Community requests and/or anticipated popular demand

·          Favorable reviews

·          Format and durability

·          Practical usefulness

·          Relationship to existing materials in the collection

·          Relative importance in comparison with other materials available on the subject

·          Language

·          Scope

Policies for Selection of Specific Materials

Priority Subject Areas

Materials selected for the library will be those that support the Our Lady of the Lake College curriculum and its academic programs.  Standard professional review sources are used as selection tools as well as specially designed vendor approval and notification slip services.  The library will acquire materials that are current and user-friendly.

Textbooks

The College Library does not purchase current course textbooks for the Library’s circulating collection. One copy of current assigned course textbooks are purchased for the Library’s Reserve Collection.  Students may use these materials in the College Library.

Reference

The Reference Collection consists of general and specialized reference materials in all subject areas of the curriculum and general fields of knowledge.  General standard reference tools such as dictionaries, bibliographies, encyclopedias, indexes, atlases, gazetteers, handbooks, electronic resources, and specific references relating to business and careers will be considered for purchase.  The reference collection of the library covers the sciences, applied sciences, technology, social sciences, humanities, fine arts, and career information.  The OLOL library provides a general reference collection to support the curriculum.

Media Collection

The Media Collection consists of audiovisual materials that support and meet the instructional and general needs of the students, faculty and staff.  Selection criteria include curriculum relevancy; audience level; current holdings; content accuracy; currency and impartiality; image and sound quality; potential uses; and cost.  Professional selection resources include Video Rating Guide, Library Journal, and Choice.

External Electronic Information Resources

Providing connections to global information, services, and networks is not the same as selecting and purchasing materials for a library collection.  Determining the accuracy or authenticity of electronic information may present special problems.  Some information accessed electronically may not meet a library’s selection or collection development policy.  It is, therefore, left to patrons to determine what information is appropriate to their needs.

Electronic Resources

This is an important area of the collection; therefore, the library will provide access to online databases, electronic journals, and CD-ROMs, as well as the Internet.  Electronic databases are offered through the Louisiana Library Network (LOUIS) consortium.

Periodicals

The increasing number of periodicals currently published necessitates selectivity as budget growth has not kept pace with increasing cost and demand.  The College Library strives to provide topical reading selections and scholarly journals support information needs and research needs of curriculum.  The following guidelines are considered for purchasing titles to be added to the periodical collection:

  1. Periodicals listed in major or highly used indexes that OLOLC subscribes to.

  2. Periodicals which are basic to OLOLC mission and curriculum.

  3. Continued use of the periodical once it is in the collection.

  4. Purchase priorities to the requested titles in the annual budgeting process.

  5. Periodical title retention will be evaluated annually.

Newspaper Selection

Newspapers will be acquired on a current basis to meet the teaching and general information needs of OLOL patrons.  Local newspapers from the area will be purchased along with selected titles representing major regional cities and several national newspapers.  Due to storage space limitations, however, back issues of many newspapers will be kept for only short time periods unless retrospective issues are purchased in alternative formats such as microfilm or electronic, requiring less storage space.

Miscellaneous collection development policies

Replacement of Irrevocably Damaged, Lost, or Stolen Materials

The library, by policy, will not routinely replace all materials because of damage or loss.  The following criteria will be considered on a title-by-title basis:

1.                  Strength of present holdings in the same or similar subject

2.                  Lasting value of the material

3.                  Historical significance of the title

4.                  Availability of materials on the subject through other sources

5.                  Demand for the specific title on subject

6.                  Number of duplicate copies, if any, available

7.                  Availability of specific title

Replacement will occur six to nine months after the loss or damage if deemed necessary.  Where demand for a title is imminent, replacement will be immediate.  The library staff will be scheduled to meet once a year during summer breaks to consider revisions, additions, or deletions of policy guidelines.

Gifts

Large gift collections should be assessed in terms of appropriateness for the libraries’ collections before the decision is made to accept them.  Gift materials selected for inclusion are integrated into the libraries’ collections.  Gift materials that are not selected may be (a) returned to the donor if requested, (b) given to another library, (c) placed in the Library Book Sale, or (d) discarded.  The library cannot legally appraise gifts for tax or inheritance purposes.  Although gifts and donations are welcomed, they are accepted if they meet the following requirements:

·          They must meet the curriculum of the Our Lady of the Lake College and the Library’s collection development policy.

·          They must provide current information.

·          The gift or donation must be in good physical condition.

·          The gift or donation must not be in duplication.

·          The gift or donation must go under the review of the technical service librarian.  

Faculty Materials Request Policy and Procedure Policy

It is the policy of this library to encourage faculty to request materials for the library to purchase.  All suggestions are subject to review by a librarian and all faculty requests for materials for instruction and research will be given first priority.

Procedure

1.)    Forms for submission will be made available at the reference desk.  (see attached)

2.)    The forms must be completed in their entirety.

3.)    The material requested will be reviewed by a librarian to see if this material hasn’t been ordered already or previously requested.

4.)    The material’s arrival will be made known to the requester.

College Community Involvement in Collection Development

OLOLC Faculty

Determination of the educational resources of the OLOL College Library is a professional consideration of great importance, requiring the cooperative efforts of librarians and faculty members.

Faculty members are encouraged by library staff to participate in the materials selection process. Librarians encourage regular consultation regarding library support of course assignments and changed or new curricula.   The RLG Conspectus is used to specify collecting levels to support curriculum.

Any faculty member may recommend the purchase of books, serials, audio visual materials, and media software in his subject area or curriculum to a librarian.  For book recommendations, the recommended titles will be reviewed by the librarians.  As staff is hired, an individual staff member will be assigned several subjects areas for collection development in that subject area. If the cost of the title is considered excessive, the director and other staff will be consulted before ordering. All serial requests are reviewed by the committee of the director and librarians.

Audiovisual and computer format requests are regularly reviewed by the director and librarians.

The selections process is carried out by librarians with the participation of the faculty. Full professional judgment is exercised in the choice of titles and subject for acquisition, in accordance with the Collection Development Statement.  Advice may be sought from the Library Advisory Committee regarding acquisitions, gifts to the collection which represent policy development or changes.  The Committee will not be consulted over individual title decisions, however.

Additionally librarians have the responsibility for the overall development of the library collections.  Included in this charge are the following functions:

a.       Making judgments as to the completeness of the holdings

b.      Considering every order in light of the needs of the college as a whole

c.       Determining the relative importance of monographs, serials, periodicals, and audiovisuals

d.   Selecting such materials as the writing of specific author, studies of the

       contemporary culture and other student interests that the librarian    

       becomes aware of through public service and reference contact.

OLOLC Students

Students, as prime users of the library, should be encouraged to contribute to the development of the collection by suggesting new titles and by assessing weakness in the holdings.

Adding and Withdrawing Materials

New books

New books are reviewed by library staff before being added to the reference or general collections.  A dated, signed note will indicate that all librarians have examined the materials. If there is a designated “New Book” viewing area the books will be housed on those shelves for a length of time as determined by the Library Director.

Weeding

Library staff will withdraw library materials when, in their professional judgment, such a course of action is necessary to remove unneeded materials.  Continuous evaluation of library holdings is an essential ongoing routine, in which unneeded materials are removed permanently from the library collection.  Weeding is guided by the principals stated in  The CREW Method: Expanded Guidelines for Collection Evaluation and Weeding, (Austin, Texas: The Texas State Library, 1995).

Examples of unneeded materials, which might be targeted for withdrawal, could include multiple copies, badly damaged or deteriorated materials, out-of-date or chronically unused, dated periodicals, and obsolete media materials.  The library staff may also withdraw materials because of a shortage of shelf space or other constraints.

Whenever possible, faculty members and other subject specialists will be invited to participate in the weeding process to assure that the materials of historic or research interests are not inadvertently removed.

Library materials reported missing are not replaced automatically.  Instead potential replacements will be evaluated using the same criteria for selection of regularly purchased items.  Heavily used materials, determined as necessary for teaching or research, will be replaced as quickly as possible if they are still available.  Other materials will be replaced upon the recommendation of the library staff.  If after two (2) years and individual item is still missing and cannot or will not be replaced, it is to be considered permanently lost and all records will be eliminated from the catalog.

General considerations of discarding materials are:

·          Circulations statistics

·          Last date of circulation

·          Timeliness – books containing obsolete or inaccurate data or facts

·          Reliability

·          Physical condition – worn or badly marked or mutilated volumes

·          Duplicates – multiple copies of titles without justification

·          Superseded editions of books currently held by the library

·          Incomplete set of books, whose continuity has not been maintained

·          Incomplete holding of journals for which there is not adequate indexing available

Items usually not discarded are those, which have research value, are out-of-print, cover local history, and add balance of the collection.

Reference Collection

Books replaced by newer editions, more complete versions, or more authoritative titles will be discarded or added to the circulating collection if of value.

Disposing of Withdrawn Materials

Disposal of withdrawn materials will be in accordance with approved state guidelines. After these procedures have been followed, disposal shall be determined by its usefulness to the following:

·          Faculty, staff and students

·          Local area libraries or other institutions, as appropriate

·          Remote libraries or institutions or other exchanges mechanism

Collecting Levels

The Research Libraries Group of the Library of Congress, developed a system of collecting levels, knows as the RLG Conspectus, intended primarily for the uniform evaluation of collections in libraries. The use of these collecting levels evolved from a tool for evaluation into a meaningful set of descriptors employed in library collection policy statements. These levels are used in the Library of Congress policy statements to define the extent of the Library's collections.

Faculty members  use these descriptors to indicate the level of acquisition of library resources.

 The general definitions of these collecting levels are:

0. Out-of-Scope: The Library does not collect in this area.

1. Minimal Level:  A subject area in which few selections are made beyond very basic works.

2. Basic Information Level:  A collection of up-to-date general materials that serve to introduce and define a subject and to indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere. It may include dictionaries, encyclopedias, selected editions of important works, historical surveys, bibliographies, handbooks, a few major periodicals, in the minimum number that will serve the purpose. A basic information collection is not sufficiently intensive to support any courses of independent study in the subject area involved.

3. Instructional Support Level:  A collection that in a college is adequate to support undergraduate instruction, or sustained independent study; that is, adequate to maintain knowledge of a subject required for limited or generalized purposes, of less than research intensity. It includes a wide range of basic monographs, complete collections of works of more important writers, selections from the works of secondary writers, a selection of representative journals, and reference tools and fundamental bibliographical apparatus pertaining to the subject.

4. Research Level:  A collection that includes the major published source materials required for dissertations and independent research, including materials containing research reporting, new findings, scientific experimental results, and other information useful to researchers. It is intended to include all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as a very extensive collection of journals and major indexing and abstracting services in the field. Older material is retained for historical research.

5. Comprehensive Level:  A collection which, so far as is reasonably possible, includes all significant works of recorded knowledge (publications, manuscripts, and other forms), in all applicable languages, for a necessarily defined and limited field. This level of collecting intensity is one that maintains a "special collection." The aim, if not achievement, is exhaustiveness. Older material is retained for historical research. In law collections, this includes manuscripts, dissertations, and material on non-legal aspects.

Collection Level Breakdown for the College

Nursing: Due to the addition of the graduate program in nursing, these materials will be collected at the Research level (level 4)

Anesthesiology: Due to the addition of the graduate program in anesthesiology, these materials will be collected at the Research level (level 4)

Physician Assistant: Due to the addition of the graduate program in physician assistant, these materials will be collected at the Research level (level 4)

All other Allied Health Sciences: These materials will be collected at an Instructional Support level (level 3)

Arts and Sciences: All disciplines taught by the College of Arts and Sciences will be collected at an Instructional Support level (level 3)

General Studies:  If the subject is not currently taught at OLOL College, such material will be collected on a Basic Information level (level 2).   

Approved by the OLOLC Library Resource and Instructional Committee on September 11, 2007