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| LIBRARY > ABOUT THE LIBRARY > COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT |
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Collection Development
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The Landmark College library primarily supports the academic needs of students with dyslexia, AD/HD, or specific learning disabilities in a two-year college setting with pre-college offerings. Most library resources are carefully selected with them in mind, whether for their direct use, or for faculty and staff to use in support of them.
The library also features the Learning Disabilities and AD/HD Research Collection, a comprehensive and in-depth collection of books and audiovisual materials about dyslexia, AD/HD, and specific learning disabilities in the fields of education, psychology, and medicine. This collection not only serves the Landmark College community, but also supports the research and continuing education of visiting scholars and educators through the National Institute.
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The primary goal of this collection development policy is to ensure a wide range of library resources that will enrich and support the curriculum and meet the needs of the students, faculty and staff served. As such, this collection should include materials at varying levels of difficulty, with diversity of appeal, and allowing for the presentation of many different points of view. In addition, our collection strives to support our students’ interests by providing them with materials for cultural enrichment, social growth, recreation, and enjoyment.
To this end, it is the responsibility of the professional staff:
• To provide materials in a variety of formats that will enrich and support the curriculum, taking into consideration the varied interests, abilities, and learning styles of the students served;
• To provide materials that will stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literary appreciation, aesthetic values, and societal standards;
• To provide a broad spectrum of materials representing a balance of points of view so that students may have an opportunity to develop the practice of critical analysis and to make informed judgments in their daily lives;
• To place principle above personal opinion and reason above prejudice in the selection of materials of the highest quality in order to assure a comprehensive collection appropriate to the Landmark College community.
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The library invites purchase recommendations from students, faculty, and staff. Faculty are especially encouraged to make recommendations based upon their expertise in subject areas. However, because librarians can best judge the balance of the total collection and have daily access to current reviewing media, final decisions concerning acquisitions rest with them.
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Librarians involved in the selection of library resources shall use the following criteria as a guide:
• Library resources shall support and be consistent with the general educational goals of Landmark College and the aims and objectives of specific courses.
• Library resources shall also support the Learning Disabilities and AD/HD Research Collection in its function as a resource for students and educators nationwide.
• Library resources shall meet high standards of quality in factual content, presentation, artistic quality, and/or literary style. The reputation and significance of the author, producer, and publisher shall also be taken into account in selecting materials.
• The validity, currency, timeliness or permanence, and appropriateness of material shall be considered in selecting library resources.
• The value of selected items shall be commensurate with cost and/or need.
• Library resources shall be appropriate for the variety of reading levels and learning styles of the students for whom the materials are selected.
• Collection in a variety of formats shall be encouraged to support the variety of learning styles.
• Library resources shall be selected for their strengths rather than rejected for their weaknesses.
• The selection of library resources on controversial issues shall be directed towards maintaining a diverse collection representing various views.
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It is the responsibility of the librarians to ensure that all points of view relevant to the College mission are represented in the collection. The library endorses the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights and The Freedom to Read, which are attached as appendices, and the principles of those documents are an integral part of this policy statement.
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1. In selecting library resources, librarians will evaluate available resources and curriculum needs and will consult reputable, professionally prepared aids to selection and other appropriate sources.
2. Requests, suggestions, and reactions to the purchase of library resources shall be gathered where appropriate. Recommendations shall be judged by the criteria outlined and shall be accepted or rejected by those criteria. Final selection is made by the librarians.
3. Gift materials shall be judged by the criteria outlined in this document and shall be accepted or rejected by those criteria.
4. Selection is an ongoing process which should include the removal of materials no longer appropriate and the replacement of lost and worn materials still of educational value (see Appendix H, Deselection, or Weeding).
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The library attempts to maintain a collection of classics, semi-classics, and standard novels. Books which serve as a stepping stone to better reading, or which encourage an enjoyment of reading, may be purchased even though they may not be of the highest literary quality. Abridged versions are not purchased.
The curriculum will primarily determine which areas of nonfiction books shall be collected at the levels described below:
Minimal Level: Collections that support minimal inquiries about a subject. Periodicals dealing directly with these topics, and in-depth sources, are not collected.
Basic Level: Basic works plus a few selected works of general interest or special significance. Areas that are not covered within the curriculum but are of interest to students shall fall under this category.
Standard Level: Collections that provide information about a subject in a systematic way, and support the general curriculum needs of library users.
Research Level: A collection that contains the major published source materials required for advanced study and independent research, including:
• A very extensive collection of general and specialized monographs and reference works.
• A very extensive collection of general and specialized periodicals.
• Older material that is retained and systematically preserved to serve the needs of historical research.
Areas of the collection that fall under the Research Level include the Learning Disabilities and AD/HD Research Collection, as well as relevant portions of the education collections (e.g. college teaching methodologies, learning styles and learning theories, etc.).
Periodicals represent a long-term commitment. They are costly to acquire, process, house and physically maintain. Space for growth of the collection is limited. Therefore, careful consideration needs to be made when adding new subscriptions or reviewing current holdings. Please refer to Appendix A, Landmark College Periodicals Acquisition Policy, for a complete description of the collection development policy for periodicals.
This category includes books on tape, recorded speeches and presentations, and musical recordings.
Books on Tape—Before purchasing, the library will first attempt to rent the book on tape through its membership in Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic. A very limited collection of books on tape shall be collected where appropriate, primarily through donations. The same selection criteria shall apply as with books. However, abridged versions shall be collected if unabridged versions are unavailable.
Recorded Speeches and Presentations—The library will purchase recorded speeches and presentations where relevant to the curriculum.
Musical Recordings—Musical recordings shall be purchased only when in direct support of curricular needs.
Video recordings and DVDs are primarily purchased to support the curriculum. A limited number of entertainment videos will be purchased. The same selection criteria shall apply as with books.
Microfiche and microfilm shall not be collected.
Online databases shall be selected on the basis of appropriateness to the curriculum, broad appeal to faculty and students, and appropriateness of design and format to the needs of our students. Online databases that are not used to support the research process shall not be collected. Recommendations from faculty and students are subject to more stringent review due to budgetary issues associated with the purchase of online databases.
Where appropriate, the library shall purchase CD-ROM databases (see Online Databases, above). However, preference shall be given to other media types.
Textbooks are not collected by the library except to support Learning Disabilities and AD/HD Research Collection.
With the exception of foreign language dictionaries, only a small collection of foreign language materials shall be purchased to support those courses formally taught in the College.
Materials that might be needed by faculty pursuing advanced degrees or for other research purposes and that are too specialized to fall within our general collection guidelines will be requested for the faculty member through interlibrary loan rather than purchased.
With minor and rare exceptions, the library neither collects nor plans to collect materials of types and formats other than those commented on above. Examples of other types and formats include, but are not limited to, workbooks and software used for courses that are not related to the research process. Technological developments in the future may mandate that this decision be revisited.
Gifts—Gifts are subject to the same selection criteria as newly purchased items. Although the library accepts gifts, it does so with the clear understanding that they will not necessarily to be added to the collection. In addition to the criteria above, processing costs, shelf space, duplication, and physical condition shall also be taken into account. Gifts not added to the collection may be returned, given elsewhere, or used for other purposes such as the book sale.
The library reserves the right to refuse a donation if the donor specifies special conditions, including, but not limited to, retrieval from a donor’s home, or special shelving requirements. Value assessment for tax purposes is the responsibility of the donor.
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Purpose
This document is intended to work in conjunction with and subordinately to the Landmark College Library Collection Development Policy. A separate document is needed due to the special characteristics of periodicals. Periodicals have a unique place in libraries. For this reason, this policy acknowledges the need to develop the periodicals collection, but pays special attention to the nature and restrictions of this kind of material.
Philosophy
Periodicals represent a long-term commitment. They are costly to acquire, process, house and physically maintain. Space for growth of the collection is limited. Therefore, careful consideration needs to be made when adding new subscriptions or reviewing current holdings.
Description
A periodical is defined here as a journal, magazine, newsletter, or newspaper. As is true of the greater collection, the periodicals are intended to support the curriculum, research needs, and general interests of students, faculty and staff. The periodicals collection is geared toward the Basic Level, as defined in the Landmark College Library Collection Development Policy. The one exception to this is the periodicals that are collected in support of the Learning Disabilities and AD/HD Research Collection; these are collected at the Research Level.
General Policies
The guidelines of the Landmark College Library Collection Development Policy will be applied to any periodicals acquisitions made. The following list is used in addition:
1. No more than one paper subscription of any title will be purchased.
2. Newspapers are selected to provide local, regional, national, and international coverage, and on the basis of both their geographic location as well as the documented quality of their journalism.
3. All titles that are collected will be evaluated on a periodic basis in order to ensure that current needs are being met.
4. Subscriptions offered as gifts will be subject to the same criteria as any other gift or subscription.
Selection Criteria
The same criteria that are applied when making selections for any resource for the library collection will be used for periodicals acquisitions. Since even a relatively inexpensive journal title represents a continuing and growing expense, titles are added very selectively. Though not limited to these elements, the following list will be used:
1. Coverage of title by indexing/abstracting services owned by the library.
2. Cost of the subscription relative to value of/need for title.
3. Format that is cost-effective, useful and accessible.
4. Continued archival availability of electronic formats.
5. Relationship to other periodicals in collection.
6. Demand for title.
7. Need in reference work.
8. Appropriate level of specialization.
9. Quality and reputation of the periodical.
10. Uniqueness of the information found in the journal.
Retention
The library keeps periodicals of long term value to its mission indefinitely. These titles include most of the learning disabilities periodicals (except newsletters) and education research periodicals. Retention decisions for back files of other periodical titles are made on a case by case basis, and include the following criteria:
1. Full text coverage in our subscription databases.
2. Relevance to the research needs of the community.
3. Storage space considerations.
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The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.
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Adopted June 18,1948.
Amended February 2, 1961, and January 23, 1980,
inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996,
by the ALA Council.
A Joint Statement by:
American Library Association and
Association of American Publishers
The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack. Private groups and public authorities in various parts of the country are working to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label “controversial” views, to distribute lists of “objectionable” books or authors, and to purge libraries. These actions apparently rise from a view that our national tradition of free expression is no longer valid; that censorship and suppression are needed to avoid the subversion of politics and the corruption of morals. We, as citizens devoted to reading and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read.
Most attempts at suppression rest on a denial of the fundamental premise of democracy: that the ordinary citizen, by exercising critical judgment, will accept the good and reject the bad. The censors, public and private, assume that they should determine what is good and what is bad for their fellow citizens.
We trust Americans to recognize propaganda and misinformation, and to make their own decisions about what they read and believe. We do not believe they need the help of censors to assist them in this task. We do not believe they are prepared to sacrifice their heritage of a free press in order to be “protected” against what others think may be bad for them. We believe they still favor free enterprise in ideas and expression.
These efforts at suppression are related to a larger pattern of pressures being brought against education, the press, art and images, films, broadcast media, and the Internet. The problem is not only one of actual censorship. The shadow of fear cast by these pressures leads, we suspect, to an even larger voluntary curtailment of expression by those who seek to avoid controversy.
Such pressure toward conformity is perhaps natural to a time of accelerated change. And yet suppression is never more dangerous than in such a time of social tension. Freedom has given the United States the elasticity to endure strain. Freedom keeps open the path of novel and creative solutions, and enables change to come by choice. Every silencing of a heresy, every enforcement of an orthodoxy, diminishes the toughness and resilience of our society and leaves it the less able to deal with controversy and difference.
Now as always in our history, reading is among our greatest freedoms. The freedom to read and write is almost the only means for making generally available ideas or manners of expression that can initially command only a small audience. The written word is the natural medium for the new idea and the untried voice from which come the original contributions to social growth. It is essential to the extended discussion that serious thought requires, and to the accumulation of knowledge and ideas into organized collections.
We believe that free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture. We believe that these pressures toward conformity present the danger of limiting the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend. We believe that every American community must jealously guard the freedom to publish and to circulate, in order to preserve its own freedom to read. We believe that publishers and librarians have a profound responsibility to give validity to that freedom to read by making it possible for the readers to choose freely from a variety of offerings. The freedom to read is guaranteed by the Constitution. Those with faith in free people will stand firm on these constitutional guarantees of essential rights and will exercise the responsibilities that accompany these rights.
1. It is in the public interest for publishers and librarians to make available the widest diversity of views and expressions, including those that are unorthodox or unpopular with the majority.
Creative thought is by definition new, and what is new is different. The bearer of every new thought is a rebel until that idea is refined and tested. Totalitarian systems attempt to maintain themselves in power by the ruthless suppression of any concept that challenges the established orthodoxy. The power of a democratic system to adapt to change is vastly strengthened by the freedom of its citizens to choose widely from among conflicting opinions offered freely to them. To stifle every nonconformist idea at birth would mark the end of the democratic process. Furthermore, only through the constant activity of weighing and selecting can the democratic mind attain the strength demanded by times like these. We need to know not only what we believe but why we believe it.
2. Publishers, librarians, and booksellers do not need to endorse every idea or presentation they make available. It would conflict with the public interest for them to establish their own political, moral, or aesthetic views as a standard for determining what should be published or circulated.
Publishers and librarians serve the educational process by helping to make available knowledge and ideas required for the growth of the mind and the increase of learning. They do not foster education by imposing as mentors the patterns of their own thought. The people should have the freedom to read and consider a broader range of ideas than those that may be held by any single librarian or publisher or government or church. It is wrong that what one can read should be confined to what another thinks proper.
3. It is contrary to the public interest for publishers or librarians to bar access to writings on the basis of the personal history or political affiliations of the author.
No art or literature can flourish if it is to be measured by the political views or private lives of its creators. No society of free people can flourish that draws up lists of writers to whom it will not listen, whatever they may have to say.
4. There is no place in our society for efforts to coerce the taste of others, to confine adults to the reading matter deemed suitable for adolescents, or to inhibit the efforts of writers to achieve artistic expression.
To some, much of modern expression is shocking. But is not much of life itself shocking? We cut off literature at the source if we prevent writers from dealing with the stuff of life. Parents and teachers have a responsibility to prepare the young to meet the diversity of experiences in life to which they will be exposed, as they have a responsibility to help them learn to think critically for themselves. These are affirmative responsibilities, not to be discharged simply by preventing them from reading works for which they are not yet prepared. In these matters values differ, and values cannot be legislated; nor can machinery be devised that will suit the demands of one group without limiting the freedom of others.
5. It is not in the public interest to force a reader to accept with any expression the prejudgment of a label characterizing it or its author as subversive or dangerous.
The ideal of labeling presupposes the existence of individuals or groups with wisdom to determine by authority what is good or bad for the citizen. It presupposes that individuals must be directed in making up their minds about the ideas they examine. But Americans do not need others to do their thinking for them.
6. It is the responsibility of publishers and librarians, as guardians of the people’s freedom to read, to contest encroachments upon that freedom by individuals or groups seeking to impose their own standards or tastes upon the community at large.
It is inevitable in the give and take of the democratic process that the political, the moral, or the aesthetic concepts of an individual or group will occasionally collide with those of another individual or group. In a free society individuals are free to determine for themselves what they wish to read, and each group is free to determine what it will recommend to its freely associated members. But no group has the right to take the law into its own hands, and to impose its own concept of politics or morality upon other members of a democratic society. Freedom is no freedom if it is accorded only to the accepted and the inoffensive.
7. It is the responsibility of publishers and librarians to give full meaning to the freedom to read by providing books that enrich the quality and diversity of thought and expression. By the exercise of this affirmative responsibility, they can demonstrate that the answer to a “bad” book is a good one, the answer to a “bad” idea is a good one.
The freedom to read is of little consequence when the reader cannot obtain matter fit for that reader’s purpose. What is needed is not only the absence of restraint, but the positive provision of opportunity for the people to read the best that has been thought and said. Books are the major channel by which the intellectual inheritance is handed down, and the principal means of its testing and growth. The defense of the freedom to read requires of all publishers and librarians the utmost of their faculties, and deserves of all citizens the fullest of their support.
We state these propositions neither lightly nor as easy generalizations. We here stake out a lofty claim for the value of the written word. We do so because we believe that it is possessed of enormous variety and usefulness, worthy of cherishing and keeping free. We realize that the application of these propositions may mean the dissemination of ideas and manners of expression that are repugnant to many persons. We do not state these propositions in the comfortable belief that what people read is unimportant. We believe rather that what people read is deeply important; that ideas can be dangerous; but that the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. Freedom itself is a dangerous way of life, but it is ours.
This statement was originally issued in May of 1953 by the Westchester Conference of the American Library Association and the American Book Publishers Council, which in 1970 consolidated with the American Educational Publishers Institute to become the Association of American Publishers.
Adopted June 25, 1953;
revised January 28, 1972, January 16, 1991, July 12, 2000,
by the ALA Council and the AAP Freedom to Read Committee.
A Joint Statement by
American Library Association and
Association of American Publishers
Subsequently Endorsed by
American Association of University Professors
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
American Society of Journalists and Authors
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith
Association of American University Presses
Center for Democracy & Technology
The Children’s Book Council
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Feminists for Free Expression
Freedom to Read Foundation
International Reading Association
The Media Institute
National Coalition Against Censorship
National PTA
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
PEN American Center
People for the American Way
Student Press Law Center
The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression
Statement of Policy
Occasional objections to Library materials will be made despite the quality of the selection process. This section details the procedure for handling reconsideration of challenged materials in response to questions concerning their appropriateness. The Landmark College Library subscribes to the principles of intellectual freedom inherent in democratic societies and expressed by the LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS adopted by the Council of the American Library Association. In the event Library materials are questioned, the following guiding principles and procedures will be observed:
No duly selected materials whose appropriateness is challenged shall be removed from the College except upon the recommendation of a review committee (as provided for below) with the concurrence of the College President or, upon the President’s recommendation, the concurrence of the Board, or upon formal action of the Board when a recommendation of a review committee is appealed to it.
Date:
Title of Challenged Item:
Dear
We appreciate your concern over the above title in our Library. Landmark College has developed procedures for selecting materials, but we realize that not everyone will agree with every selection made.
To help you understand the selection process, we are sending copies of Landmark College Library’s:
If you are still concerned after you review this material, please complete the Request for Reconsideration of Material form and return it to me. You may be assured of prompt attention to your request. If I have not heard from you within two weeks, we will assume you no longer wish to file a formal complaint.
Sincerely,
Director of Library Services
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Appendix G Request for Reconsideration of Material Form
printable version [pdf]
Date:
Your Name:
Address:
Phone Number:
Email:
Resource on which you are commenting (please circle):
• Book
• Audiovisual Resource
• Newspaper
• Magazine/Journal
• Electronic Resource
• Other (please explain)
Title:
Author/Producer:
What brought this title to your attention?
Please comment on the resource as a whole as well as being specific on those matters which concern you. (Use more space if needed.
What resource(s) do you suggest to provide additional information on this topic? (Optional)
Please return this form within two weeks of receiving it to the Library Director. If we have not heard from you within two weeks, we will assume you no longer wish to file a formal complaint.
Weeding is an integral part of the library’s collection development process. In order to maintain a vital, current collection which meets the needs of our community, examination of materials is an ongoing process.
An item is considered for discard (and possible replacement) when it is:
• Obsolete or outdated
• Superseded by a newer edition
• Worn beyond use
• Damaged
• No longer circulating and/or used for reference purposes
• One of many copies of a formerly popular title
Although the library uses standard library guides such as The CREW Method, it recognizes that weeding must take into account local needs as well as standard date-and-use driven guidelines. When in doubt, librarians shall ask for assistance from relevant departments.