Collection Development Policy
The purpose of the Collection Development Policy is to establish guidelines for the library’s collections. These policies will be reviewed every two years or as needed. Date of last update: August 9th, 2023.
Library Mission Statement:
DACC Library supports the mission of the college by providing excellent educational resources for a diverse community of learners. The DACC Library supports academic interests, workforce development, economic growth, and lifelong learning.
DACC Library serves the Community Profile:
2020-2021 Student Demographic Profile
- 60% Female
- 40% Male
- 74% Hispanic
- Average age is 23.4 years
- Median age is 20.0 years
- 58% of DA New FT Students received a Pell Grant
- 27% of DA New FT Students reported to be First Generation
Selection responsibilities:
- Librarians and other library staff
- The responsibility for the selection of materials for the library is shared by the teaching faculty and the professional librarians. Each of the professional librarians acts as a liaison between the library and an academic division, and is responsible for soliciting title suggestions and areas for collection growth from teaching faculty.
Materials budget and apportionment of funds
The Director of the Library applies a funding formula, based on the previous academic year's SCH, each August for the current years library budget allotment by Division and Department. The Liaison Librarians are then responsible for the annual expenditure of those funds for the assigned areas. They use the following criteria to guide them.
- The number of students enrolled in a program
- Size and adequacy of the library's current collection and resources
- Actual use of library materials
- Cost of materials
- Research orientation/needs of the discipline
- Distance learning requirements
- Accreditation requirements
Selection criteria:
All resources that become a part of the library’s collection are selected to serve the research and curricula needs of DACC. Every effort will be made to keep the collection up to date in accordance to the specific requirements of all programs at DACC. For the Espina and East Mesa campuses, each will house the specific print collections for the programs that are specific to each campus.
The library will provide a variety of print, electronic, and audiovisual materials. Materials will be selected according to the following principles:
- Currency, relevance, scope & breadth, authenticity, authority, and cost
- Educational suitability for development of the subject
- Presentation that is well-researched and thoughtful
- Financial and space constraints of the library
- Timeliness and enduring value
- Competence and reputation of authors
- Thoughtful presentation of all sides of controversial issues
- Durability of print materials intended for library circulation
Priority will be given to these:
- Materials that enrich and support the curriculum, taking into consideration the varied interests, abilities, and maturity levels of the students served.
- Materials that afford a range of research opportunities from elementary to advanced.
- Materials that encourage personal and intellectual growth, accommodate diverse viewpoints, and represent a range of religious, ethnic, and cultural heritage.
- Materials that present a variety of views on controversial issues so that students may develop the practice of critical reading and thinking.
Types of physical materials included in the DACC Library collection:
- Circulating materials: These are materials that are typically available for check-out, such as books and audiovisual media.
- Reference collection: These are materials made for the immediate use inside the library and are not meant to be checked out.
- Course Reserves: These are materials kept in the library for in-house or limited checkout use only. The parameters of the length of time, etc. will be set by each individual instructor or department.
- Fiction, Children’s, and Literature: These are collected to support campus departments and programs. Some library databases include this content.
- Academic and professional journals, popular magazines, and newspapers: These are available in either print or electronic formats and are meant to support DACC academic programs and patron interests.
Policies by format and category of materials:
- Books: An emphasis on acquiring new or current titles is made, although significant retrospective titles may be acquired if they reflect the curriculum.
- Textbooks: The library does not routinely acquire textbooks. The library offers textbooks that are provided by instructors for Course Reserves, and occasionally acquires textbooks for Course Reserves as needed.
- Reference works: Unless specifically requested by departments, electronic formats of reference materials will be preferred because of their wider accessibility and flexibility.
- Media: DVDs are currently the only media the library actively collects, but special requests by instructors or departments will be considered.
- Serials & periodicals: The library will continue to collect and maintain the traditional serials that support DACC programs. All new requests by departments will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
- Electronic resources: The Library will continue to prioritize accessibility and this typically means that preference is given to electronic formats.
- Foreign and/or non-English language materials: The Library will only consider those non-English print materials that directly support courses and instruction at DACC. The library subscribes to a variety of electronic books and specialized databases that provide support in this area.
- English as a second language: The library subscribes to a variety of electronic books and specialized databases that provide support in this area.
- Other materials: The library will consider these on an individual basis.
Resource Sharing:
The DACC Library participates in several reciprocal borrowing programs and is able to request books and articles from outside of our system for DACC Library patrons. Generally there is not cost for this service unless the lending library charges a fee, and we will notify the user beforehand if there are any associated fees.
Recommendations for purchase:
Students, Faculty and Staff of DACC may request that the library purchase materials at any time, though the time of the fiscal year and this collection development policy may affect how quickly the item may be purchased if it is purchased. Purchase requests may be submitted with our Purchase Request Form.
Withdrawal of materials:
The elimination of older or outdated content from the collection is an essential part of the process of maintaining a vibrant and relevant library collection. The library director will rely on close communication with faculty to ensure that outdated materials are replaced on a regular basis. In general, the following materials may be withdrawn from the collection and discarded or exchanged:
- Obsolete materials: Information that has become outdated and could be misleading, e.g., encyclopedias, directories, travel, Geography, Science, Computer Science, Technology, Health Sciences, and Careers
- Materials acquired in support of a program no longer offered by DACC
- Superfluous duplicates
- Badly worn or defaced volumes for which there are suitable replacements
- Materials reported lost and not recovered within two years will be marked withdrawn in the inventory records
Censorship:
The library recognizes that there are items within the library that may be considered controversial and offend some persons. Materials in the library are selected to support the instructional and research needs of the College community. A person who wishes to request the reconsideration of library material must file a formal request for reconsideration using the DACC Library Request for Reconsideration form (please contact the Library Director for the form). Please see the DACC Library's Challenged Library Materials Policy for more information.