ADMINISTRATIVE RULE
NO: B201
RELATED TO POLICY SERIES
NO: 4050
LIBRARY RESOURCES: SELECTION GUIDELINES
To help Linn-Benton
Community College Librarians and Faculty select resources and to maintain and
develop a balanced, useful, and high quality collection, these guidelines and
criteria have been developed.
The goals of the library
are:
to
support the instructional programs of the college;
to
enable the faculty and administrative staff to keep abreast of developments in
their fields of interest;
to
provide access to information which is outside the scope of present instruction;
to
provide access to the public to resources and services;
to
train in information literacy. The
information literate student, faculty, or staff member has the ability to use
resources independently and effectively;
to
provide an atmosphere conducive to study and research.
The library statement
and mission are as follows:
The library collection
is not only a set of books, media, and online materials, but is a reflection of
the ever-changing instruction offered at LBCC and the ever-changing interests
of library users. As a result, the
resources must be continually evaluated, new resources selected and added, and resources
that are outdated, damaged, or no longer relevant to the curriculum removed
from the collection and withdrawn from the catalog. These guidelines and criteria themselves must
be continually evaluated and revised to reflect the changing needs of the
students and faculty of LBCC. The
library supports the American Library Associations Bill of Rights and the
concept of intellectual freedom. The
library respects and complies with applicable
The
Library is committed to providing resources, services and an environment that
support the mission, goals and curriculum of Linn-Benton Community College.
Responsibility
The librarians are
responsible for purchase decisions based on the library mission and goals and on
the following guidelines and criteria. Faculty
and staff of the college recommend to librarians curriculum-related resources that
will support their programs or will be needed for course assignments and
research. These curricular requests have
priority consideration. Student requests
for resources are welcomed and solicited.
In those subject areas
not represented by curriculum, but necessary to maintain a balanced and
complete collection or access, the librarians shall be responsible for
selecting the resources.
The Dean of Student
Services has the final responsibility for maintaining and developing the
library collection.
Selection of Print Resources - Print
resources are defined as books, periodicals, maps, pamphlets, government
documents, newspapers, and microfilm copies of materials.
Reviews in professionally recognized book review periodicals such as Choice,
Library Journal, and the New York Times Book Review, as well as
reviews in reputable online sources, are used for selection of many of the
print resources.
Selection of resources in areas relating to the professional technical
classes is often be made from advertisements and reviews in trade and
professional journals. Often only a
direct mail advertisement announces the publication of a title and reviews are
rarely available. When adding books, the
librarian and/or faculty members exercise a great deal of judgment and evaluate
the existing library resources.
Selection of Non-Print Media and
Online Resources
Non-print media resources are defined as motion pictures, video
recordings (videos), DVDs, sound recordings (cassettes and CDs), slides,
computer software, videodiscs, CD-ROMs, filmstrips, or combinations of any of
these. Non-print media resources,
purchased by Media Services, are usually added as direct support to class or
course instruction on the recommendation of the faculty.
Online resources are defined as items or sites requiring computerized
access, resources such as eBooks, periodical databases, and websites. Internet resources may be selected for
inclusion in the Library Information Lab or the Library sites to provide
organized access to a selection of academically relevant sources.
These resources, selected mainly by the librarians, the Manager of Media
Services, the library computer lab specialist, and interested faculty, are
included based on criteria comparable to those used when considering the addition
of resources to the traditional collection.
The primary criteria for the selection of these resources is the extent
to which it is relevant to the curriculum, improves the overall library
collection and/or enhances the librarys access to information. Guidelines for selecting information sources
address general considerations, product considerations, vendor considerations,
and technical considerations. Specific
quality indicators are sought, such as: reliable, accurate, peer-reviewed,
reputable authorship, consistently available, well-organized, regularly-
maintained (i.e. current), and freely accessible to the LBCC community. Also, responsibility for the resources must
be identified in the resources and the integrity of any original source is reasonably
preserved. Some of the resources (e.g.
databases) may be restricted to members of the LBCC community because of
agreements with database vendors. The
library sites are at the following URLs:
http://www.linnbenton.edu/library/
General Evaluation Criteria Relating to All Types of Resources Each resource is considered in
terms of its own merit and usefulness to the persons using the library from any
location. For all resources added or
accessed, the following general criteria are considered:
quality of content
appeal to the interests and needs of the campus
community
permanent value as source materials
relation to specific courses of instruction
contemporary significance (relevance to today)
accuracy
currency
objectivity
skill, competence, and purpose of the author
relations to other materials and existing areas of
coverage in order to maintain a balanced collection
vitality and originality of thought
artistic excellence
price
format and quality of manufacture
accessibility of materials in other libraries
A resource need not meet all these criteria to be acceptable, but all are
considered.
Collection Maintenance
Responsibility for selecting resources for withdrawal lies with the
librarians, and the faculty in the relevant subject discipline. Librarians strongly encourage the faculty to
review their subject areas to identify items which should be removed from the
collection. In those subject areas
not represented by curriculum, the librarians shall be responsible for
selecting resources for removal from the collection.
Request for Withdrawal or Addition of Resources
Whenever any person using the library objects to the presence or absence
of any library resource, the complaint is given a fair hearing. Resources subject to complaint are not removed
from use pending final action. All
complaints to staff members are referred immediately to the Library Department
Chair who will discuss the matter with the complainant.
The following outlines the process to follow in making a formal request
for removal or addition of library resources:
1. The complainant is asked to
fill out the appropriate form ("Request for Reconsideration and Removal of
Library Resources" or "Request for Addition of Library
Resources") so more formal consideration of the complaint may be made.
2. The Library Department Chair
and librarians, examine the resource in question. If it is a request for withdrawal, they check
reviews and determine whether it conforms to the standards of the resources
selection policy and the LBCC Board Policy relating to Selection of Library
Resources. If it is a request that has
been rejected for addition of a resource to the collection, they re-consider
its addition.
3. The Library Department Chair decides
whether or not to add, withdraw, or restrict the resource in question and writes
to the complainant giving the reasons for the decision.
4. The Dean of Student Services is notified of the complaint and of the
decision.
5. Should the complainant disagree
with the decision of the Library Department Chair, the complainant may appeal
to said Dean who reviews the original complaint and decision.
6. If the complainant is not in agreement with the Deans decision, the
complaint will be is reviewed by the President of the College. The decision of the President is final.
DATE OF APPROVAL: 8/13/84
DATE
OF REVISION: 7/12/94
DATE OF REVISION: 9/30/97
DATE OF REVISION: 3/15/05