Collection Development
Collection Development Goal
The library's primary collecting goal is to develop collections of materials that support the broad range of academic endeavors of the college community. The focus of all collection development is on materials that expand the capability of the library to support scholarship.
Acquisitions
Acquisitions is located in room 221 of the second floor of the Library building. The Technical Services Librarian is responsible for ordering and processing books and other library materials suitable for the varying needs of the LSC-O curricula in conjunction with the Library Director.
Funds and Sources
The library receives its annual budget at the beginning of each fiscal year. The library then allocates funds to GOBI, Overdrive, and Amazon to purchase print and digital material over the course of the fiscal year. The format of the material purchased depends on the availability of the item in each format.
GOBI
Print books and eBooks are purchased from GOBI. Ebooks are generally more favored as online access makes the material available to distance students as well as face to face students. Ebooks can come with a variety of licensing options. The library makes every effort to purchase the license that provides the most access for lowest cost. Exceptions can be made for instructors needing concurrent access licenses which are generally more expensive. Digital audiobooks are available for purchase for some titles through GOBI, but the library will only purchase these at the specific request of a student or faculty member.
Overdrive
Ebooks, digital audiobooks, and digital magazines are purchased from Overdrive.
Amazon
The library purchases print books from Amazon when GOBI is unable to provide the material.
Program/Subject Acquisitions
Current Programs
The library uses a three-year rotation as a guide for when to focus on purchasing materials for each program/subject area. An invitation is made by the Technical Services Librarian to the program director or subject specialist during the semester their program is in rotation. The invitation asks that they review the collection areas specific to their field, make recommendations of titles to purchase, and to point out titles that can be deselected.
Current Program Rotation
Fall 2023
Communications, Liberal Arts, Sociology
Spring 2024
Electro Mechanical Technology, Industrial Systems, Logistics Management, Maritime, Welding, Commercial Truck Driving
Fall 2024
Business, Business Management, Construction Management, Real Estate
Spring 2025
Court Reporting, Cosmetology, Criminal Justice, Teaching
Fall 2025
Dental Assisting, Emergency Medical Services, Massage Therapy, Nursing, Pharmacy Technology
Spring 2026
Computer Information Systems, Computer Science, Information Technology, Pre-Engineering, Science
New Programs
The library prepares reports for new program proposals on the library resources available to support the new program. Once the new program is approved, the library makes every effort to purchase additional materials to support the new program.
Requests
Requests can be made at any time by any member of the faculty, staff, or students. Requests should be made using the Suggest A Book form including faculty name, department and as much information as possible for the title being requested. Every effort will be made to fulfill curricular relevant requests. Leisure requests will take less precedence, but will be filled if funds are available. The material will be cataloged and added to the library collections when received. Before submitting a request, please check our Library Catalog to see if the material on order or already in the collection.
Textbooks
Textbooks required for purchase by students for LSCO courses are not automatically ordered for the collection. Instructors wishing to have their course textbook available on reserve in the library should make every effort to provide the library with a copy of the textbook, as well as outline how they would like the textbook to be made available; in-library use only, 1-day checkout, 3-day checkout, etc.
Duplicate Titles
The library does not purchase reprints except as replacement copies for worn out materials that are deemed necessary to replace. Limited acquisitions funding prohibits extensive retrospective purchasing. The library limits the purchase of multiple copies to those few exceptions where the circulation demand of a particular copy warrants additional copies.
Gift Policy
The library welcomes gifts of books, manuscripts, periodicals and other materials and money for the purchase of items that enhance existing collections, support the major instructional and research programs of the college or deserve special consideration because of uniqueness, importance, or value. Of particular interest are scholarly, current, or rare items in good physical condition that relate to the college curriculum.
Gifts are encouraged with the understanding that the library reserves the right to accept, reject, or dispose of any gift at its discretion. Gifts will be evaluated for possible addition to collections according to the guidelines for selection outlined by this policy.
The library staff members are prohibited by federal law from appraising gifts for tax deduction purposes. An acknowledgment of the receipt of a gift in the form of a letter of appreciation is sent to the donors. A record of gift materials, including name of donor, is kept on file. The provision of special gifts, including affixing special book plates, must be approved by the library director prior to acceptance of the gift.
Weeding the Collection
Purpose
In order to achieve a well-balanced, relevant and usable library collection that satisfies the current and future needs of Lamar State College-Orange, it becomes necessary to evaluate and assess consistently and systematically the library's collections. A fundamental part of maintaining such a collection requires that some material be taken out of that collection, based on the criteria specified in the Acquisitions policy section of this document. This evaluative process is referred to as "weeding." Some specialized library materials are not included in this document. Journals/serials, audio/visual material, software and special collections material have needs and procedures unique to those formats or departments.
Weeding Schedule
The library uses a three-year rotation as a guide for when to focus on weeding materials for each program/subject area. An invitation is made by the Technical Services Librarian to the program director or subject specialist during the semester their program is in rotation. The invitation asks that they review the collection areas specific to their field, make recommendations of titles to purchase, and to point out titles that can be deselected. Deselected titles will be noted and withdrawn during the summer.
Material that does not require faculty/departmental input will be weeded as needed. An example would be material purchased for the reference collection.
Stakeholders
The following individuals will determine what needs to be weeded:
- The Technical Services Librarian
- An appointed faculty representative of a particular subject area or discipline. Faculty input is critical to the success of maintaining a viable library collection, and their input will be solicited and given full consideration.
At completion of the weeding process, the Director of Library Services will give final approval.
Criteria
Criteria for what will be weeded are based on at least one of the following:
- Material that cannot be repaired and the area/discipline considers the item critical for the collection, every effort will be made to acquire a replacement.
- Value to the collection. Factors may include access to material through abstracts and indexes, circulation records and/or existence of equipment in the library to make the title's information accessible. Obsolescence of the information can be a factor though the value of a book beyond the information content is also a consideration.
- Historical references. Some materials may be determined to be important for historical references. Such material then can be designated as archival reference only and to be retained in the collection.
- Unless there is a determined need, such as circulation records, for more than a single copy at the time of weeding, the library's policy is to retain a single copy of any specific title or edition.
Weeded Titles
The librarian will pull items based on agreed upon guidelines. Once the book truck is filled with weeded titles, it will be taken to the tech services room on the second floor, RLB 221.
The Technical Services librarian will notify the affected academic department via e-mail. They will be asked to notify the entire faculty in their departments. Interested faculty will be directed to the tech services room where they should ask to view the books. The weeded books will be available for review during all hours that the library is open. The material will remain in the tech services room for two (2) weeks after the notice is sent to the department/s.
After the two-week time period, the librarian will review faculty input and place all books to be weeded on a book truck.
Books that the librarian determines should be kept are returned to the circulating stacks. If there is any disagreement about whether a book should be retained or weeded at this point, the Director of Library Services will make the final decision about the disposition of the books.
At this point the items will be withdrawn from the catalog, and such items will be deleted from the collection for proper disposal.