The Collection

Collection Development

Acquisitions Policy: A Collection Development policy guides Library staff in their ongoing efforts to build and maintain a cohesive, appropriate, and well-rounded collection of materials tailored to the diverse range of educational programs offered by the College. The Librarian makes acquisitions decisions based on a variety of sources, including publisher/press/vendor catalogs, reviews in Choice, Library Journal and other publications relevant to the college’s programs of study, the comparison of the Bay State College Library OPAC against the OPACs of peer institutions, faculty syllabi, and core collection and “best book”- type lists. In addition, the Librarian will base her selections based on the following parameters: Literary merit, enduring value, authoritativeness, relevance to programs of study, timeliness, price and value, quality and stability of the format, faculty/student recommendation, and high circulation numbers in the subject area.

Donations Policy: Gifts-In-Kind are accepted at any time. Once material has been gifted to the Library, the items (including decisions regarding their storage and de-selection)are considered fully owned by the Library, and their storage or de-selection are subject to the Librarian’s discretion.

Policy on challenges to intellectual freedom: The BSC Library affirms the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights and the Individual’s Freedom to Read. Collection development decisions are made solely on the basis of the merit of the work and its relevance to our collection and not on approval by the community at large. The Library recognizes that materials might be considered controversial or offensive by some individuals, but maintains that only individuals can determine what is appropriate for their own needs.

De-selection Policy: The decision to withdraw materials rests with the Librarian. Those materials to be considered for withdrawal will be assessed by these considerations: item contains inaccurate information, the item is in poor physical condition, a newer edition of the item is available, the item is of no historical value, or the item has not been checked out in the last ten years. Items that meet any of these criteria are subject to potential weeding from the collection. Items weeded from the collection are not automatically replaced; the coverage in that particular subject area, cost, demand for that title or subject, and availability of more quality materials will all determine whether or not an item is replaced.