The primary purpose of the collection of the College of DuPage Library is to support the academic programs of the College with print, audiovisual, periodical and electronic resources. The library’s collection also serves the professional growth and development needs of the College’s faculty and staff. In addition, the collection will supplement other sources to address the cultural and enrichment interests of students, staff, faculty and the community as a whole.
To assist librarians in selecting current, diverse, balanced collections of materials to support the instructional and institutional needs of students, faculty and staff in support of the stated purpose of the collection To provide a basis for the consideration and incorporation of faculty suggestions as part of collection development and management To serve both traditional and distance education students and faculty by supplying integrated access to collections of materials in all appropriate formats in the most cost-effective manner To assist with short-range and long-range fiscal planning
The College of DuPage Library’s mission is to be an exemplary academic library that supports the educational goals and purposes of the college. The Library is dedicated to providing instruction and access to resources and services that support the academic program and the general information needs, diverse cultural interests, intellectual development, and professional growth of the entire college community.
Goals:
Collection development, including materials selection and deselection, is the responsibility of each full-time faculty librarian serving as Library liaison to specific departments or disciplines at the College of DuPage.
This includes responsibility for:
The Dean and Associate Dean are responsible for overseeing the overall growth and development of the collection, the allocation of the materials budget, and the expenditure of funds under the policies, procedures and guidelines developed by the library faculty in conjunction with the administration. The Dean and Associate Dean are responsible for final approval of the collection development policies and expenditures.
The Technical Services Librarian monitors the collection development budget including book, continuation, audiovisual, periodical, and electronic resources funds, maintains vendor relations, and regularly updates librarians on budget activities and status.
Librarians select print and non-print materials using a number of selection tools. These include:
The Library also accepts gift materials (see Donation Policy for details)
When selecting materials, an overriding consideration is appropriateness for community college use. Most materials should be written or produced on a level that the average community college student can use or benefit from, or at a level that students in a particular field are expected to attain.
Other considerations may be:
Books/monographs are collected in hardbound, paperback or audio editions based on the librarian’s judgment as to which format is suitable. The Library supports the research needs of faculty pursuing advanced degrees primarily through the use of interlibrary loan for items not in our collection.
Ebooks will be considered when they provide the most current and/or cost-effective format or when they provide collections in support of distance education courses and programs.
Reference materials including periodical indexes and electronic reference
Reference works are judged for inclusion in the Reference collection on the basis of the recommendation of the subject librarians (taking into consideration any faculty input), timeliness, cost, suitability of item for the community college library (i.e. level of item written for community college or undergraduate college student), ability to fill a need in the existing reference collection, plus review source recommendations and inclusion in end-of-year “Best Reference Title” lists.
The Library licenses access to electronic resources including article and digital image collections. Selection decisions are made on the basis of content, utility, ease-of-use, potential for off-campus access, subject specialist recommendations, evaluations from trials, collection overlap, affordability, and usage. Databases that are offered by consortial arrangement may be preferred when they offer the best pricing structure. The Collection Development Committee monitors the budget for databases and makes recommendations to the faculty librarians as a group for purchase and deletion based on the listed selection criteria.
Selection criteria include appeal to the college community and media coverage of the author or title. Particular attention is paid to best-selling and award-winning fiction and non-fiction.
The Library selectively collects textbook materials. In some instances, the selecting librarian may decide to purchase textbook material to assure adequate coverage of a discipline. Textbook material may also become available through gift donations and will be evaluated according to gift procedures.
Subject librarians make recommendations to the Collection Development Committee for the purchase of periodical titles to be added to and maintained for the Library’s collection. Magazines, journals, newspapers, and e-journals are added based on such considerations as faculty recommendation, support for the curriculum of the College, student interests, cost, indexing in electronic or print form, and the presence of alternative access full-text/full-image versions in the library’s electronic databases.
When back issues of periodicals are to be retained indefinitely, they may be maintained in either microform, bound, or electronic form based on the recommendation of the respective subject librarian.
Government publications in all formats may be added to the collection either through purchase or as gifts. Individual subject librarians will decide on the selection, location and retention of such materials based on the item’s content and use in support of research and instruction at the College. The Library does not maintain a separate collection of government documents.
Patrons needing government documents not owned by the Library will be referred to Interlibrary Loan or local depository libraries.
Librarians will decide on the selection, location, and retention of maps or atlases based on the item’s content and how it will support research and instruction at the College.
Non-print materials (e.g., VHS and DVD videos, compact discs, models, streaming media services) are evaluated on the same basis as are books according to the “Criteria for Selection of Materials” with special emphasis on the suitability of the format to the content, the quality of the production, and the Library’s ability to provide the equipment, access and support that is required in order to use the material.
The Library’s collection of popular video titles is limited in size due to space and technological considerations plus budget priorities. Selection criteria include enduring value, artistic or cultural merit, quality of technical production and number of awards won. Our focus is on academic rather than recreational use, although these two may overlap.
The Library does not collect software application packages such as CADD/CAM, Adobe Illustrator, etc. to support coursework at the college. Software is available in College computer labs.
The Library selects and provides access to Internet resources based on the resource’s content and how it will support research and instruction at the college. Evaluative considerations such as authority, purpose, currency, accuracy, presentation, and stability will also be used to determine the inclusion of Internet resources in the Library’s catalog.
Curricular materials required for teaching specific course sections, such as main textbooks, lab manuals, teachers’ manuals, lesson-based video sets, etc., will typically be purchased by the respective department or Division.
Class instructors are urged to consult their subject/liaison librarian regarding curricular as well as supplemental educational resources that support course learning outcomes. These materials, whether books, online videos, DVDs, etc., may already be available in the Library or the librarians can help to identify an alternative or open access resource. The librarian can also consider whether the requested material is of potential interest beyond that course. If that is the case, the librarian can choose to purchase the item(s) for the Library’s collection (regardless of format).
If materials of any format are already in the Library’s collections, they can be placed on reserve at the COD Library, or, in the case of online resources, directly linked from a course shell. On occasion, a copy of a course textbook is purchased for the Library collection at the discretion of the subject librarian; in other cases, the Library receives donations of textbooks. In either case, textbooks for current courses are typically placed on reserve for one or more course sections until superceded by a later edition. In this way, they can be used by the largest number of students taking that course.
For online course materials requiring licenses for students in particular courses, a faculty member should seek funding from his/her own department or Division, and work with Learning Technologies staff on the licensing structure, purchase, and integration into the course shell/LMS.
The College of DuPage Archives, housed in the Library, organizes and maintains a collection of historical and official records of the College. Items such as minutes of the Board of Trustees, legal documents relating to the organization of the College, College catalogs and class schedules, newspaper clippings, news releases, books and articles written by faculty and staff, minutes and records of campus-wide committees, and College-produced brochures, photographs, slides, and video recordings will be collected for and preserved in the Archives. The Archivist reserves the right to discard duplicate material and to decline to add items not closely related to the history of the College. The Archives does not collect student, personnel or departmental records, syllabi, and financial records unless they have historical interest or value.
The juvenile collection supports academic coursework at the College of DuPage. Every effort is made to include titles that have won literary awards such as Newbery, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King Awards. This collection contains materials from Pre-K through Grade 8.
The Career & College Information collection (CCIC) contains print and non-print materials relating to careers, colleges and universities, scholarships, the job search, professional school examinations, career certification tests and related topics. Duplicates will be purchased for heavily used items.
Materials are added to the Philanthropy collection on the basis of suitability for local nonprofit users, the recommendation of major review sources (utilizing primarily the Chronicle of Philanthropy with additional sources), the recommendation of Forefront librarians and the recommendation of individual nonprofit staff and/or local philanthropic groups.
The purpose of this circulating collection is to support the recreational information needs of the College community. This collection will consist primarily of award-winning material and/or items that are in high demand by users. Requests for specific titles and for multiple copies are considered on an individual basis. Titles remain in these collections until either their popularity diminishes or their physical condition deteriorates beyond repair.
Selection criteria include enduring value, artistic or cultural merit, quality of technical production and number of awards won. The selection supports the needs of students and faculty rather than those of the recreational reader, although these two may overlap.
The purpose of this circulating collection is to support the recreational information needs of faculty, staff, students and community card holders. The audiobook collection will consist primarily of award-winning material and/or items that are in high demand by users.
The Library reserves the right to accept or discard gift materials as it deems fit, with no restrictions being imposed by the donor.
Librarians will base their add/discard decisions using the same criteria as for purchased materials. Additional considerations include:
The weeding of materials from the Library's collection is a normal and necessary function of responsible librarianship. Items may be discarded due to poor physical condition, outdated information, lack of shelf space, and lack of use (as demonstrated by the item's circulation history). Considerations for weeding Internet resources include: 1) resources that are no longer accessible; 2) resources that are no longer current or reliable; 3) replacement by another resource that offers better access or more comprehensive coverage. It is the responsibility of the individual Librarian to examine the materials in his/her subject area(s) and decide what should be discarded, using professional judgment.
The Library performs:
Periodical binding decisions are made by the respective subject librarian. The decision to purchase microfilm in lieu of binding is made by the subject librarian based on cost and availability of funds, frequency of publication, history of holdings, space constraints and problems with theft/mutilation of issues.
The Technical Services Department notifies an individual librarian when an item in his/her subject area is damaged or missing. The Librarian will decide whether or not to order a replacement copy. Some factors to be considered are the item’s past circulation history, information content, cost and expected use in the future.
The Librarians have the responsibility to develop a collection in their subject areas that supports the teaching, research needs, and cultural interests of a diverse constituency. This may involve selecting materials that some individuals or groups may find incorrect or offensive. As an institution of higher education, which encourages the contemplation of many different issues, the Library collection should have materials that express a variety of views and opinions on various topics. This Library supports the "Library Bill of Rights" and intellectual freedom as stated by the American Library Association.
Cooperative collection development means collaborating with other libraries, government agencies or outside organizations, to obtain resources for the Library. Cooperative collection development may take place directly with neighboring libraries or through other means and agencies.
If you wish to request reconsideration of a specific title, please download below and return the completed Request for Reconsideration Form either via electronic submission or by mail to:
Dean of the Library
College of DuPage Library
425 Fawell Blvd.
Glen Ellyn, Il 60137-6599
The Dean will have the request reviewed by the Collection Development Committee and a recommendation will be forwarded to library administrators for a decision.
COD Library copyright resources
The Library complies with and promotes adherence to United States copyright law.
This Collection Policy developed by the Library Collection Development Committee and approved at meeting of Full-time Librarians and Dean of the Library, December 5, 2012.
Updated April, 2013.