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Revised 01/08/01
Download the complete policy
Introduction
Mission statement: To revolutionize the way individuals and organizations
access published content.
Overview of NetLibrary: As the world's premier provider of electronic
books (eBooks) and eBook collection management services, NetLibrary helps academic,
public, school (K-12), corporate, and private libraries create a richer, more
productive learning environment for their patrons. By combining the time-honored
traditions of the library system with electronic publishing, NetLibrary offers an
easy-to-use information and retrieval system for accessing the full text of
reference, scholarly, and professional books. NetLibrary's goal is to be the world's
largest distributor of eBooks, making thousands of titles globally accessible through
the Internet.
Purpose of Collection Development Policy
The Collection Development Policy is a planning tool, and exists within the
context of the overall goals and objectives of NetLibrary.
It is a management tool enabling a greater degree of consistency and
continuity in the selection policies and practices of NetLibrary.
It is a communication tool and provides information to staff, NetLibrary
customers, prospective customers, distributors, and NetLibrary users. This policy
indicates what may and may not be expected to be found within the collection.
This policy is a living document and will be revisited and revised on a
regular basis as NetLibrary grows.
Responsibility for selecting and assessing materials
The responsibility for the professional supervision of the selection of titles
for digitization rests with the Vice President of Research and Library Systems.
To aid in the selection, the Vice President of Library and Research Systems
designates librarians in the Research and Library Systems department. Librarians work
with Publisher Relations to bring in new content and publishers to enrich the
NetLibrary product. This teamwork approach provides a framework for building a
multifaceted and high quality collection.
The NetLibrary collection will be assessed in two ways:
Client-driven assessment is engineered by surveys, usage studies and other
quantified measures of success to indicate satisfaction with the collection. It is
also measured by the number of requests filled, the number of new clients, and the
ability of NetLibrary to fulfill client requests in a timely manner.
Collection-driven assessment is a method of evaluating the collection by
1) comparing it with those of other institutions, 2) assuring that it is up-to-date
and contains a certain number of current titles as set forth by professional
association standards, and 3) assuring the quality of the titles by running
a citation analysis in specific areas to ascertain that the collection has an
acceptable percentage of titles commonly cited in scholarly journals.
The accessibility of information through NetLibrary does not constitute an
endorsement by NetLibrary. A user who finds inaccurate or offensive information
should contact the original publisher of that information.
Weeding Policy
NetLibrary is an electronic library for which space is not an issue and physical
deterioration is not a problem. Therefore the organization is committed to retaining
all materials in the library collection in order to provide archival materials for
future use and research. It has been noted that there is a decreasing share of the
world's literature on any library's shelves. As a digital repository, NetLibrary
stands committed to retaining and preserving the intellectual content of its
collection in the digital format most useful for retrieval through time.
Depth and breadth of varying degrees are desirable in various areas of the
NetLibrary collection, so systematic evaluation of the collection is required of
every selector in order to keep the collection responsive to customers' needs, and
to ensure its vitality and usefulness. For this reason, subject areas are
reassessed for relevancy and currency on a regular basis, and this helps a selector
evaluate the collection by identifying areas or titles where additional materials
are needed; find older editions which need to be updated; and point out subjects,
titles, or authors that are no longer current. At this point titles are checked
against standard bibliographies in the subject to see if the items have historical
or literary value.
Scope of Collections
The primary goal of the Collection Team is to select, organize, and provide access
to all varieties of information and digitize it to support a broad community of
users currently defined as academic, public, K-12, and special libraries. The
NetLibrary collection also offers special collections of in-depth, scholarly
materials available as a group. In summary, the community of users is the impetus
that guide and drives the collection development process. Materials for all specific
client groups are selected using the same standards of excellence, comprehensiveness
and authority expected from printed sources.
Publicly Accessible Collection
Definition
NetLibrary's publicly accessible collection is intended to support the educational
and recreational needs of a variety of readers, and to provide a new channel for
distribution of texts that have been made available to the public for free. Subject
areas most strongly supported at present include classical literature and history.
Criteria for Inclusion
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Works must be in the public domain, or must be provided by publishers for
free distribution to the public.
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| 2. |
In determining accuracy and authority, electronic texts converted under
the auspices of an educational institution are most highly considered.
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| 3. |
When considering electronic texts, the existing format and organization
must not present any significant obstacles for conversion.
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Special Collections
Definition
NetLibrary's special collections are intended to support the specialized research
and recreational needs of the general reader. The special collections are generally
self-contained and provide remote access to unique and often fragile primary resources
within a necessarily defined and limited subject field. NetLibrary is currently
assessing the requirements and possibilities for acquisition of special collections.
The acquisition and conversion of special collections should reflect directly the
priorities of NetLibrary and its clients.
Criteria for Inclusion
| 1. |
The collection is recognized as an important resource at the regional and/or
national level.
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| 2. |
The collection is considered to be significant within a discipline and to
have considerable research interest and value.
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| 3. |
The focus of the collection is a limited subject area that would complement
existing holdings/collections.
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Academic Libraries
NetLibrary employs the following definitions for collecting for the purposes of
policy development and collection evaluation. In order to comply with accreditation
standards set forth by organizations that accredit academic programs, the majority
of materials acquired must fall within the upper 50% of the date range specified.
These definitions are consistent with the collection development codes established
by the Research Libraries Group (RLG) and adopted for the North American Collections
Inventory Project. The definitions are taken from the American Library Association's
Guide for Written Policy Statements (1989) with some abbreviations and a single
amendment. Additionally, the direction and focus of collection development at
NetLibrary is primarily influenced by the client group of academic librarians who will
request collection support from NetLibrary as digitized materials become increasingly
more cost effective and in demand.
NetLibrary will attempt to collect materials which are most current and authoritative
within every subject and as defined in the Conspectus. Acquisition of materials will
be decided on the basis of 1) currency, 2) authority, 3) research value, and 4)
enduring value.
In response to preliminary data provided by a current NetLibrary survey, some subject
areas have been identified as needing particular support. Levels of collecting for
academic library materials are based on that and other ARL collection data (Perrault,
1999) which indicates broadly the subject areas in which academic libraries are
currently collecting. The NetLibrary collection of eBooks can support libraries
serving colleges, universities, junior colleges and vocational schools.
NetLibrary intends to support the mission of higher education institutions with
eBooks that complement and enhance library service to students on and off campus.
An examination of the programs offered by these institutions indicate that a large
number of distance education efforts focus on degrees in various aspects of Business
and Business Administration.
Support for curricula in the field of education with emphasis on teacher
credentialing, early childhood education, schools in a multicultural environment,
bilingual education, theory and practice, and additionally, works on higher education,
especially campus environment and faculty issues.
Support for curricula and for the use of practicing librarians. Materials in library
science will be collected with the intent of providing supportive reference materials
for the practicing professional librarian in addition to support for distance
learning programs in the field. Emphasis is on basic works in all aspects of library
science, as required courses in the field. Additional materials to aid and support the
daily activities and requirements of working librarians are also desired.
Support for curricula in the field of medicine, especially nursing at the undergraduate
level. Materials for essential reference and required for basic understanding of the
profession are sought. Consumer health materials are an additional focus for intense
collection.
Support for curricula in the field of computer science. As a new, high technology
company, NetLibrary is expected to provide materials to those most likely to use
the medium. These materials are demanded by NetLibrary clients and currently most
likely to be supplied by NetLibrary competitors. All current titles in this field
are aggressively collected.
Research into distance education programs has revealed a large proportion of courses
offered is in the field of Engineering. For this reason NetLibrary is increasing
collection activity in this area.
Public Libraries
NetLibrary service to public libraries will contribute to the public library mission(s)
of informational needs, literacy, lifelong learning, and recreational reading of the
general public. Public librarians, their patrons, and other community individuals and
agencies will be the driving force behind the collections NetLibrary teams will
provide.
Our customers, as stated above will drive collections for the public library market.
However, the following areas have been identified as areas of special interest,
and therefore will be given special attention: computers, consumer health, travel,
career services, business, consumer law and basic how-to books.
NetLibrary service to school libraries will support K-12 curricula, educator support
materials, and the recreational reading needs of the students. Input from the
education community and use of state curriculum standards will be a direct guide for
identifying and collecting materials of greatest use and in demand in the electronic
school community.
The education community and use of state curriculum standards, as stated above will
drive collections for the K-12 library market. However, the following areas have
been identified as areas of special interest, and therefore will be given special
attention.
Corporate Libraries
This document conveys the collection practices of NetLibrary to the business and
research needs of special libraries. Corporate libraries serve closed, specialized
communities with varying research requirements within the specific corporation. The
level of depth of selection within a subject area will depend upon particular
corporate mandate. For example, a corporate library may have a broad range of
management titles for training purposes as well as a research collection in engineering
for patent research. NetLibrary will collect a broad base of business titles for the
corporate market. Acquisition and collection development priorities include
technology, general business and technical reference, electrical engineering and
electrical utility, telecommunications, pharmacology and medicine, finance, accounting,
banking, aerospace, aeronautics, chemistry and insurance.
Citation:
Perrault, Anna H., (1999) National Collecting Trends: Collection Analysis Methods
and Findings. Library & Information Science Research, 21(1), 47 – 67.
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