CLIENTELE
Columbus State University Libraries develop and maintain its collections to serve the students, faculty and staff of Columbus State University.
SELECTION CRITERIA
CSU librarians consider the following criteria in selecting library materials:
- Curriculum and research needs
- Scope and content—comprehensiveness and depth of coverage
- Scholarly value
- Currency and timeliness
- Format & Accessibility: electronic or print ( may depend upon availability and efficiency).
- Relative cost (periodicals especially) this includes the costs to acquire, maintain and preserve.
- Availability of the title in indexing and abstracting sources that patrons have access to.
- Demand: will the title be used enough to justify purchase/subscription. *note: At times the decision to purchase a resource can be justified by attempts to create balance within a collection where demand may not necessarily be a key criteria consideration. Also promotion efforts can assist in developing interest and use of a collection.
DISSERTATIONS AND THESES
Dissertations and theses are not purchased for the collection. However, CSU dissertations and theses are automatically added to the collection. Interlibrary loan will be utilized in preference to purchase.
DUPLICATE COPIES
Duplicate copies may be added to collection at the discretion of CSU subject librarians.
COLLECTION MAINTENANCE
Collection Maintenance is important to a vital, well-kept collection. An essential component to proper collection maintenance is the deselection process. Criteria for deaccession include:
- Duplicate
- Format no longer usable
- Superseded by a newer edition
- Out of date for subject area
- Poor physical condition
- Negligible scholarly value
- Low user interest
- Not checked out within last 10 years
An item will not be discarded if:
- it has any local interest, historic value, or is a seminal work
- it is rare or valuable (ex. not available in USG libraries)
- nothing else is available in the collection on the subject
- it is listed in a standard bibliography : (ex., Essay and General Literature Index)
- its deselection would create collection imbalance
- it includes substantial illustrative material which could be of value
- it is work authored by CSU faculty
- it is a dissertation/thesis by CSU students
EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS
Special editions or translations of works in foreign languages or English may be added to collection at the discretion of CSU subject librarians. At times this is necessary depending upon the discipline. (i.e. foreign language programs).
