Library Policies

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Amory Irby, Updated: August 28, 2019

FEDERAL DEPOSITORY COLLECTION

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

            To support the San Antonio College curriculum, materials will be acquired to keep the collection current on new theories and techniques in the field reflected in the curriculum, while maintaining the depository under the rules governing the federal depository program.

SELECTION PRIORITY

1.      Those items which meet direct curriculum needs of courses offered to the student body, as listed in the San Antonio College Bulletin.  Such curriculum needs include instructional programs in liberal arts and science education, occupational and technical education, developmental education, continuing education, and women’s programs.  A list of suggested subject areas/SuDoc numbers is given below.

2.      Those items which are listed in the Guidelines for the Depository Library System.

3.      Those items which meet other needs of the student body, faculty, administration, and community, dependent upon relevance of the items to the curriculum, internal factors of space and budget limitations, and other collections available in local depositories.  A list of selection criteria is given below.

4.      While recommendations are welcome, final responsibility for selection of materials rest upon the Federal Documents Librarian.

5.      Most documents will be housed in the Documents area of Special Collections.  Major reference works will be routed to the Reference collection;  periodical documents, with a biannual publishing frequency, will be routed to the Periodicals collection.

MATERIAL TYPES

            All formats may be considered for acquisition.  Serials are heavily relied upon for current material.  Textbooks provide background information.  Audiovisual materials may be added for selective additions, as well as CD-ROMs, DVDs, and microfiche.

SELECTION CRITERIA

1.      Course and curriculum descriptions in the college bulletin.

2.      Expressions of research needs, such as term paper requests, reference requests, and subjects of topical and geographic interest.

3.      Strengths, needs, and gags in the entire library collection.

4.      Listings in standard reference sources, bibliographies, and book reviews.

5.      Format, level, and frequency of publication, such as weekly publications of office manual types, and highly technical scientific items.

6.      SuDocs in which everything available should be selected:

a.       CR

b.      GPO

7.      Areas in which some, but not all, materials should be selected:

a.       A

b.      AA

c.       AE

d.      C

e.       CC

f.        D

g.       E

h.       ED

i.         EPA

j.        FEM

k.      FT

l.         GA

m.     GS

n.       HE

o.      HH

p.      I

q.      IA

r.        IC

s.       J

t.        JU

u.       L

v.       LC

w.     MS

x.       NASA

y.       NCU

z.       NF

aa.   NS

bb.  P

cc.   PE

dd.  PM

ee.   PR

ff.      PREX

gg.   PRVP

hh.   S

ii.       SBA

jj.      SE

kk.  SI

ll.       T

mm.           TD

nn.   VA

oo.  X

pp.  Y

8.      Areas of highly technical nature or which are located in other local depositories and are not selected:

a.       NTIS

b.      Military manuals

c.       FHL

d.      FMS

e.       FTZ

f.        ITC

g.       LR

h.       NMB

i.         OP

j.        RR

k.      TC

l.         Serial set

SELECTION TOOLS

            Materials will be identified through recommendations in or from:

            Faculty and student recommendations

Guidelines for the Depository Library System

Monthly Discovery

            Ref. Z1035.1.G89 1996.  Guide to reference books.

            Ref. Z1039.C65 B67.  Books for college libraries.

RETENTION POLICY:

            Documents will be weeded based upon the following criteria:

1.      Circulation and in-house use of a specific document.

2.      Curriculum needs.

3.      Historical importance, including appearance in standard reference sources and bibliographies.

4.      Availability of newer editions.

5.      Availability of newer similar works.

6.      For scientific or technical material, documents older than five years should be reviewed for dated material.

7.      For nominations, keep only Department Secretaries, well-known and/or controversial figures, and Texas nominees, placing on exchange all other nominations older than five years.

8.      For budget material, place on exchange anything older than five years.