The collections of the Corriher-Linn-Black Library of Catawba College have been built over the years by collaboration between professional librarians and classroom faculty to offer a range of resources to support and enhance the college’s curriculum. These collections include a wide range of types of materials including print volumes, eBooks, ejournals, sheet music, and databases of all types.
In building and expanding this collection, the library strives to achieve a balanced mix of physical and online resources to meet the needs of our faculty, staff, and students. Scholarship and publishing are changing rapidly. Given this, we must continue to evaluate and adapt this strategy on an ongoing basis and this policy is designed to be a living document.
General Policies
- The library acquires materials based on demonstrated need, anticipated use, and available funding in accordance with the library’s Mission Statement.
- We support intellectual freedom by representing a diversity of opinions and viewpoints. The library is guided by the American Library Association’s policies on Intellectual Freedom
- In selecting and retaining resources, we seek authoritative scholarship, quality and durability, accessibility, sustainable pricing, and favorable licensing terms.
- We collect materials in the most useful format for the content and intended use, bearing in mind the institution’s technical infrastructure and staff expertise available to support patron use of specialized resources.
Collection Development Fiscal Responsibility Policy
The Board of Trustees approves the overall budget for the College based on the recommendations of the College administration. The Library Director is responsible for the expenditure of all Library funds, including funds utilized for the acquisition of library materials, equipment, and supplies.
Collection Development Gifts Policy
Bearing in mind that the Corriher-Linn-Black library building has extremely limited space, the librarians may accept donations of books and other materials abiding by the following guidelines:
- The library retains unconditional ownership of the gift.
- The library will only accept gifts relevant to our Selection Policy. The library reserves the right to discard, sell, or exchange gifts which do not meet selection criteria outlined in the Selection Policy.
- The library reserves the right to determine the housing and circulation policies of all gifts added to the collection.
- In accordance with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations, it is the responsibility of the donor to set a value for his/her gift and to make a list of item(s) included in that gift. The acceptance of a gift appraised by a third party does not in any way imply an endorsement of the appraisal by the library.
- The library will provide bookplates for special gifts or memorials if desired by the donor.
- The library will write a letter to the donor expressing thanks for the gift, which will serve as a receipt.
The establishment of endowments for the purchase of library materials is encouraged. Donors may specify subject areas in which materials are to be collected. The minimum gift to establish an endowment is $1,000. The Development Office and Business/Finance Office will handle all endowment monies for the library.
Collection Development Government Documents Policy
The departments and agencies of the US Government publish numerous items in various formats, which they make available to the public through the depository library system. The Corriher-Linn-Black Library participates in this system as a selective depository. A selective depository library chooses categories of publications that it would like to receive from among those published by the Federal Government. Since 2017, the library has selected only electronic documents, as we have determined they are the most accessible to the largest number of users.
US Government documents are available to all who wish to use them. These documents are selected and maintained for the primary use of citizens of the 8th U.S. Congressional District.
The library acquires all titles in the "Basic Collection" list, along with other titles selected by the Dean of Learning Resources/Director of the Library and the library staff, and those recommended by faculty, students, and the community at large. Apart from documents with lasting reference value, the majority of US documents are kept for at least five years or until superseded.
Offsite users have access to the holdings of the Catawba College Library, including US documents, via the internet. These documents can be found by accessing the library’s catalog or the library’s research guide for Government Documents.
If a US Government document is not available at Catawba, then it should be available through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the regional depository serving our area. As a regional depository, the UNC-CH Library receives and retains the majority of all documents distributed by the US Government through the depository system.
The Dean of Learning Resources/Director of the Library is responsible for the selection and weeding of Government documents. Suggestions for acquisition from the library staff, College faculty, staff, and students, and community borrowers from the Salisbury/Rowan area are welcomed.
Collection Development Selection Responsibility Policy
The selection process for Library materials is a cooperative effort of the faculty and the professional librarians. Faculty members are encouraged to participate in the selection of materials in areas of their expertise. Likewise, all professional librarians are encouraged to participate in the selection process for library materials. Within the budgetary guidelines, the Director and/or the Associate Director will monitor these requests.
Requests from students, staff, and the Salisbury-Rowan community at large are welcomed and will be considered contingent upon their appropriateness for the collection and the availability of funds.
Collection Development Specific Selection Policies
The following principles shall guide the development of the collection of the Corriher-Linn-Black Library:
- Primary attention in the selection process shall be given to materials that support the curricular offerings of an undergraduate college. Materials primarily of interest to advanced undergraduates and graduate students will be selected to support curricular offerings of Catawba’s Master’s degree programs.
- In selecting materials, the major considerations shall be the factual accuracy of the topic treated, the authoritativeness of the author or editor, the reputation of publisher, cost, suitability of format to content, and strength of current holdings in the same or related subject areas.
- The Library collects materials in a variety of formats, both print and non-print. All materials must meet the same evaluative criteria for selection. Non-print materials must be compatible with the hardware and software owned by the library.
Within this basic framework, the following guidelines apply for specific categories of materials:
Textbooks
Textbooks are generally not purchased or added as gifts. However, textbooks may be added at the request of individual faculty members selecting materials for their academic disciplines. The library makes no attempt to purchase current editions of textbooks adopted for classes.
Foreign Language Materials
Foreign language materials are selected by the faculty in the foreign language department to supplement their course offerings. The library does not seek to build an extensive collection of reference and circulating materials in foreign languages.
Rare books, manuscripts, fine editions
The library does not routinely collect rare books, manuscripts, or fine editions. Gifts of such materials may be accepted at the discretion of the Dean of Learning Resources/Director of the Library.
Newspapers
Most newspapers of national and international significance are available online via one of the library’s many database subscriptions. The library no longer subscribes to print newspapers, as they are of limited value.
Databases
Databases that support the curriculum are given priority and will be licensed if they contain appropriate content of sufficient depth and scope to meet the needs of researchers and are within the library’s budget.
Multiple Copies
The library does not acquire multiple copies of a given item. Generally, one copy of a work is sufficient, since the library seeks to provide a wide range of materials on many subjects. Extra copies of materials that will be in high demand, especially those on contemporary social issues, may be purchased at the discretion of the professional library staff. The faculty may request extra copies of materials if they feel that demand will be high. Additionally, duplicate copies of an item may be removed from the collection if the demand does not merit multiple copies.
Annuals and Editions
With the exception of annuals, the library will in most cases retain only the current edition of works updated on a continuing basis.
Award-Winning Juvenile Books
The library will acquire children's and young adult books that have been awarded the Caldecott and Newbery Medals, as well as the Coretta Scott King award. Other juvenile books requested by the Teacher Education department will be added as requested to supplement Teacher Education students’ needs.
Serial Titles
Canceled titles: The Library will generally not maintain files of serial titles, including periodicals and continuations, which were cancelled during an annual review or were purchased for only a brief period. These volumes will be offered for exchange. Regular reviews of the library’s periodical/serial titles will be conducted by the librarians and cancelled titles may be removed.
Brief runs of serial titles: The library makes no attempt to collect, nor accept as gifts, runs of serial titles shorter than ten volumes. Short runs of serial titles are of limited value to our students.
New titles: The library does not subscribe to new serial titles in print, as these are of limited use to our students. The Director and Associate Director will consider a new title if it is available electronically.
Duplication of Formats
The library will not seek to acquire or maintain the same title in multiple formats.
Collection Development Deselection Policy
Systematic deselection of outdated, superseded, incomplete, or damaged materials as well as duplicate copies of materials no longer in demand must be a routine procedure to maintain a useful collection. This is particularly imperative at a small undergraduate college with extremely limited space.
The library checks reserve lists, as well as published lists and bibliographies before removing titles. In particular, the library consults Resources for College Libraries (RCL) for information before deselection of titles. Titles with poor circulation history, damaged titles, titles with outdated or incorrect information, and materials in disciplines no longer taught at the college will all be considered for deselection. Materials in obsolete or superseded formats will be removed. For more information, see the document Criteria for Weeding at Corriher-Linn-Black Library.
Incomplete or limited back files of periodicals (less than 15-20 volumes) not currently received should be discarded. Older periodicals duplicated by permanent online access, whether bound or microfilm, will be removed unless the relevant department(s) has substantial reason for needing the print version.
The faculty, as the experts in their respective academic disciplines, are encouraged to take an active part in the deselection process.
The lack of systematic weeding of a college library collection is perceived by outside reviewing and accrediting agencies as poor management and planning by external reviewing and accrediting agencies, including not only the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (for the general collection), but also the Federal Government (for US documents), and the State Department of Public Instruction and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (for education-related materials).
Weeded materials shall be discarded, exchanged, or sold at the discretion of the Dean of Learning Resources/Director of the Library.
Guidelines
- Compare titles with published lists and bibliographies, and the databases Resources for College Libraries. Titles appearing in the database will not be discarded, except in the case of duplicates.
- Consult course syllabi and reading lists.
- Study circulation and in-house use statistics to identify items that have not circulated in the last 20 years and do not appear in Resources for College Libraries.
- Monitor interlibrary loan statistics as an indication of areas where acquisition efforts should be focused and expanded and areas that should not be thinned.
- Older editions will be discarded when newer editions are purchased, except in the case of certain yearbooks and annuals when all will be retained.
- Materials in disciplines once taught at the college, but no longer in the college curriculum will be strongly considered for discard.
- Government documents over 5 years old, unless they have historical or reference value, will be discarded according to guidelines of the Government Printing Office (for US documents). Older documents of limited value to the curriculum will be offered for exchange.
- Gift books that do not meet general selection guidelines will not be added to the collection.
- Incomplete backfiles of periodicals not currently received on subscription, usually less than 20 volumes of a given title not received in the last 25 years, should be discarded. These are symptomatic of materials once considered necessary, but now no longer useful or appropriate.
- Archival materials pertaining to Catawba College will not be discarded unless poor condition demands it.
