PURPOSE
OF STATEMENT/PHILOSOPHY
SELECTION
POLICY
LIBRARY
MATERIALS: SPECIAL AREAS
COLLECTION
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Gill Library
The College of New
Rochelle
The College of New
Rochelle, founded in 1904 by the
Ursuline Order, is an independent,
multi-purpose institution serving
several diverse student
populations. The Graduate School
was established in 1969, the School
of New Resources (for adult
learners) in 1972, and the School of
Nursing in 1976. The School of Arts
and Sciences enrolls only women; the
other three Schools admit both men
and women. Since the founding of
The College of New Rochelle it has
grown from one School on one campus,
to four Schools with six campuses.
Through
its collection and services, Gill
Library fully supports and endorses
the mission of the College as stated
in the catalogs of the four Schools.
PURPOSE
OF STATEMENT/PHILOSOPHY
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The
purpose of this policy statement is
to provide guidelines for the
selection of library materials for
Gill Library and to communicate
these guidelines to all members of
the College community, including
library staff, faculty, students and
administration.
The
primary goal of the library is to
provide information resources needed
to support the instructional
programs of the College. An effort
is made to acquire materials needed
for research by faculty and
administrators which will be of
long-term value to the College.
Informed selection, in distinction
to comprehensiveness, is the major
collection development goal. The
library collects at the 2 (basic
information) and 3 (instructional
support) levels of the Research
Libraries Group (RLG) Conspectus.
These levels support all courses of
undergraduate study and masters’
degree programs as well as more
advanced independent study needs.
The
library seeks to keep current with
curriculum changes and closely
monitors trends in advancing library
technologies. In response to these
objectives, it is intended that this
collection development policy
statement be flexible and reviewed
regularly by the library. It is
further intended that this policy
statement be limited to general
goals of selection policy and not to
specific procedures.
Gill Library endorses
and promotes the American Library
Association documents on
intellectual freedom as set forth in
The
Library Bill of Rights
,
The
Freedom to Read Statement,
and
The
Intellectual Freedom Principles for
Academic Libraries.
Items will not be removed from the
collection at the request of those
who disagree with their content
unless it can be shown to be in
violation of this policy statement.
The Collection Development Committee
reviews all reported concerns about
this policy and makes a
recommendation to the Dean, who
makes the final decision on any
issues that may arise.
The library supports the
intent of the September 30, 1994
revision of the copyright law,
Title 17
of the United States Code
and the
1998
Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The library retains the right to
reject any request if it is judged
in violation of these copyright
regulations.
Selection of books and other library
materials, including electronic
resources, is based primarily on
faculty recommendations and those of
librarians assigned to specific
subject areas. All faculty, students
and staff are encouraged to
submit suggestions electronically
via our online catalog which is
available from our homepage. Final
authority for selection rests with
the Collection Development Librarian
in consultation with the Dean.
Factors influencing selection
of both materials and electronic
resources are based on commonly
accepted criteria for quality of
intellectual content in works of
contemporary significance and/or
permanent value as they relate to
the curriculum, to the already
existing collection, and to the
long-range goals of the library’s
collection development.
Systematic collection development
and evaluation insure an outstanding
library collection.
LIBRARY MATERIALS: SPECIAL AREAS
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Reference
Materials
The
Library’s reference collection is
designed to meet the basic research,
and information needs of the college
community. An attempt is made to
provide basic reference works in
subject areas contained in or
overlapping the curriculum areas, as
well as those subject fields common
to general information requests.
Specialized types of reference
materials collected electronically
and in print by Gill Library
include: encyclopedias,
dictionaries, handbooks,
directories, guides and statistical
sources insofar as they support the
coursework of the four Schools of
the College. The library is moving
toward more electronic resources in
all areas.
Serials/Electronic
Resources
In recent years Gill Library has
expanded its holdings of databases,
eBooks and World Wide Web resources.
The
Serials/Electronic Resources
Collection Policy
is located on the Library homepage.
Serials,
Newspapers and Microformats
Periodicals and serials are
selected to meet the needs of the
curricula for all four Schools of
the College. These materials include
specific titles related to the
undergraduate and graduate programs
of the College and other titles
relating to current affairs and
areas of general interest. In
addition, the collection supports
the research needs of the faculty
and staff.
The newspaper
collection reflects the need for
current information on a local and
national basis within the budgetary
restraints of the department. Titles
in foreign languages are included to
enhance the learning experience for
the students.
The
microfiche/microform collection is
intended to replace the paper issues
of newspapers, to enhance the runs
of titles through the inclusion of
back runs, and to supplement paper
copies where heavy usage, loss, and
mutilation are incurred. Where
appropriate, other titles are
acquired in microforms.
Media
In consultation with the teaching
faculty in all subject areas, the
library acquires media in accordance
with guidelines established for the
selection of printed materials.
Within such guidelines, the library
selects or responds to faculty
requests for videocassettes, DVDs,
streaming videos, podcasts, webinars
and other multi-media
materials as they become available.
Special
Collections
Special
book collections of Gill Library
include the Thomas More, James
Joyce, and Ursuline Collections;
also included is a miscellaneous
group of rare or unusual items which
comprise the “Special Collection.”
These special book collections were
acquired through purchase and
donation and include many pre-1800
imprints and numerous first, signed,
or limited editions. The special
book collections are supplemented by
on-going purchase of materials, as
well as by gifts. The Thomas More,
James Joyce, and Ursuline
Collections are maintained as
special-subject book collections
with significant research value.
Acquisitions include both new
publications in the subject areas
and rarer items which will fill gaps
in the three collections.
Archives
The
College Archive is the depository of
the permanent official and
non-official records of the
College. These records have been
judged by the Archivist to be worthy
of preservation for their
administrative, fiscal, historical,
or legal value. The College Archive
promotes knowledge and understanding
of the origins, aims, programs,
growth and development of the
College; provides information
services to assist the operation of
the College; and serves the purposes
of research and scholarship by
making its collections available and
encouraging their use.
The
Collection Policy for the Gill
Library Archives and Special
Collections is located on the
homepage.
Gifts
The library encourages
gifts of useful materials with the
understanding that the Dean
determines their ultimate
disposition. This agreement is to
be made known at the time the gift
is accepted. Upon request gifts are
acknowledged in writing with a copy
kept in the Dean’s office. Legally
the library cannot provide official
appraisals of gifts for tax or
inheritance purposes. See the
complete
Gifts Policy
on the Library homepage.
Conservation/Preservation
Given
the inherently fragile nature of
books and other library materials
and the hazards of environmental
conditions (both general and
particular), a major challenge
facing all library collections is
planning for long-term
conservation/preservation and for
unforeseen disasters. Gill Library
holdings have undergone both general
and specialized
conservation/preservation surveys.
Gill Library is committed to the
best possible
conservation/preservation policies
and measures appropriate to the
collection, whether it is binding,
boxing or digitization of fragile
photographs and documents in the
College Archives.
Revised November
2011
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