Carnegie-Vincent Library

Introduction and Philosophy

The Carnegie-Vincent Library supports the liberal arts and professional studies curricula of Lincoln Memorial University, and its mission to educate a student body that is “able to communicate clearly and effectively in an era of rapidly and continuously expanding communication technology, must have an appreciable depth of learning in a field of knowledge, must appreciate and understand the various ways by which we come to know ourselves and the world around us, and must be able to exercise informed judgments.” The Carnegie-Vincent Library acquires and makes available materials in a variety of formats intended to support all areas of the curriculum and other educational, research, and recreational needs of the community.

The University Curriculum

The library supports more than 60 majors and minors offered to students at Lincoln Memorial University. They include, but are not limited to:

1. Allied Health programs in Athletic Training, Kinesiology, Medical Technology, Nursing and Veterinary Science.
2. Business Graduate and Undergraduate programs that include Accounting, Economics, Economic Philosophy, Market Analysis, Computer and Information Systems and Marketing.
3. Graduate and Undergraduate Education programs in K-12 Educational Licensure, Curriculum and Instruction, Education Administration and Supervision, and Counseling and Guidance.
4. Undergraduate English and American Literature studies, which emphasizes primary and secondary literary resources.
5. Humanities and Fine Arts programs that include American Studies, Art, Communication Arts (including Broadcasting, Speech, Oral Communication and other Communication Technologies), geography, history (American, European and the world), religion (including comparative religions).
6. Mathematics and Natural Sciences including biology, chemistry, environmental sciences, interdisciplinary sciences, mathematics and wildlife and fisheries management.
7. Social Sciences including criminal justice, psychology, social work, sociology, diversity and human development.

While Carnegie-Vincent Library’s primary goal is to support the above programs, it also collects materials that reflect regional history, Appalachian culture, and local items of interest of the tri-state community. It collects documents and resources which reflect the history of Lincoln Memorial University, its administration as well as news and local service contributions of its faculty, staff and student body. Although the library is available to students of Southeast Kentucky Community College, Cumberland College and Tusculum College, the library will not collect materials exclusively to support the curriculum of that segment of our user population.

Purpose

The Collection Development Policy serves two purposes: first, it provides guidance to librarians and faculty responsible for material acquisition and de-selection; second, it provides a rationale for library patrons to understand the acquisitions, de-selection and resource allocation of the library.

Selection Responsibility

Collection development is a responsibility that librarians and faculty members share. After materials are recommended for acquisition, the Library Director confirms that the requisite funds are available. Responsibility to determine whether requested materials conform to the goals, qualitative guidelines, and the selection and acquisitions policies presented in this document resides with the library and program faculty members, department chairs and Library Director.

The library solicits requests from faculty by regularly distributing campus mail and e-mails containing the latest reviews of CHOICE magazine. It also makes available and relies on additional selection aids, including the New York Times Book Review, resource bibliographies from peer libraries, syllabi analyses, professional associations and journals, online discussion lists, bibliographies, and reviews from disciplinary journals to choose titles for the collection.

Budget Allocation

In the fall of each year, the Library Director divides the materials budget between the departments of the University. A memo will be sent no later than September 1 of each year to all faculty, indicating the resource allotment for material acquisition. Such memo will articulate the procedures for requesting materials, and the expectation that all faculty contribute to the selection process. Requests from the faculty are sent by e-mail, if possible, to the Library Director for review. The Library Director confirms the acquisition with the appropriate department chair. Library staff and faculty members are likewise expected to order materials with departmental book funds and to return for reconsideration any requests which do not meet the criteria set forth in this Collection Development Policy.

Library faculty members are expected to contribute to collection development. The librarians’ professional study of collection development methodologies, their knowledge of the university curriculum and the collection, as well as their understanding of course assignments and student inquiries, enable them to select materials according to the guidelines set here forth. Librarians also select materials of general interest, including those of broad community interest and appeal, such as local works, best sellers, works by LMU faculty, alumnae, or local authors, in addition to general interest materials.

The librarians bear responsibility for maintaining a balanced collection. They are expected to notify the library director whenever research inquiries are made for which there is insufficient material to respond. Faculty members are likewise expected to request adequate materials for their program. Those programs whose faculty members fail to articulate learning resource needs will be notified. The library depends on faculty input in order to ensure that all aspects of the curriculum are supported.

Selection Guidelines

The library focuses on developing a collection that is broad, deep and representative of the myriad of courses offered by Lincoln Memorial University. Emphasis is placed on those materials that are subject to regional and professional accreditation reviews and new programs, which require an initial investment of resources.

Materials will be selected appropriate to the level of courses taught at the University. The library assists, when possible, the university faculty in their pursuit of research. However, it is not economically feasible for the library to make available adequate post-doctoral research sources for all faculty of the university. The library’s interlibrary loan service, and the proximity of LMU to several major universities, should provide sufficient research opportunities for most faculty members at LMU.

The library shall select or approve requests for books based on the following criteria[1]:

• Price and availability of funds
• Whether or not the title supports the curriculum or enhances the collection
• Expected use, given the demand in that subject area
• Quality of the material, authority of the author, reputation of the publisher, accuracy of the information
• Relation to other materials on the subject already in the collection
• Whether the subject matter of the resource is available electronically or in another format.

Other general guidelines:

• The library acquires material in English except for materials in the foreign languages taught at LMU.
• The library does not purchase textbooks unless they are the only or the best source of information on a topic or they are written by a member of the university faculty or staff.
• Duplicate copies will not be bought unless the title was written by a faculty member or staff, in which case one copy will go to the Special Collections and the other into the circulating collection. Any other reasons will be made on a case-by-case basis.
• Resources that are missing, lost or withdrawn because of poor physical condition will be replaced according to the merits of the item. The library staff shall authorize replacement copies if there is sufficient demand for the resource, or it represents value to the collection, and/or it contains current information still relevant to the university curriculum or the library’s constituency. In general, the Library will not replace out-of-print titles. The exception will be the replacement of lost or stolen titles which are standards in their fields and for which the faculty members request replacements.
• Worn or damaged books may be repaired, rebound, or withdrawn from the collection depending upon the value of the book to the collection, availability and price of the book on the new or used market.
• The library will buy print materials in the least costly format, usually paperback when available. Exceptions are made for books for which high use and long-term relevancy is expected (such as classics in any discipline, as well as University press-released titles in history, English, religion or philosophy).

The Reference Collection

Reference collections are traditionally designed to serve as the backbone for basic research and information needs of the University. Reference collections are interdisciplinary and essential to the entire curricula, especially because such materials are not typically available for interlibrary loan. In order to serve the extended campus community of Lincoln Memorial University, the Carnegie-Vincent Library will purchase reference materials in electronic format whenever possible. The library will set aside funds, ear-marked as “library,” equivalent to a department expenditure for the acquisition of reference material.

Children’s Collection

The juvenile collection in the Carnegie-Vincent Library is intended for the J. Frank White Academy, the children of the Learning Tree Academy and prospective teachers whose curriculum includes children’s literature.

Juvenile books will be collected in the following categories:

• Newberry and Caldecott Award winners
• ALA Notable Books
• Juvenile fiction
• Non-fiction (poetry, biography, science etc.)
• Transitional books for young adults
• Books dealing with issues such as death, divorce, alternative life styles, etc.

Journal Subscriptions

Journal subscriptions have steadily declined in the past five years. This is due on part to a continuous price increase of 9% – 12% annually for most journals, the work involved in claiming, accessioning and binding serial titles, as well as the increasing availability of electronic journals. Requests for new journal subscriptions must be adequately justified. Faculty members must demonstrate that the content of what they are requesting is unique in paper format, or that the students’ needs for a paper medium outweigh the convenience and accessibility of an electronic database. The library will not pay for content twice. Maintaining journals and database access to the same information and decisions are made on a title-by-title and format-by-format basis.

While traditional selection criteria apply to the selection of electronic titles, the management of this format is more complex. Special criteria for selecting electronic subscriptions or collections of titles from Internet-based sources are found in the Guidelines to the Selection of Electronic Resources.

Electronic Resources

The library is an active member of several consortia, including Solinet, TennShare and the Appalachian Colleges Association. These consortia provide significant purchasing discounts for many electronic and traditional resources. Many of these discounts make it possible for the library to purchase materials that it otherwise could not purchase alone. Whenever possible, offers solicited through these venues will be given first priority. The Library Director shall always request a trial of the resource, and forward the solicitation and access information to the teaching faculty and librarians. Purchases will be preceded by e-mailed approval of a librarian, a faculty member and the department chair. Databases represent a continuous and ongoing investment on the part of the University. For this reason, the library will not subscribe to a database without a full understanding of access requirements and a well-documented approval process which reflects a broad desire or need to purchase the resource in question.

Access:

Because of the extended campus offerings of Lincoln Memorial University, the library will acquire electronic licenses to digital resources whenever possible. Pricing for such resources varies according to the size of the database, the type of access being purchased, and the size of the institution. Unlike traditional materials, remote access to electronic resources is restricted to students, faculty and staff of Lincoln Memorial University. Any community member can access the databases via IP authentication from the campus network.

The library selects electronic resources according to the parameters set forth throughout this collection development policy. Electronic resource formats include, but are not limited to, CD ROMs, Internet-based, text databases such as encyclopedias and full-text journals, and graphic and multimedia files.

Selection considerations which apply to electronic resources include:

• the graphical user interface and the ease of navigation, searching and downloading materials
• hardware and/or software requirements for accessing such materials
• limitations to access as stipulated by the vendor’s license agreement (e.g., number of concurrent users; lease vs. own; access to archived resource)
• vendor reliability and continued support for the resource via updates or new versions
• clarity and thoroughness of documentation

Video and Audio Recordings

Video and audio recordings are purchases in the most recent format whenever possible, preferably in DVD or CD. Such materials are purchased to support the curriculum of the University. Such sources purchased for instructional purposes, to be used in the classroom, should be requested through departmental budgets. No video or audio materials shall be requested for recreational use.

Software

Software shall be purchased through academic departments and Academic Computing. Software is usually not purchased by the Library except when disks accompany books.

Gifts

The Carnegie-Vincent Library welcomes gifts of books, periodicals, and other library materials as well as money to purchase such materials. Because of the hidden expense of processing and maintenance and because space is very limited, every gift must be carefully evaluated to determine that it meets the above collection guidelines and that there are sufficient resources to process and maintain the additions to our collections.

The donor of a gift of money may suggest a subject area in which the funds are to be spent if that subject is a part of the university program, but the library reserves the right to choose specific items that are needed to support the curriculum.

The following guidelines govern the acceptance of gifts in kind (e.g., books and periodicals):

• Once accepted, all gifts become the sole property of the Carnegie-Vincent Library. The Library reserves the right to determine the housing and circulation policies of gift items, as well as the disposition of items that do not meet the collection criteria.
• Gifts may qualify as legitimate deductions for tax purposes. However, the Library is legally considered an interested party and therefore cannot provide an appraisal of the gift. The library will, if requested, provide an inventory of the items given for appraisal purposes. The Library may be able to provide names of appraisers, but acceptance of a gift appraised by any third party does not imply endorsement of that appraisal by the Library.
• The library will provide bookplates or other indications for special gifts or memorials. Donor information will be a part of the catalog record for each item that is added to the collection.
• Each donor will receive and sign a donor agreement form which represents an agreement between them and the Director of the Library, accepting custody of the gift. A deed of gift form will transfer legal ownership of the materials to the library.
• Each donor will receive a letter of acknowledgement and thanks from the University Advancement Office and/or the Director of the Library.
• Exceptions to these guidelines must be agreed upon in writing by the donor and the library director.

Withdrawal Policy

In order to maintain the currency, quality, and condition of the collection, material which no longer meets the criteria for selection encompassed by the CVL Collection Development Policy may be withdrawn from the collection. Weeding is a collaborative effort that involves the library faculty and program faculty members. Titles will be weeded from the collection for various reasons, including:

• The materials no longer adhere to the criteria identified in this policy
• The work has been superseded by a more recent edition
• There are multiple copies of items for materials that do not belong in the archives or special collections
• A hard copy or clothbound edition is accessioned, thus eliminating the need to maintain the paperback edition
• Items missing or overdue for a period of more than two years
• Condition of the material, such as acidic damage or writing in the margins of the book, audiovisual material with poor sound/image quality, or significant damage to the overall book to the point where circulation would not be possible
• The content of the material has become outdated, especially in practicum titles pertaining to the health sciences

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[1] Emory and Henry College guidelines: