Building the Clarion University Libraries Collection
The primary goal of collection building is to insure that information resources most needed to support the University’s instructional, research and service mission are available to library users. Formats may be print, electronic or media. Increasingly, resources are not physically housed in the library, but are available in electronic format and accessible to users anywhere with a computer and Internet access.
The needs of the university instructional programs are met by the general collection and by the reference collection. As a university library, within the constraints of budget, space, equipment, availability of materials, and bibliographic access, selection decisions are made to offer as deep and broad a collection as possible in all formats. The collection includes information resources delivered electronically from remote sites.
Materials pertaining to the history of the university may be found in the Archive collection.
Anyone, including students, may recommend materials for selection by the Libraries.The primary responsibility for selection, however, rests with the teaching faculty and librarians. Collection management in the Clarion University Libraries is heavily dependent upon a liaison system in which the librarians work closely with representatives of the academic departments to determine how the Libraries can best support the curriculum and research needs of the departments. Faculty members are encouraged to recommend materials that serve to support the courses they teach and supplement the general library collections appropriate to their disciplines and specialties.
The librarians select information resources for specific schools, departments, or programs with which they have liaison responsibilities. The Collection Development Librarian coordinates their efforts and provides collection oversight in subject areas where no liaison is assigned. Funds available for collection development are allocated to address users’ needs and are spent in the most cost-effective manner possible.
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