Collection Development Policy and Procedures

1. Fund Allocations

Each year, the Library Director uses the amount of funds available through the annual budget allocated to the Library to determine the allocation for book purchases for each department. The allocations are determined for each department. Sometimes the annual budget is supplemented by project funds that are donated to the Library, such as the LERR Fund.

2. Determining Allocation of Funds

The Library’s budget is established by the University Budgeting Committee. The Library then allocates a calculated amount of funds to each of the University’s departments for books with an amount also designated as Director’s Discretionary funds.

Many factors go toward determining how many funds are allocated to each department.

Twenty (20) percent of the available acquisition funds is allocated to the Library for Reference and other general materials and used to address one-time issues.

Eighty (80) percent of the available acquisition funds is allocated based on a department’s “Program Points” as a percent of total program points for all departments:

This formula will be run every year, as factors change, to determine allocations with new budgets.   

3. Use of Allocated Funds

The Program Area Coordinators will be the Library liaisons for each department. They will receive requests from all other members of their department and be responsible for approving all requests for materials from that department and submitting them to the Library via the Online Request Form available to faculty.  

Every three months, the Library will submit a report to each department’s Library liaison detailing how many funds they have remaining in what has been allocated to their department.  

All Library liaisons will also be reminded of the deadline of April 15th to send in requests for materials to ensure consideration and procurement. Any allocated funds left unused after April 15th are forfeit by the department and will be used elsewhere.  

Librarians may, from time to time, recommend materials to the academic program professor for their consideration. If interested, the faculty will be able to request the material through the department Library liaison.  

4. Book Selection & Ordering

a. Policy

Academic faculty is informed of books that may benefit their departments and the means of requesting them, such as the electronic UTPB Library Resource Request Form available on Office 365 and the Choice cards sent to each department once a month.

The discussion of what resources to bring into the Library is a joint effort between the Library staff and the faculty, with the ultimate decision of purchases lying with the Library Director.

Orders for books are placed through ordering service websites, such as Oasis (ProQuest), Alibris and Gobi.

b. Procedures

Book and resource requests are sent to the Library from faculty through library liaison. Once book requests have been received, the Library’s catalog is checked to assure none of the requests are duplications of books already within the catalog. The Library Director makes the final decision to regards to what purchases will be made.

The purchased books are verified as they arrive and passed on to the Library Catalogers, who process them accordingly. Physical books and journals are placed on the shelves and e-books, digital journals, and databases are properly linked and made available to all users.

Once the resources are on the shelves or made available digitally, notification is sent out to the faculty or staff member who requested the materials that the resources are available. A list of newly available resources is also presented to the faculty and staff as a whole.

5. Duplication

Unless sufficient demand for multiple copies are required, the Library only purchases a single copy of a book. If the book is already available in electronic format, it is not also purchased in print format.

If the Library receives a donation of a book that the Library already has, the acceptance of the book is at the discretion of the Library Director and should remain in adherence to the Gift and Donation Policy.

6. Weeding

a. Policy

As with the ordering of new books, the weeding of the Library collection is performed for the betterment of the Library’s collection as a whole. Books and other items are removed that are no longer relevant or necessary.

Guidelines for Removal:

• If the material is neither current nor relevant.
• If it has not been checked out within the last ten years.
• Is the book damaged? Is it cost-effective to try and repair it or better to replace it?
• Is it the sole copy within the collection?
• Is there a newer edition available within the collection?
• Is this a resource available online?
• Is it a classic? Classics are generally not weeded.

b. Procedures

A search is performed within Alma to find books that share a specific trait. This list is printed out and used to look through the stacks and mark desired books for removal.

Once a book has been deemed as likely to be removed, the faculty is informed and asked to look through the flagged items to see if there are any they would prefer we keep in circulation to the benefit of their classes/students. If they do want the Library to keep the book, they hand the “flag” within the book to Access Services within ten days, so that the specific book can be removed from the list of books to weed.

Books that have retained their flags and are still to be weeded are removed from the shelves and taken to Technical Services. These books are then removed from the Catalog.

Technical Services looks over the books and determines if any need to be moved to the Archives. The list of books to be removed and those to be moved to the Archives and taken out of circulation is presented to the Library Director, who approves or denies removal of the materials at his/her discretion.

The final list of books being removed is recorded on a withdrawal spreadsheet. The Library Director sends an email out to other libraries to check if any would like the books that are being removed free of charge.

Books not claimed by other libraries are disposed of by marking out any identifying marks, tearing off the front cover if they are paperbacks, placing them in a black garbage bag and disposing of them in the dumpster.

The disposal of weeded materials must adhere to Regent’s Rule 80201. http://www.utsystem.edu/bor/rules

7. Gifts & Donations

a. Policy

The UT Permian accepts gifts and donations with the understanding that they conform to selection guidelines, and provided no restrictions are attached. No commitment to accept gifts shall be made by anyone other than the Library Director.

Guidelines for acceptable books offered for donation include:

• Materials are in good condition, undamaged, and still functional.
• Materials, excepting those with historical value, are not out-of-date.
• Materials being donated bear a relationship to the Library collection and its purpose.
• Materials adhere to the Collection Development Policy.
• The Library must have the right to integrate, discard, sell, or exchange materials.

The Library determines the classification, housing, and circulation policies of all gift items, and no restrictions on usage may be made by the donor. The Library reserves the right to dispose of materials that are not added to the collection.

The Library is not responsible for a monetary valuation statement for tax or other purposes.

No commitment to accept gifts shall be made by anyone except the Library Director.

b. Procedures

The Library Director officially receives and accepts gifts for the Library.  S/he ascertains whether the proposed gift is acceptable to the Library and if it conforms to policy guidelines. When the gift consists of money, s/he notes specifically how it will be utilized.

The donated materials are added to the Library catalog. A plaque/sticker is placed inside the book to mark it as a donation and a thank you note is sent to the person/organization that made the donation.

Gifts are shelved among other library materials. If the materials are rare or archival, they are placed in Special Collections or the Archives respectively.