Collections Policy
1 Mission statement
1.1 Aims
The aim of Library and Learning Resource Services is to provide a key element in support of the University's mission as a leading provider of vocationally-orientated higher education. It therefore aims to help the University achieve and maintain the highest educational standards and be a means of providing challenging opportunities and support to its wide and socially representative constituency of students. It aims to enable students to take responsibility for their own learning and help them achieve their full potential and aspire to the highest academic standards. The service also aims to contribute to applied research activity and support University staff in a range of scholarly activities, to a level which supports but does not adversely affect provision for student teaching and learning services. These service aims and objectives are intended to apply equally at every site of the University.
1.2 Objectives
- To provide a basic educational stock of books, journals, electronic and other media directly related to modules provided by the University and further material to help broaden students' opportunities to acquire and exploit information and knowledge.
- To ensure that users are adequately trained to exploit the information, educational or ICT facilities available and that further assistance is available on demand through a variety of means appropriate to their needs.
- To provide flexible means of access to learning support materials and facilities for students irrespective of their geographical location, social or employment circumstances.
- To provide students at the University campuses with physical access to library and ICT facilities in support of their teaching and learning and information needs, and a suitable physical environment in which to use them, including study spaces appropriate for individual or group study.
- To work with collaborating organisations and institutions in providing library and learning resource facilities and services at the most convenient local level to students for whom the University has a responsibility.
- To maintain a process of continuous improvement in the quality of services and be responsive to changing user needs.
2 Provision of information by a hybrid library:
2.1 Printed and electronic materials
Historically based on the provision of information in printed form through books and journals, University Libraries have become hybrid libraries, continuing to acquire and lend printed books and materials in large numbers, but also acquiring and giving access to significant (and costly) electronic resources. This reflects a change in emphasis from collections holding ('just in case') to access ('just in time'), an emphasis which will differ from institution to institution and within any one institution in differing circumstances or for different users. The balance between printed and electronic resources will, therefore, be dictated by local circumstances and changing requirements; specific decisions arising from this are addressed in sections below.
2.2 User requirements
The needs of users - students (of all kinds), academic staff and others - are constantly addressed, through University feedback mechanisms, through Library surveys (a regular annual survey or occasional specific surveys) and through regular monitoring of use of the Library services. Benchmarking exercises against other libraries also inform aspects of this policy. All these are reported to the Library Users Committee and acted on as appropriate. Changing user requirements (and different requirements of the same user at different times or in different circumstances) are considered in relation to collections provision, management and access.
2.3 Balance based on use
Access considerations are covered below in more detail. The question of local and remote access in a multi-campus service also practicing outreach delivery on a significant scale, yet balanced between printed and electronic resources, is a major factor underlying much of the following discussion.
3 Legal and Policy Issues
3.1 Ownership
All materials or services acquired using funds made available to the Library are the property of the University, wherever they may be located, including deposit collections in external libraries. They are administered by the University Library on behalf of the University (or in the case of collections deposited elsewhere by local librarians on behalf of the University Library) and access is provided to all or any bona fide registered students or staff of, or persons associated with, the University. Materials acquired by agency on behalf of the Royal Alexandra Hospital are, where purchased using funds provided by the Hospital, the property of the Hospital, although they will appear in the University Library's database and be administered by the University Library; database services acquired for the Hospital Library are purchased separately through arrangements between the Hospital and Scottish NHS networking services.
3.2 Departmental loan
To maximize access to resources and avoid unnecessary and costly duplication, unless for direct teaching purposes, academic staff are discouraged from purchasing books or similar materials from funds other than Library funds. Where a case can be made for particular materials to be held outside the Library, an arrangement is in place for departmental loans. Such materials remain part of the Library stock although their administration devolves to particular members of University staff for the period they are on loan. Definitions of departmental loans and conditions of their issue may be found in the Library Regulations.
3.3 Copyright
The University Library holds on behalf of the University a higher education licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency and a licence from the Newspaper Licensing Agency. It also holds licenses for specific materials such as British Standards or Ordnance Survey Maps. Any copying for teaching purposes must comply with the terms of the relevant licences (details available elsewhere on the Library website); copying for private or research purposes must comply with the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or subsequent amending EU or UK directives. Failure to observe these requirements can have serious consequences for the University and may lead to disciplinary action against members of staff or students responsible for any breach.
3.4 Access policies
The University, and therefore the University Library, is bound by Freedom of Information Legislation, also by legislation relating to physical access and avoidance of discrimination. Any materials acquired by the University Library in any way may be made freely available to any bona fide user of the Library's services, except in rare cases where there are legal or commercial grounds for restricting access.
Printed materials will be made available for loan to any user for standard periods defined by the Library Users Committee. Some restricted loan periods are also in operation and may be applied to particular titles or particular copies as operational circumstances require. Materials in such restricted categories will not normally be loaned to any borrower outside the University. Electronic materials will be made as freely accessible, by on-site and by remote access as their licence conditions allow.
Any bona fide member of the University has the right to borrowing membership of the University Library. That right may, at the discretion of the University Librarian, be transferred to external borrower membership when the direct association with the University ceases.
Access to members of other higher education institutions - staff, research and undergraduate students - will be given on a reciprocal basis. This will be governed by agreements negotiated and publicized by GALT (Glasgow Area Libraries Together), SCURL (Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries) or Sconul (on a UK basis). The University Library is also a member of UK Libraries Plus allowing reciprocal access for distance learning students of member universities. This applies only to access to printed materials. Due to licence and other restrictions, access to electronic materials is available only to registered members of the University, although negotiations are being undertaken to test limited reciprocal access to certain electronic services.
The University Library has arrangements with various health service libraries, in support of nurse education. These include delivery of material from the University Library to nursing students through local hospital and other libraries, and support of other users of those libraries in return for the local assistance. Similar arrangements also apply to FE and other colleges designated as associate colleges and where students may articulate onto University courses.
The University Library also collaborates with public libraries in support of the University's mission to take higher education out to the community. In return for support of University students through local branch libraries, the University Library operates a loan service in support of public library learning centers, and participates in a photocopy service organized by the Ayrshire Libraries Forum.
4 Selection
Decisions on selection of materials for the University Library will be taken within the contexts of the Library's aims and objectives, and informed by academic policy decisions made by the University Administration.
4.1 Books and electronic reference materials
Titles or services will be acquired where they contribute directly or indirectly to specified curricular requirements. Copies of texts normally specified for purchase by students may also be acquired; access to these is likely to be controlled by varying loan periods and should not be seen as an alternative to student purchase. The source of such requirements will be recommendations from academic staff on the appropriate form, confirmed by a Faculty representative nominated for that purpose; orders may also be placed following monitoring of reading lists to ensure availability of specified texts. Orders will be placed automatically for such items as long as finance is available.
With the aim of providing a broad and balanced collection in support of students' learning in its wider context, and of assisting University staff to keep up-to-date with their subjects, the Library will also acquire titles suitable for wider or background reading. Such material may either be selected on the recommendation of members of the academic staff, or of Subject Librarians, in the latter case using funds held under the Librarian's control for such purposes. The Librarian may decline to purchase any item which is shown to be outside the aims of the Library and the University. In cases of partisan materials, the aim is to provide, within the requirements of common law, a wide range of material from special interest organizations covering a broad spectrum of opinions but relevant to the aims of the Library and the University.
While academic requirements will always prevail, the University Library will be mindful in selecting materials of the desirability of encouraging Scottish and local publishing by purchasing Scottish material of direct or indirect relevance to its courses, and preferring Scottish material to others where a direct choice is possible.
Identification of printed reference and information material will be by academic staff or Library staff, or members of both working together. The Library staff may identify suitable electronic materials, within the same criteria as apply to selection of printed materials, and arrange either purchase or subscription (from centralized Library funds) or access to free services. Such materials will be made accessible through the Library's intranet service (or its public website where materials are freely available).
Electronic books will also be subscribed to for the Library. These may come in packages which need to be considered in the same way as packages of journals, but the same basic criteria of suitability to the Library's aims and objectives and similar methods of selection will apply. In particular, means and freedom of remote access will have a high priority, once basic suitability criteria are met.
The Library takes on deposit, adds to the database and arranges loans of or access to postgraduate theses and certain series of undergraduate dissertations produced within the University. Any restrictions proposed on consultation of such items must be communicated to the Library when the item or items are deposited. Postgraduate theses will be held in perpetuity; agreement will be reached with individual Faculties concerning the length of time to hold undergraduate dissertations.
Ephemeral materials, pamphlets, annual reports and similar materials will be acquired subject to the same criteria as indicated above for all acquisitions. This will apply to purchase (or acceptance of donations) of printed materials or guided access to websites of electronic materials of the same nature.
Acceptance of donations of printed materials will also be subject to the same criteria indicated above, whether for the Library's main or special collections. Donations may be accepted on the understanding that the Library is free to dispose as it sees fit of any surplus materials after those items wanted for stock have been selected.
4.2 Journals
Journals required to support research or teaching will be identified by academic staff (informed or assisted by Library staff where appropriate) and submitted to the Librarian for consideration. Journal subscriptions are treated as a central resource, to aid cost control and allow the Librarian to take advantage of multi-subject deals for electronic journals. Major changes to the list may be made only with the approval of the Library Users Committee; the Librarian has discretion to add requested titles either where their cost is not significant, or where there is a compelling and urgent need, or where cancellations are offered to off-set the cost of a new title (provided the proposed cancellation does not adversely affect another subject area in the Library).
Increasing collaboration among HE and other libraries throughout Scotland may inform decisions about journals to be acquired locally, also about the length of their retention. This will also apply to back runs of existing journals.
Where a journal is taken in printed form the length of time for which copies are to be held will be agreed with the requesting Faculty. Where a printed journal is to be held permanently, copies will be bound on an annual basis.
Newspapers and general magazines will be acquired, especially in foreign languages to support language learning and assist students from overseas. Printed English language newspapers may also be purchased although their longer term storage and access will normally rely on electronic versions. In those cases the printed versions will be held for only very limited periods.
4.3 Formats
Materials will be acquired in the format most suitable to their purpose.
The Library Users Committee has established a policy that journals will be preferred in electronic form and that where a journal is taken electronically it will not be taken in print form (unless there are either compelling reasons or contractual obligations to do so).
The benefits of thus preferring electronic journals are ease of distribution to staff workstations, removal of costs and problems of dealing with print copies, availability of a much wider range of titles for the same financial outlay, and their increasing popularity with and use by undergraduates. Disadvantages may include loss of access if a subscription is not renewed (in some cases: archival access is maintained in certain cases but this varies from product to product); reliance on deals offered in an uncertain market dominated by major commercial conglomerates; and a wide range of licence and access conditions. Restrictions on access may lead the Library to decide not to subscribe to any particular service which might otherwise be desirable to have.
Selection of electronic books will rest on the same criteria as for printed books, although the effects of packaging titles may also need to be considered. Access and similar criteria will be assessed as for electronic journals.
For electronic products the preferred access method will be through an Internet site. The Library may, however, acquire materials in other electronic formats (CD-ROMs, discs, direct database access) where the material is of significance and no other format is available.
Commercially-produced audio tapes, compact discs, video tapes and DVDs may also be acquired as part of the Library stock to support language, media and other courses. Off-air recordings will be prepared by the Centre for Learning and Teaching; materials may be held in the Centre or the Library as agreed in specific instances, but material will normally all feature in the Library's database.
Where books are available in either hardback or softback, the hardback edition will normally be preferred. Where it is necessary for any reason to acquire softback copies, these will normally be strengthened with plastic jackets to help prolong their useful life.
4.4 Special collections
Potential donations of special collections material, whether printed books, archives or artifacts, or any combination of materials, will be considered in the light of the long-term likely research and academic interests of the University, as well as the intrinsic value or uniqueness of the materials offered. Any conditions the donor might wish to impose will also be taken into account: where appropriate a written statement of the terms of the donation will be agreed by the donor and the University Library. The same will apply where material is offered on long-term loan rather than outright deposit.
The University Library will not normally consider temporary deposits of materials except in special circumstances, or where there is a clear likelihood of a temporary deposit becoming at least long-term if not permanent.
Any materials so accepted will be suitably housed and conserved by the University Library and catalogues/indexes/calendars of the material prepared subject to staff availability. Details of special collections held will be permanently posted on the Library's public web pages. Few if any restrictions (beyond those necessary for physical preservation) will be accepted for such materials: the University Library will wish to make as widely available as possible access to any collections in its possession, although such access might increasingly be virtual rather than physical.
The University Library may, subject to available finance or acceptable costs, purchase additional materials to supplement any special collections it holds.
5 Access to stock and to information
5.1 Catalogue database and website
In pursuing its mission as stated in section 1 above, and defined in section 3.4, the University Library seeks to make all its collections as accessible as possible both to staff and students of the University (on-site and by remote access) and more widely to those members of the community throughout West and South West Scotland who might benefit from them in their pursuit of lifelong learning. Central to the discovery of resources available are the Library's catalogue database and website pages. Both are under constant development to improve access to information offered by or through the University Library, whether in printed or electronic formats. The catalogue database is publicly available for searching through the Library's website (http://www.uws.ac.uk/library/) and loan support services or external memberships are in place to supply materials found in it.
5.2 Electronic access
Electronic access to information services is available on-site at any of the Library's premises or through laboratories in the University. Remote access is available, principally using Athens accounts, to any registered student or member of staff of the University. This is considered fundamental to the supply of Library services and restrictive conditions of access may act as a disincentive to purchase of certain electronic products.
As a result of technical and licence restrictions, access to electronic information services, whether on-site or remotely, cannot be offered to anybody other than registered members of the University.
5.3 Document delivery services
In addition to access to printed or electronic materials purchased or subscribed to by the University Library, inter-library loan and document delivery services are offered for materials not held. These services are available free of charge to staff, research and honours year students; other undergraduates require a signature from a tutor in order to waive a standing charge for any external loan requested.
The University Library participates in a number of document delivery schemes, such as SHINE for health service materials and the Ayrshire Libraries Forum scheme among others both national and regional, in which it supplies material to other libraries, as defined in section 3.4 above. It also offers a loan support service to a range of public, college and health libraries with which it has formal connections.
No restrictions are placed on materials made available in this way, other than reserving the right to limit access to curricular materials in heavy demand by the University's students and placed in restricted loan conditions, or to electronic materials as indicated above.
6 Collections management
6.1 Stock control
The TalisList booklist system is used, in addition to its primary function of assisting students locate specific recommended materials, to monitor provision of stock within the University Library. A special fund is set aside each year to allow the Library to purchase copies of books and other materials identified as required through the TalisList system.
By collaboration with the University Bookshop the Library is kept informed of new editions of books already in stock. This information is passed to the academic staff concerned on the assumption that the University will wish the Library to hold the most up-to-date editions of any item in its stock.
The location of copies between sites, duplication between sites, numbers of copies and loan categories (3 week standard, 3 day, short loan or reference) for individual copies will be informed by the location of intended users and suggestions of academic staff; operational considerations observed by Library staff may also inform these decisions. It will be assumed that any electronic materials acquired may be networked across sites; this ability will be a specific recommendation for particular items, or a disincentive to their purchase should too tight restrictions be imposed.
6.2 Disposals
In a period of major change and evolution in the University's courses it is necessary for the Library constantly to review its stock both to ensure that new subject areas are adequately provided for and that unused and redundant materials are not blocking the shelves. Benchmark statistics against other libraries (especially numbers of volumes per FTE student and loans per volume in stock) will also guide this policy. Some disposal of stock (old editions where newer ones replace them, for example; or unbound runs of journals no longer taken and in subject areas no longer taught or researched; or books which have not been borrowed for several years) is fairly automatic. In other cases the academic staff will normally be consulted before material is removed from stock.
Printed materials in poor condition will be considered for repair, rebinding, replacement or removal from stock (in accordance with the criteria above).
Use statistics (balanced against subscription costs) will be employed to inform decisions concerning renewal or cancellation of electronic services; where a service is to be cancelled the proposal will be advertised to academic staff. In the case of cancellation of electronic services it must also be remembered that all the material previously subscribed to is likely to be lost.
Material to be disposed of will, at the discretion of the University Librarian, normally be offered for sale to University staff and students, either directly by the Library or through the University Bookshop. Any remaining material after book sales will be disposed of by the most advantageous and efficient means.
6.3 Physical management
Missing or damaged items will be identified as early as possible and their replacement made promptly. The Library Users Committee reviews statistics of damage to or loss of Library bookstock and advises the Librarian on measures to control or prevent abuses, including fines and disciplinary measures.
The Library will take appropriate means to conserve and prolong the life of its materials. Repairs to damaged items will normally be undertaken initially by Library staff; more major repairs will be sent to binding and repair companies, but only where the cost of such work is not greater than purchasing a new copy, or where copies are no longer available for purchase.
Material in special or archival collections will be housed in appropriate conditions and containers and, where necessary, individual materials will be subject to repair only by appropriately qualified agents. Materials used for housing will be to the appropriate conservation standards.
The Library has a separate disaster plan.
7 Finance and budgeting
7.1 Materials funds
The University Librarian operates within the University's financial regulations and has a system of budgeting regularly reviewed and approved by the Library Users' Committee. Purchase of periodical subscriptions and subscriptions to electronic services is managed as a central top-sliced fund under the control of the University Librarian reporting to the Committee. Remaining funds for book purchase have 20 percent top-sliced under the Librarian's control, 10 percent top-sliced as an emergency reserve, and the rest divided among Schools and Faculties on the basis of the relative numbers of FTE students in each. Approximately eight months into the financial year, the Librarian advises members of the Library Users Committee that any unspent funds by a specified date will be taken back and reallocated along with any funds remaining in the emergency fund. This sum is then allocated back to Schools and Faculties on the same basis as the original allocation.
7.2 Purchasing consortia
The University Library takes part in any purchasing consortia which serve its best interests; specifically it is a member of both the serials and book purchasing consortia managed by the Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries. It takes advantage of consortial purchases of electronic materials organized in the UK by JISC, and collaborates with other libraries on a local, regional, Scottish or UK basis to pursue suitable consortial purchase deals.