These practices are intended to guide librarians in the building, enrichment, and maintenance of a current, diverse, and balanced collection of library materials in accordance with the mission of Western Technical College (hereafter, Western or the College) and the goals of the Western Technical College Library (hereafter, the Library). These practices provide consistency among those responsible for and involved in development of the collection. Within the scope of these practices, the term “collection development” is understood to encompass the selection of both materials owned by and housed in the Western Technical College Learning Commons and those electronic resources to which the Library provides access.
These practices and accompanying guidelines also serve to inform the college community of the principles upon which the library’s collection development work is based. These practices are to be used in conjunction with librarians’ professional judgement to make well-founded collection development decisions. In order to keep the Library’s practices responsive to changes in library science, technology, institutional goals and objectives, curriculum, and the college community, these practices will be revised and updated as necessary.
Western Technical College is an open enrollment college in La Crosse, Wisconsin whose vision is to be the college of first choice in our region. To achieve that, Western pledges to be a college that supports every student, every day by offering a variety of services to help students thrive. From helpful tutors, accessible instructors, and knowledgeable advisors, to comfortable study spaces, convenient regional locations, and opportunities to engage with our communities—Western creates critical connections that promote success. Western assures support for students on campus and for graduates entering the workforce. As a technical college, Western is uniquely positioned to be responsive to the needs of individuals, community partners, and businesses in the region. [1]
Western Technical College serves more than 13,000 students, including full and part-time enrolled students, dual enrollment students, and adult education students.[2] Western Technical College students come from diverse backgrounds and maintain a myriad of future goals which are facilitated by liberal arts transfer, applied associate degrees, technical diplomas, vocational training, or GED or HSED high school equivalency completion.
Western Technical College values the success of students and hold itself accountable for providing excellence in student learning, based on the diverse needs of each student and built on a foundation of integrity, teamwork, and respect.
The Library provides access to resources—including collections, instruction, facilities, and services—to meet and fulfill information needs related to basic skills, transfer/liberal arts, career, and technical education coursework, as well as to support the vocational and lifelong learning goals of the Western Technical College community. All Western Technical College students, faculty, and staff are encouraged and allowed to make use of the library collection and resources. Community members with a public library card also are allowed to use and borrow physical materials. Digital materials are available to Western-affiliated individuals with a valid identification number and network account.
Central to the work of the Library in its contribution the college’s mission, vision, and goals is the quality and relevance of its collection. Thus, the Library strives to maintain a dynamic and evolving collection of resources that supports and enriches the college curriculum.
The Library’s collection serves the instructional and related support needs of all students, with particular focus on those engaged in basic skills, transfer, career, and technical education coursework. The Library serves a college community with great diversity in interests, life experiences and circumstances, learning needs and styles, and prior educational experiences. Therefore, the Library provides a collection of materials in a variety of formats and on a wide variety of topics and subjects, including materials to support student learning and skill development in areas that may not be directly covered by classroom instruction.
Selection of materials by the librarians does not imply endorsement of the contents or the views expressed in those materials. No material will be excluded from the collection because of the race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political or social viewpoint, or controversial nature of either the author or the material.
The Library not only acquires print and electronic resources for the campus community, but cultivates partnerships with other libraries to facilitate access to resources not owned by the Library in order to meet specialized needs. All material purchased for the Western Technical College Library is cataloged, circulated, and inventoried through the Library and remains under control of the library.
The library’s budget is provided by Western Technical College and is distributed annually. Specific budget codes are designated for subscriptions, physical materials, staff, and supplies. The budget is managed by the Dean overseeing library services but administered by Library and Learning Commons staff. Additional funding to the Library may be provided by grants and donations facilitated through the Western Foundation.
Collection development is the means by which the library provides an organized, relevant collection of resources to meet the instructional, intellectual, cultural, and recreational needs of the college community. The primary collection development objective for the Library is to be an active participant in the educational program of the college by collecting, making readily available, and assisting in the use of materials needed by students, faculty, and staff. These materials will be provided in the most appropriate format for the subject or discipline, academic goals, and intended audience.
Collection development priorities include:
Collection development is an ongoing process undertaken by library staff with input from faculty, administrators, staff, and students. In all acquisition and collection development decisions, consideration is given to the cost of materials versus their potential usage. The Western Technical College Library is neither an archive nor a research institution, but rather is a provider of current, reliable, high-use materials.
The Library accepts suggestions and recommendations for library materials from any user; however, ultimate responsibility for the overall quality and balance of the Library collection rests with the professional librarians. Instructors are especially encouraged to request Library materials to support their instructional needs, to recommend general items for the Library’s consideration, and to incorporate Library materials into their courses.
The purpose of these guidelines is to give direction and focus to librarians in their selection responsibilities. Following are criteria and priorities to consider in regards to selection decisions. They are to be considered flexible and not all-inclusive.
In selecting resources, materials will be evaluated using following criteria:
The focus of selection will be on resources that have authority, accuracy, and level of sophistication appropriate for our users. In assessment of quality, librarians may use as a resource professional and critical reviews in library publications or resources; professional and critical reviews in appropriate subject area resources; recommendations of faculty, students, subject matter specialists, and community members; and/or evaluation of the author, publisher, or material under consideration.
The Library focuses on adding newly published, timely materials to the collection that are authoritative and/or ground-breaking in their fields. However, librarians are able to make retrospective selections in order to fill gaps or respond to requests with consideration to all selection guidelines.
The Library’s collection emphasis is on supporting college curriculum and programs rather than the collection of all knowledge for the sake of completeness. Priorities include updating older or underrepresented areas, maintaining current selections, and ensuring coverage for new programs/subjects or programs with upcoming accreditation reviews. Some gaps in the collection, such as highly specialized topics or academic pursuits not offered at our college are of interested to a limited number of users and, thus, are typically borrowed through interlibrary loan (ILL) rather than purchased for addition to the collection. Duplication is generally discouraged, as purchasing an item already owned means foregoing the purchase of other new materials.
The Library will purchase ebooks on a title by title basis to support curriculum and overall collection development goals as appropriate. Preference will be given to titles that can support online and distance learners, and ebooks may duplicate print resources when there is expected high-use across campus or when different formats meet the needs of identified user groups.
Number of user purchase options will be determined based on need, cost, duplication of physical copies, and access, with preference given for unlimited simultaneous user perpetual access for titles with anticipated high use or potential for use in a classroom setting. Selection of ebooks will be based on the same criteria outlined throughout this document, with further consideration given to technological issues, accessibility, vendor support, ease of use, and other criteria unique to the format.
The Library encourages the acquisition of electronic resources to provide broad access regardless of location. Licensed online resources are a significant part of the Library’s collection and account for a large proportion of the collection budget. Due to considerable ongoing cost, selection of these resources is carefully considered. Selection will be based on the same criteria outlined throughout this document, with further consideration given to technological issues, accessibility, vendor support, platform availability, usability, and other criteria unique to the format.
Additionally, the Library facilitates access to numerous electronic resources provided by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), which are provided at no cost to the College.
The Library accepts donations and gift material with the understanding that the Library, at the discretion of the librarians, will only add items to the collection that meet its needs. Gift materials will be judged by the same selection and deselection guidelines as purchased materials.
The Library’s budget does not allow us to purchase everything needed to support teaching and learning, and Library physical space is always limited. Therefore, duplication will be held to a minimum. Multiple copies of physical items will be acquired for titles in heavy, continuous use, or that are unavailable or difficult to procure via interlibrary loan.
The Library supplements its resources by participating in an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) program. This program allows for sharing and access of resources from other libraries around the world. Frequent interlibrary loans of particular materials will be cause for purchasing those, or similar, materials for the Library’s collection.
Open access (OA) materials and Open Educational Resources (OER) are materials which are made available with limited restrictions through use of open content licenses such as Creative Commons. Open Access resources typically permit users to download, copy, print at cost, display, distribute, search, index, and link to the information. The Library supports new publishing initiatives such as Open Access that intend to make access to academic materials more affordable and available for students and faculty. Further, the Library offers support to the College community in acquiring and providing direct access to open resources for teaching and learning.
When choosing a format for a physical item, consideration is given to the condition and durability of the materials used in the item’s construction and how the item will hold up in use over time. Materials which are delicate or require special handling may not be suitable for our collection.
Selection of periodical titles in print will be determined by the general criteria used in the selection of all materials (as outlined above). In addition, full-text availability in one of the library’s subscription databases will be a factor in the selection of print subscriptions. Serial subscriptions will be evaluated for renewal annually, taking into account usage and cost-per-use. Titles that are available in subscriptions databases or on the open web will generally not be purchased in print.
The reference collection includes both print and electronic materials. In addition to the guidelines set forth above, materials are selected for the reference collection with the intent of providing a comprehensive store of information on as wide a range of subjects as possible, including topics not represented elsewhere in the general collection.
Due to high cost and frequent revision, the Library generally does not purchase textbooks. Exceptions can be made for textbooks that are the only or best source of information on a topic or recommended by faculty as an exceptional resource in the field. Instructional departments, programs, or instructors are encouraged to submit a copy of their relevant course textbook to be placed on reserve for student use.
The Library collection provides reliable, up-to-date, and attractive materials. In order to keep the collection contemporary and useful, an active and continuing program of selection for withdrawal, or weeding, shall be maintained by the librarians. Excess copies, seldom-used titles, outdated materials, superseded editions, excessively worn materials, and badly damaged copies will be removed from the collection at regular intervals. Items in poor condition, but still valuable in terms of intellectual content will be considered for repair or replacement. Faculty members are welcome to identify materials which are outdated and should be discarded. Materials weeded from the Library collection will be disposed of as the Library determines appropriate including by direct sale, as gifts to patrons or other libraries, by discard, or other appropriate means. Responsibility for the overall quality and balance of the Library collection—including decisions regarding ongoing collection maintenance—rests with the professional librarians.
[1] Section adapted from “About” page, Western Technical College. https://www.westerntc.edu/about
[2] Refer to Wisconsin Technical College System Students Data Fact Book for the most up-to-date statistics about Western's student body. https://www.wtcsystem.edu/impact/publications/fact-book-student-data/
An academic library is a forum for free exchange of ideas in a student’s pursuit of knowledge. With this in mind, the Library will make available to its users materials offering the widest possible variety of viewpoints regardless of the popularity of subject or author. Inclusion of a particular resource does not constitute endorsement or advocacy of the ideas or statements found therein. Further, the Library adheres to the principles of intellectual freedom outlined in the Library Bill of Rights of the American Library Association[3] and further explained in the Freedom to Read Statement,[4] the Freedom to View Statement,[5] and the Intellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries.[6] Pursuant to these, the Library will not automatically withdraw duly selected materials from the library collections in response to a request from an individual or group.
The following procedures have been adopted for the handling of formal requests for reconsideration of materials in the Library’s collection:
In evaluating Library materials in response to a request for reconsideration, the ad hoc committee will:
Subsequent to its reconsideration of the material, the committee may recommend one or more of the following actions:
[3] “Library Bill of Rights,” American Library Association, retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill
[4] “Freedom to Read Statement,” American Library Association, retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/freedomreadstatement
[5] “Freedom to View Statement,” American Library Association, retrieved from http://www.ala.org/rt/vrt/professionalresources/vrtresources/freedomtoview
[6] “Intellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries,” Association of College and Research Libraries, retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/whitepapers/intellectual
[7] “Library Bill of Rights,” American Library Association, retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill
[8] “Freedom to Read Statement,” American Library Association, retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/freedomreadstatement
[9] “Freedom to View Statement,” American Library Association, retrieved from http://www.ala.org/rt/vrt/professionalresources/vrtresources/freedomtoview
[10] “Intellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries,” Association of College and Research Libraries, retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/whitepapers/intellectual
