Library Policies & Procedures: Collection Development Policy

Collection Development Policy
Murrell Library and Commons

Purpose and Goals of Collection Development

Murrell Library and Commons supports the mission of Missouri Valley College in guiding students to succeed through personal instruction and intellectual inquiry, while protecting the freedom of inquiry through research, teaching, and learning. The Library’s Collection Development policy defines our commitment to support the College’s teaching, research, outreach, and scholarship missions through selection and replacement criteria, and through routine withdrawals. The Library will acquire print and electronic materials based on assessment, curriculum, and research needs of Missouri Valley College undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff, while providing services to alumni, visiting researchers, and the surrounding community. The Library will cultivate partnerships with other libraries for access to resources not owned by Missouri Valley College.

Selection Guidelines and Criteria for the Collection

Murrell Library and Commons seeks resources in the formats which are most useful for our clientele, focusing on newly published authoritative materials that support their instructional and leisure needs. Retrospective selections may also be made to fill gaps or respond to requests. Library liaisons, in consultation with others in the Library, will determine how resources should be purchased and in what formats. Faculty and staff are encouraged to share information such as reduced prices, location of out-of-print copies, or special vendors for unique materials. While the Library does not generally purchase duplicates, exceptions may be made.

At the discretion of library liaisons, the Library will accept donations of materials that enhance the Library’s Special Collections or support the current curriculum and scholarship needs of Missouri Valley College. While the Library does not generally purchase textbooks, exceptions may be made in particular subject areas or for specific reasons. Through a partnership with the Office of Academic Affairs, the Library contains a reserve collection of textbooks for core course

Withdrawing Library Materials

The Library focuses on retaining materials that enhance the relevance of the curricular and research needs of the College. We are committed to securing long-term, perpetual access to the print and electronic content on which our community depends. Books and monographs are withdrawn based on the following criteria:

• Items with low use or with duplicate copies.
• Items that can be readily obtained elsewhere, especially other libraries with which we have a partnership or borrowing arrangement such as MOBIUS.
• Items in poor physical condition (brittle, damaged, etc.) or unusable format (e.g., VHS tapes).
• Superseded and outdated materials (with possible exceptions identified by library faculty and staff).

Print journals may be withdrawn with input from teaching faculty when the Library purchases perpetual digital archives. Titles available through database subscriptions such as EBSCOhost are not considered to be perpetual.

Items held in Special Collections, original works printed before 1930 (not reprints), and rare or unique newer items will be exempt from this policy. Library faculty and staff will search Mobius holdings and offer last copies to other libraries. Items held by a limited number of libraries will be kept or withdrawn at the discretion of library faculty and staff.

May 21, 2019