Policies & Procedures: Collection Development Framework

Statement of Purpose:

Empire State University Library seeks to provide timely and efficient access to research and learning resources for the entire Empire community.  Our collections and access strategies are developed to provide the best resources to support Empire’s academic programs, research areas, and the individual learning, teaching, and research areas of faculty, staff, and students.  As Empire’s library is online only, we seek to provide high quality resources that are accessible and reliable.

Criteria and Considerations for Selection of Resources and Collections:

• Faculty recommendations will receive priority consideration, especially when the resource will be used for teaching, learning, or research.
• Materials used in courses are prioritized, especially when these resources provide cost savings for students and enhance Empire’s access mission.
  • Textbooks will be licensed when possible.  The library will review historical enrollments for courses, cost of individual purchases, funds available, and usefulness of the textbook beyond the course to prioritize which textbooks to purchase.
• Resources should align with one or more of the following:
  • Support for course or program
  • Alignment with Academic Programs or General Education areas or courses
  • Support for faculty research agendas or collaborative research programs
• Accessibility of resource and platform
• Effectiveness and return on investment (ROI) for purchase or subscription to resource.
  • Alternative access strategies may be used to review ROI before committing to subscriptions.
• Relevance to the curriculum, program learning outcomes, and institutional learning outcomes
• Strength of present holdings or access strategies available for the same or similar resources or subjects.
• Demand as evidenced by:
  • Frequency of ebook or article/chapter purchases or interlibrary loan requests for similar material on the same or similar subject
  • Usage of similar resources, when appropriate
• Price/relative cost of material in relation to the budget and other available or needed material, especially when alternate access methods may be available.
• Accuracy, authoritativeness, and currency.
• When possible, the library will provide access to or collect resources that align with the ACRL Diversity Standards Toolkit Standards and respectfully represent diverse people and cultures: https://acrl.libguides.com/c.php?g=473874&p=3242500.