|
Collection Development, or the systematic building and shaping of a library collection, is a joint effort involving the faculty, students and librarians. While the materials budget is the responsibility of the Chair of Library Services, long-standing tradition at Albright calls for serious faculty involvement in the selection process. With your assistance and expertise, the library will continue to grow and become the very best it can be.
Why We Ask
The purpose of the annual call for faculty purchase recommendations is to permit a faculty member to strengthen the library collection and to assure that the library has adequate resources to support the curriculum. It is not intended to provide materials for office use or basic teaching materials needed for day-to-day use in the classroom, e.g., textbooks or language tapes. It may be used for any form of single purchase library materials, e.g., books, back issues of periodicals, microforms, and audiovisual materials.
Items are purchased directly by the library, through subscription agents or from out-of-print dealers. This means that we cannot always tell you how long it will take to request, obtain, catalog, process, and shelve your requests. Normally we ask that you request materials at least two months before they are needed. I good rule of thumb is :
- Items needed for Fall Semester should be ordered by May 31 (before you leave for the summer)
- Items needed for Interim Semester should be ordered by October 31
- Items needed for Spring Semester should be ordered by November 30
- Items needed for Summer Semester should be ordered by March 31
Items can be ordered by full and part time faculty to support regular classes; to create support for new courses and programs (talk to the Head of Collection development first); special needs courses, e.g., honors classes; and to provide ongoing support (e.g., monographic serials and journals). Although faculty who order costly amounts of books will be asked to prioritize their requests, there is no set limit to the amount you can request for book requests. Audiovisual materials are capped at $300 unless prior permission has been given by the Head of Collection Development.
How to Order
Orders are handled by the Acquisitions Department and requests for information and assistance should be directed to Ray Weaver, x7206. New materials can be requested by 1)sending email to the Head of Collection Development (Sandy Stump), 2) completing the online form at http://linux1.albright.edu/index.php?lib=forms,recommendabp, or 3) sending promotional literature.
The order form or email should contain the following information: 1) author, 2) title, 3) publisher, 4) publication date, 5) price, 6) professor name, and 7) course it is to support. When appropriate, include additional information, such as the edition, volume number, series name, etc. If you submit promotional literature, please indicate your name and course number on each page that you order from.
Please consider the following guidelines when recommending a book:
 |
Direct Purchasing |
|
Please remember that this request is an authorization to recommend items for purchase, not to actually purchase them. Faculty who wish to purchase items directly must make prior arrangements with the Head of Collection Development (Sandy Stump x7205) and/or the Head of Technical Services (Fianna Holt x7201). |
|
|
|
Current Periodical Subscriptions |
|
Periodical subscriptions represent an on-going commitment; therefore, subscription requests are evaluated very carefully. To request a new serial title, fill out a Serial Request Form, which is available from the Head of Collection Development (Sandy Stump x7205) . Requests for journals should be accompanied by a sample copy and/or critical (not merely descriptive) review, whenever possible. |
|
|
|
Foreign Publications |
|
Foreign publications, including those handled by US distributor, usually take much longer to procure than domestic publications. Allow as much as six months to procure these items. |
|
|
|
AV Materials |
|
All audiovisual materials, with the exception of CDs, are ordered on approval and must be previewed by the faculty member to determine that the physical quality is acceptable and that the material is instructionally suitable. The library reserves the right not to order AV materials which cannot be ordered on approval. |
|
|
|
Priority Items |
|
If materials are required for use by a specific date, please indicate that date on the order. The Acquisitions Department will make every effort to ensure the timely arrival of such materials, although the library still will need time to catalog and process the item. |
|
|
|
Course Support |
|
With a limited materials budget and a large number of published works, it is important that curriculum support always be kept in mind when making your selections. If the selection was made for another reason, please provide the reason with the order. |
|
|
|
Checking Order Status |
|
You can also check the order status of any item you order in the online catalog. Once an order has been placed, it appears in the online catalog with the status of "On Order" until it arrives and is cataloged. Once a month a file is added to the Library web pages of all the items purchased and added to the collection the previous month. the list is in Dewey Decimal order to make it easier for you to track your subject areas. |
It is our hope that we can work together to make the library a better place for you and your students. Thee library liaisons will be in contact with all of the full time faculty to remind them to make their recommendations. Anyone on the "faculty" email distribution list will also be notified. Please direct any questions about collection development or any other library issue to your liaison librarian or to the Head of Collection Development (Sandy Stump x7205) .
|
