Library Policies

The purpose of this library Collection Development Policy is to guide the librarians concerning the principles upon which selection is made for library resource collections. The planned development of library collections requires the consistent application of a stated development policy based on the objectives of the University and its curriculum needs.

Priorities

Because no library can own all of the materials that should ideally be available to its patrons, it is necessary to set priorities. The Darling Library seeks to strongly support those programs that are identified as

• Curricular strengths of the university, particularly in subject areas that are taught by all schools of the university: ministry, psychology/counseling, business/management, and education.
• Newly created courses, majors, or degree options.

 

Sources of Recommendations

In order to develop resource collections that genuinely support the university curriculum, regular meaningful communication between the teaching faculty and the librarians is required. Sources of recommendations for library acquisitions include in order of preference:

• Direct recommendations from faculty. This may take the form of submission of publisher’s catalogs, memos, email, new materials request forms, or other written forms of communication providing the necessary data for ordering (i.e., title, author, publisher, ISBN).
• "Standard lists" in various subject disciplines and other published bibliographies.
• Materials appearing in bibliographies of course syllabi submitted to the library are checked for current library holdings. Titles that are lacking in the collection and available for acquisition will be added to library collections after additional communication with faculty as needed.
• Direct recommendations from students, other patrons and members of the university community.

 

Responsibility

The Library Director and other professional library staff are responsible for making the final decisions on acquisitions for all library collections, taking into account the principles and guidelines in this policy.

In selecting and acquiring materials for library collections, the following factors will serve as guidelines:

General Considerations

• Library acquisitions (gift or purchase) always have to be evaluated on the basis of need, cost of purchase and processing, balance of acquisitions among subject areas or curricular divisions, weaknesses and strengths of existing collections, and availability of desired item in libraries in close proximity (especially consortial members), etc.

Value of Materials

• In selection of materials, consideration shall be given to accuracy and authority of the material, the reputation of the author and publisher, literacy and aesthetic standards and importance of the material. Such evaluation shall be based both on reviews in the professional literature and on the professional judgment of the faculty and librarians.

Format of Materials

• The library will collect and preserve materials in any form(s) that meet the service obligations and operational capabilities of the library and its patrons.

Duplicate Copies

• In most instances only one copy of a title is purchased and retained in library collections. Exceptions to this policy could include such things as: additional copies needed for reserve use or multiple copies shelved in different locations (e.g. reference and circulating copies of commentaries). Multiple copies of works from Restoration Movement authors may be retained for conservation and research purposes.

Books

Hard-cover rather than paperback books are preferred for durability. Paperbacks may be bound if cost effective. Exceptions are made for items such as reference serials that the library replaces each year.

Textbooks

Textbooks of a general survey nature, published primarily for classroom use, are not acquired, unless they meet the criteria of being useful long-term resource materials in their own right.

Periodicals

Preference is given to titles included in indexes the library owns or has reliable access to. Other selection factors include: importance of the periodical title to the university curriculum;

• other journals currently received, or readily available (i.e., online), in the same subject area;
• cost of the subscription in relation to potential and probable use.

Indexes & Abstracts

Priority is given to owning indexes and abstracts which include journals owned by the library and which give patrons access to other materials by making known the existence of the wide range of resources which could be obtained from others. Preference is given to indexes and abstracts that are available for online searching.

Audiovisual and Non-Print Media

Materials such as video recordings must be purchased in formats that can be used with equipment in the library or in classrooms on campus.

Electronic Resources. Selection of electronic resources (i.e., eBooks, online subscription databases) is based on criteria that quickly changes as technology, copyright laws, and business practices evolve. In addition to those principles guiding our collection development policy in general, issues such as access vs. ownership, license agreements, and consortia packaging are unique to the selection of electronic resources. See Appendix: Electronic Resources for details.

Archives and Special Collections

As resources such as space, personnel, and funding for supplies are available, the Darling Library seeks to develop Archives and Special Collections in two general subject areas: The Restoration Movement, particularly regional publications of the Independent Christian Churches west of the Mississippi, and Hope International University heritage.

Languages

The library collects materials that serve specific needs of programs offered in the curriculum, e.g. research in ministry materials written in Spanish are acquired to support Ministry programs taught in Spanish. Materials for which neither faculty nor students have reading skills are not acquired.

Responsibility

Every acquisition recommendation the library should be forwarded to the Technical Services Office with specific information required for accurate ordering (i.e., author, title, ISBN, edition, date). All recommendations are checked against current library holdings and orders in process to eliminate acquisition of duplicates. The library will make all decisions with regard to the source of purchase. Unless otherwise instructed by the Library Director, faculty members may not financially obligate the library to acquire materials in any way.

Timeliness

For most materials, the acquisition process takes at least two months under the best of conditions. Priority is given to "rush" requests for materials such as those titles that are needed for reserve reading assignments and should be accompanied by an appropriate notification of their intended use.

With the exception of some which have to be ordered directly from publishers, all periodicals are handled through subscription agency(s), with the entire list reviewed and altered only once or twice each year. Participation in Duplicate Exchange programs with other libraries is a preferred method for the inexpensive acquisition of missing volumes.

Communication

To facilitate open communication with faculty and others who are expected to provide recommendations that help to develop library collections, the library will communicate regularly in the following ways:

• Routing of flyers, publishers' blurbs, and catalogs.
• Report of materials recommended but already owned or not available.
• Report of arrival of new materials to requestors.
• Report of new additions to library collections.

In order to keep the collection up to date and in good condition, the library regularly engages in the following activities:

Evaluation

To determine areas of weakness, library resources are compared with appropriate standard collection development reference guides and internal collection analysis reports are developed.

Inventory

Periodic inventories of the collection are undertaken to determine which materials may be missing from the library. Since many titles reported lost are in fact only temporarily misplaced, a period of at least one year is allowed to transpire before missing books are officially withdrawn from the library's records.

Weeding

In order for the collection to remain relevant to the university’s curriculum, a systematic plan of withdrawal is followed by having the shelves reviewed by the teaching faculty. Material that is deemed unworthy of a place in the collection is further reviewed by a librarian before withdrawn.

Withdrawals

Authority to withdraw lies ultimately with the library. A request for withdrawal may be made by any member of the faculty, but must be reviewed by the Director of Library Services. Periodicals will be withdrawn according to the retention policy.

Replacement

Missing, lost or withdrawn materials are not automatically replaced. The titles are re-evaluated and the need for replacement is weighed in consideration of the selection guidelines outlined above.

Repairs and preservation

Items that are in disrepair due to high use but cannot be replaced for reasons of availability will be considered for repair. Alternate formats will also be explored e.g., digital representations of print materials. Copies of non-print media may be retained for back-ups as permitted.

Interlibrary Loan

Materials of limited value to our collection and highly specialized materials may be borrowed, in accordance with Interlibrary Loan Policy and Code. At the same time, the library recognizes a reciprocal responsibility: To lend our material to other libraries; To purchase the works repeatedly requested on interlibrary loan, as these works can be identified.

Cooperatives and Consortia

The Darling Library participates in library consortia and cooperatives that provide additional library services including reciprocal borrowing at other Southern California libraries and allow for significant discounts on resources. Examples of these memberships include:

• Inland Empire Academic Libraries Cooperative (IEALC) – reciprocal borrowing.
• Southern California American Theological Library Association (SCATLA) – reciprocal borrowing at graduate theological libraries.
• Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC) – provides rates on electronic resources based on FTE.
• California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). A written agreement provides reciprocal borrowing for students, staff, and faculty patrons of the Darling Library at the Pollack Library.

 

The Darling Library regularly receives gifts of books and other materials.

Responsibility

The library has the prerogative to decline gifts that do not contribute to the accomplishment of its mission and purpose. Selection principles and guidelines for acquisitions (outlined above) apply.

The library will determine the classification, housing, and circulation status of all gift items added to the collection.

The library retains the right to dispose of duplicates and unneeded material as it sees fit, although every effort will be made to pass unneeded donations on to churches, missionaries, other organizations, and individuals who need them.

Communication

Gifts will be institutionally acknowledged by letter from the Advancement Department of the university.

A summary of the quantity and format of donations will be provided in writing. No monetary valuation statement will be made.

Special handling and maintenance costs

In view of the limitations of space, personnel, budget, acceptance of any donation which would require special or extraordinary housing and handling will be considered carefully by the Library Director, in consultation with the Library Committee and university administrators as needed. Donors may be asked to consider sharing in the support costs of special gifts, especially if maintenance costs will be on-going.

In accordance with the library’s mission to support the curriculum of the university, and in recognition of the high reliance on Biblical Commentaries, particularly by the core undergraduate course, Tools for Biblical Research, the Hugh and Hazel Darling Library has developed the following policy for the collection of commentaries.

Recommendations from Bible and Ministry faculty of all schools of the University will be solicited to identify commentaries deemed to be particularly useful for research.

In the case of multi-volume sets, recommended commentaries will be collected as follows:

1. When possible, standing orders will be established for series in continuous publication with the goal of collecting complete sets as volumes are published.

2. New editions will be considered to be new titles and will require faculty approval for establishing new standing orders.

3. Multiple copies of these commentary series will be placed in the collection in the following priority as copies are available:

   1. 1^st copy: Reference – complete set (classified by series title, such as The New American Standard Commentary Series, vols. 1-20; Dewey Decimal Classification: 220)

   2. 2^nd copy: Main – complete set (classified by series title)

   3. 3^rd copy: Main individual books of the Bible (classified by book titles, such as Acts of the Apostles; Dewey Decimal Classification: 227)

   4. Additional copies will be considered as use or wear dictate and will be added to the Main, classified by individual books except in the case of a replacement of a volume within a set classified by series).

   5. All copies in high demand may be considered for placement on temporary or permanent Reserve.

4. Exceptions may be made on a title-by-title basis. Notes should be recorded on the Commentaries Inventory spreadsheet.

5. Professional library staff will be responsible for making any commitments to standing orders.

6. All other Collection Development Policies apply.

Selection of electronic resources (i.e., eBooks, online subscription databases) is based on criteria that quickly changes as technology, copyright laws, and business practices evolve. In addition to those principles guiding our collection development policy in general, issues such as access vs. ownership, license agreements, and consortia packaging are unique to the selection of electronic resources.

General Considerations

Preference will be given to electronic resources that

• allow for easy remote access for patrons off campus.
• provide consistent access and technical support
• use a familiar interface to reduce the need for special instructions or training.
• connect users with full text of articles rather than mere citations.
• do not require special readers or other software before the resource can be used.
• provide the library with permanent ownership rights rather than temporary lease agreements.
• have simple administration for library staff
• provide meaningful use statistics for library administration.
• have consistent reliable billing practices
• provide MARC records or other metadata that can be searched by our patrons.

Selection of Specific Materials

 

eBooks

In many cases, electronic books are made available through consortia packaging. Thousands of titles are bundled together and sold as a package to member libraries. In these cases the Darling Library considers the following as pertaining to the whole:

• general subjects covered,
• reputation of contributing publishers,
• dates of publications,
• target audience (i.e., academic libraries),
• recommendations and reviews of other members, and
• pricing.

Electronic Journals

Individual eJournal titles are puchased when the text is available from the publisher with print subscriptions. Links are created in the OPAC record and the title is included in any aggregate or federated search option provided by the Darling Library or its outsource services such as SerialsSolutions. Exceptions are made for titles that are equally available online subscription service offered by the library.

Preference will be given to eJournals that provide

• the same full-text coverage online as are published in print versions of the journals, but coverage may be provided by more than one vendor.
• full electronic versions online rather than citations or advertisements or just select articles that follow the general considerations above.
• back issues online and allow long term storage and/or ownership.

Due to limited shelving space, print periodicals cannot be retained indefinitely. This retention policy has been developed to guide the regular discarding of print periodicals. There are five general categories of print periodicals used to define this policy.

Retention Period	Type of Publication
Keep All	Restoration Movement and Theological journals
Keep for twenty years	Scholarly journals published Annually, Semiannual, Tri-annual, Quarterly, or Bimonthly
Keep for ten years	Scholarly journals published Monthly
Keep for three years	Popular magazines published Monthly, or Semimonthly
Keep for one Year	Materials that are published Weekly or Biweekly and Newsletters published in any frequency

Exceptions to this policy are made on recommendation of faculty or librarians, based on use and availability in other formats (i.e., online), and other aspects that may add to or detract from the collection value. Periodicals titles that are kept for at least twenty years are sent to be bound. Titles kept for at least ten years are considered for binding on a title-by-title basis.

The main objective of the Darling Library is to support the curriculum offered by Hope International University in its various schools and programs. In doing so, it seeks to provide information and learning resources offering a wide variety of viewpoints in expeditious and continuous manner to meet the information needs of students, faculty, and staff interacting within the context of the curriculum, regardless of delivery method or medium.

Within this framework, the library builds resource collections following the guidelines outlined in these policies.