Library Materials Selection Guidelines

Woodward Library encourages a partnership with academic departments and programs to develop a collection of books, journals, audiovisual materials, and electronic resources to support teaching and learning. Faculty librarians appointed as liaisons collaborate with faculty in specific academic departments and programs to make recommendations for purchase in their respective disciplines. The Coordinator of Resource Management coordinates this selection process, striving to build a balanced collection to support curricular and research needs.

Departmental collection development guidelines for each academic department or program are listed individually. General collection development policies, selection guidelines, and procedures are below.

Book, E-book, and Audiovisual Selection Guidelines:

In selecting materials, the Woodward Library supports the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights and the Intellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries as adopted by the Associate of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). The following factors are considered in selection:

• relevance to the curriculum;
• support for research needs of faculty and students;
• currency, accuracy and objectivity;
• reputation of the author, publisher, or producer;
• relationship to existing holdings;
• condition (materials, including donations, must be in acceptable physical condition; e.g., binding intact, good paper stock, and free of markings and other defacement such as mold or mildew).

Librarians refer to the following to aid in selection:

• reviews in scholarly journals and library and book trade journals such as Library Journal or Choice;
• published bibliographies;
• list of recommended readings for the University's courses;
• publishers' catalogs;
• reviews and information from online bookstores (e.g., Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble)

Guidelines by Format

Books, E-books, and Audiovisual Materials

The Library's first priority is to provide appropriate materials for students and faculty in sufficient breadth and depth to support teaching and learning in the subject areas of the curriculum. A high priority is also given to materials supporting faculty and student research activities.

• Costs should be within an appropriate price range compared to the average cost of publications in the field.
• Preference is given to current materials of lasting and scholarly value over older materials or materials of fleeting value.
• Retrospective materials may be purchased to fill gaps in the collection when appropriate to the curriculum.
• Preference is given to materials which broaden the scope of the collection.
• Materials are acquired in greater depth in areas with graduate programs.
• General interest books and audiovisual materials may be purchased if related to course offerings. A modest amount may be spent each year to support the Popular Reading Collection.
• The Library primarily acquires English language materials. Materials in other languages may be selected to support the foreign language curriculum.
• Textbooks are not acquired unless they offer a significant contribution to a field not available in other sources. Textbooks currently being used in courses may be placed on reserve if faculty or departmental copies are loaned to the Library.
• Consumable materials such as workbooks are not purchased.
• Audiovisual materials in older or specialized formats (e.g., videocassettes) are not purchased.
• Titles already heald by the Library in an alternate format are generally not purchased unless the requesting faculty member or subject librarian notes a significant curricular or research need for duplication.
• Due to budget constraints and the high cost of streaming media licenses, the Library purchases digital downloads and licensing rights to streaming media on a limited basis. For details see the section below on streaming media.
• The Library secures public performance rights (PPR) for DVDs and other media only when required of instituational buyers as a condition of purchase established by the vendor.
• Materials for collections outside the Library's jurisdiction or materials used in campus offices, classrooms, or labs are not purchased with Library funds.
• Donated materials must generally meet the same selection guidelines as purchased materials.
• The withdrawal of outdated, damaged, or otherwise unneeded materials will be conducted periodically, which contributes to the maintenance of a more up-to-date, balanced, and usable collection. For more information, see the Deselection of Materials.

Streaming Media

Streaming media is an increasingly important tool for higher education, and Woodward Library subscribes to a variety of streaming media services. The high cost of purchasing licenses for individual titles, combined with budget restrictions, place limitations on what the Library is able to purchase. Before placing a request for individual streaming media titles, we ask faculty to consider the Library's existing streaming media services or the DVD collection, which can be found in PeaySearch.

Streaming media videos cannot be purchased like DVDs; instead, they are leased from vendors such as Kanopy and New Day Films for approximately $150.00 per film per year. To ensure that the Library's budget is being used to its potential, streaming license requests must meet the criteria listed below.

• Priority for purchasing streaming media will be given to online and hybrid courses.
• The streaming media will be used as required course material.
• Individual licenses will not be purchased if films covering similar subject matter are already available via the Library's existing streaming media subscriptions.
• Streaming media requests must be placed by faculty.
• Due to budget limitations, the Library cannot purchase streaming media for non-curricular purposes.

Alternate formats are available to students receiving accomodations through the Student Disability Resource Center.

Journal and Online Database Selection Guidelines

Because of the ongoing cost implications of subscriptions, journal and database requests are reviewed by a committee consisting of the appropriate subject librarian, the Coordinator of Resource Management, the Electronic Resources Librarian, and the Director of Library Services.

• First priority is given to the purchase of resources which directly support the curriculum.
• Consideration will be given to resources supporting faculty research; however, projects of limited scope or duration may be supported by interlibrary loan in lieu of initiating new journal or database subscriptions.
• Journals must be indexed and/or abstracted by a source available from the Library.
• Costs should be within an appropriate price range compared to the average cost of publications in the field.
• Preference is given to resources which broaden the scope of the collection.
• Preference is given to journals available in electronic format.
• Duplicate formats are generally not purchased, although print subscriptions may be acquired if the online version is embargoed and there is a significant curricular or research need for the materials.
• Preference is given to databases which offer campus-wide IP address recognition and authentication via a proxy server. The requirement of individual registration and authentication via a proxy server. The requirement of individual registration and/or password access is generally not acceptable.
• The terms of licesnse agreements or contracts must be acceptable to the University. The Library complies with all terms and restrictions of license agreements and contracts.
• Database trials are conducted on a highly selective basis, and may only be arranged by the Electronic Resources Librarian.
• Journal and database subscriptions will be reviewed periodically, and materials with little usage may be subject to cancellation.

Procedures

Submitting Book and Audiovisual Purchase Requests

• Faculty may submit requests via their department's representative to the Library through YBP's GOBI system.
• Departmental representatives may submit requests directly to their subject librarian.
• Subject librarians may submit their own requests on behalf of the departments with whom they liaise; however, ongoing collaboration between faculty librarians and faculty in the academic departments is highly desirable.
• Requestors must provide adequate bibliographic information, including, author, title, publisher, date, and ISBN (if known).
• Student and staff requests may be submitted through the online book recommendation form.
• PeaySearch should be checked before submitting a request to verify that the item is not already held by the Library.

Submitting Journal and Database Subscription Requests

• Faculty must submit requests for journals and databases to the appropriate liason librarian, the Coordinator of Resource Management, or the Electronic Resources Librarian.
• Requestors must provide:
• bibliographic information such as the title, publisher, publication frequency, ISSN (if known), and where indexed/abstracted;
• a brief statement indicating justification of need;
• a description of the user group composition and estimate of size (e.g., type and level of program, number of courses, enrollment size, etc.).
• PeaySearch should be checked before submitting a request to verify that the item is not already accessible by the Library.

Forms

Contact

Updated March 2025