Collection Development at the University of Montana, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library
The primary goal of collection development at The University of Montana Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library is to build a collection in support of the curricular and research needs of the students, faculty and staff of The University of Montana. The Collection Development Policy provides guidelines that assure quality and relevance in the acquisition and retention of materials in a collection designed to support the mission of The University of Montana.
Collection development and management is the responsibility of library faculty in consultation with departmental faculty, staff and students. The acquisitions budget balances the needs of diverse disciplines and users. Central to this balance is a core Approval Plan that serves all departments and programs by facilitating the rapid and comprehensive acquisition of newly published monographs/books. Following discussions with the Faculty Library Committee and notification to the Faculty Senate, the core Approval Plan was revised and expanded for FY2008 and a Supplemental Fund was established to ensure the acquisition of additional books/monographs and media in all formats. Faculty are welcome to submit individual orders using the library’s online order forms. For further guidelines and information about ordering through the Supplemental Fund see Policies & Procedures and FAQs.
Library faculty serve as liaisons to each department and program; and all departments and programs have library representatives who communicate departmental purchase interests and recommendations to library faculty. In collaboration, the liaison librarians and departmental library representatives build the collections based on curricular and research needs and have developed Approval Plan profiles. The Approval Plan is augmented by gifts and endowments, a source of many valuable additions to the collection, and Interlibrary Loan, and Course Reserves that provide access to a variety of resources not owned by the Mansfield Library.
While monograph/book/media acquisitions have increased from 9000 to over 16,000 cataloged items per year during the past 8 years, the Mansfield Library has greatly increased access to journal literature as well, from around 4,500 subscriptions to over 25,000 currently available journal titles. This has primarily been accomplished by the acquisition of large electronic journal packages and full text databases. The library will continue to maximize access to information resources (see Journal Access - Our Directions) that reflect diverse disciplines and users.
Finally, the Mansfield Library consistently seeks regular assessment of operations, collections and service quality from a variety of formal and informal sources of feedback including:
- Department Library Representatives;
- Faculty Library Committee of the Faculty Senate;
- Surveys ; and the
- Electronic Suggestion Box.
Mansfield Library, Collection Development Group
Barry Brown, (barry.brown@umontana.edu),
Head, Access and Collection Services
28 September 2007