2024-2025 Administrative Policy Manual Published August 1, 2024 
    
    Dec 13, 2024  
2024-2025 Administrative Policy Manual Published August 1, 2024

Section 5 - Library


Daniel J. Kaufman Library Collection Development

Policy Number: 5.1
Effective Date: August 2, 2019
Revision History: May 26, 2016
Policy Contact: Head of Collections Department

Purpose and Policy Statement

The mission of the Daniel J. Kaufman Library is to advance the institutional goals of Georgia Gwinnett College by serving as a partner in education, research, and scholarship for the College’s students, faculty, and staff. The Collection Development policy establishes the requirements, responsibilities, parameters, and processes Kaufman Library follows in the continual building, maintaining, accessing, and assessing library resources.

Scope

This policy applies to all GGC staff and faculty who purchase library resources and/or manage items donated to Kaufman Library.

Definitions

Resources: Materials donated to Kaufman Library, purchased directly by the institution, purchased or provided through University System of Georgia consortial purchasing, or that are freely available, which support teaching, learning, and research at the College. These resources may include open educational resources, books, journals, databases, learning objects, websites, government information, reports, etc. Resources are collected and made available in both print and/or electronic format.

Open access: Literature that is “digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.”

Open educational resources: “Teaching, learning and research materials in any medium - digital or otherwise - that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.”

Patron-driven acquisition: “A method used by libraries for collection development where monographs are purchased at their point of need when selected by users from a pool of potential titles.”

Gifts: Resources given to Georgia Gwinnett College or specifically to Kaufman Library to be added to the general collection or College archives.

Archives: “Materials created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs and preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator, especially those materials maintained using the principles of provenance, original order, and collective control; permanent records.”

Institutional repository: “Digital collections capturing and preserving the intellectual output of a single university or a multiple institution community of colleges and universities.”

Grey literature: “Multiple document types produced on all levels of government, academics, business, and organization in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing i.e. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body.”

Collection Development

In collaboration with Kaufman Library faculty and staff and the College community, the Kaufman Library Collections Department manages the selection and de-selection processes for collections materials utilizing the General Guidelines for Selection specified below. The curricular areas for each of the College’s academic programs directly inform the subject areas in which Kaufman Library collects. Additionally, Kaufman Library maintains a process for members of the GGC community to suggest material for the collection. Liaison librarians collaborate with campus faculty to recommend materials for the collection.

General Guidelines for Selection

Materials are selected for the collection using the following guidelines.  Additional considerations may apply:

  • Materials directly supporting GGC curriculum are given priority over materials supporting research and/or informational purposes.
  • Whenever feasible, electronic format is preferred over print to allow for more simultaneous access.
  • In general, Kaufman Library does not purchase the following materials:
  • Textbooks unless considered a standard work in one of GGC’s program areas
  • Filmstrips
  • Videotapes
  • 16 MM film

 

Collections Budget and Sustainability
The budget for Kaufman Library’s collections is set during the College’s annual allocation of funds and administered by the Dean of Library Services in conjunction with the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and Provost. Direct curricular support is the major factor considered in building and maintaining the collection. Kaufman Library participates in annual internal and College-wide reviews of its resources and makes recommendations for the funding necessary to support materials for new programs and accreditation efforts as needed.  For subscription-based resources, Kaufman Library prioritizes faculty requested titles with the preferred format being electronic, allowing for maximum access for the GGC community.

Kaufman Library continues to explore new models for building and maintaining a robust and meaningful collection of resources. As part of this effort to maximize the collections budget, Kaufman Library makes use of several patron-driven acquisition plans. These plans cover monographs as well as the acquisition of additional formats such as streaming media products.

Consortia and Collaboration

In order to maximize its resources, Kaufman Library pursues involvement in relevant consortia. These consortia memberships allow Kaufman Library to expand the resources available to Georgia Gwinnett College in a more economical manner. Kaufman Library’s primary consortium is GALILEO (GeorgiA Library Learning Online) and GIL (GALILEO Interconnected Libraries), which are initiatives of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. Kaufman Library also belongs to LYRASIS and the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE).

Kaufman Library supports the use of Interlibrary Loan to provide access to materials to which the Library does not subscribe or own. Kaufman Library’s ILL service makes use of the consortia relationships previously outlined as well as Libraries Very Interested in Sharing (LVIS.)

Additionally, Kaufman Library provides reciprocal borrowing privileges to the GGC community through a partnership with Gwinnett County Public Library.

Open Access

Kaufman Library recognizes the opportunities the Open Access movement represents for scholarly publishing as well as Georgia Gwinnett College community’s access to scholarly resources. As such, Kaufman Library actively makes available open access journals and monographs and open educational resources through its catalog and other resource discovery tools. Scholarly output of the College published as open access is also made available via Kaufman Library’s institutional repository, General Space.

Ongoing Assessment of Collections

To ensure its collection continues to meets the needs of the Georgia Gwinnett College community, Kaufman Library regularly assesses its collections for accuracy, currency, suitability, condition, duplication, and usage. Usage is determine by circulation statistics for print materials and standards-based usage statistics for electronic materials.

Maintenance and Preservation

Kaufman Library makes repairs in order to preserve the usefulness of materials to the greatest extent possible. When an item can no longer be repaired or repair is not economically feasible, the item will be withdrawn from the collection. Withdrawn items are not automatically replaced; they will be considered for replacement based on currency and relevance to the subject area, as well as historic usage data.

Gifts

All gifts of materials to the Kaufman Library are evaluated with the same criteria as purchased and subscription materials. Kaufman Library does not accept gifts with conditions as to their disposition or location, and it retains the right to dispose of any unneeded materials regardless of how they are acquired. All gifts are subject to the Georgia Open Records Act.

Archives

The Archives collects, preserves, exhibits, and makes available materials with lasting and historical value produced in the course of the business of the College which document the history of the College and the activities of its faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

Institutional Repository

Kaufman Library manages General Space, Georgia Gwinnett College’s institutional repository. General Space houses scholarly output and grey literature produced by Georgia Gwinnett College faculty, staff, and students.

Related References

Source of definition of open access
Source of definition of open educational resources
Source of definition of patron-driven acquisition
Source of definition of archives
Source of definition of institutional repository

Source of definition of grey literature
Open Records Act (Georgia)

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