Collection Development

The LCC Library Collection Development guidelines are intended to guide the selection, evaluation, and de-selection of print, online, and other materials for the collection. It is meant to provide a written statement of the Library’s objectives in building its collection and to communicate library policy to the LCC Community as well as guide librarians and library staff in their collection development decisions.

Mission and Vision | Guiding Principles | Library Mission and Vision | Scope and Focus | Intellectual Freedom | Copyright | Responsibility for Selection | General Selection Criteria | Gifts | Weeding/Deselection | Cooperative Collection Agreements | Liaison with User Groups | Recommendations | Reconsideration

Mission and Vision

The College’s vision is to serve the learning needs of a changing community. Our mission is to provide high-quality education ensuring that all students successfully complete their educational goals while developing life skills necessary for them to enrich and support themselves, their families, and their community as engaged global citizens.

LCC Guiding Principles

The College adheres to twelve guiding principles. LCC will be a “Comprehensive Community College” focused upon offering learning opportunities in four areas: career and workforce development, general education, developmental education, and personal enrichment.

Library Mission and Vision

The mission of the LCC Library is to empower the LCC community to learn, teach, and discover. The Library’s vision is to have a positive impact with every interaction.

Scope and Focus of the Collection

The LCC Library acquires resources that add value to the various collections, supplement the diverse curricula, and support program accreditation. A focus is placed on introductory resources aimed at lower division undergraduates.

The library collections reflect diversity, equity, and inclusion and multiple points of view to help foster LCC’s cultural diversity and critical thinking.

The library collections are available in multiple formats to help maximize access to content and address the needs of different learning styles. E-resources must meet accessibility standards. 

Although the focus of the collection is on supplementing current academic courses and curricula, the library is committed to working with the LCC Community to help support their informational needs by obtaining/borrowing materials via interlibrary loan (ILL), Michigan eLibrary Catalog (MeLCat), and appropriate referrals to other area libraries. 

Intellectual Freedom

Because access to a variety of viewpoints is essential to the development of critical thinking, the LCC Library supports the American Library Association's Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement.

Copyright

The Library complies with the Copyright Act (Title 17 of the U.S. Code) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act .

Responsibility for Selection

All librarians and designated library staff are responsible for selecting materials for library collections. The Manager of Technical Services & Systems provides overall management and coordination of selection and acquisition activities, including deselection and collection assessment projects.

Types and Formats of Materials Collected

Electronic Resources

• Electronic resources include web-based resources, licensed resources and databases, electronic periodicals, and e-book collections.
• The Library may purchase or provide access to online electronic resources in lieu of other formats.
• E-Resources must be accessible.

Books

• Books are acquired to support the curriculum needs of LCC students, faculty, and staff.
• The Library also selectively acquires popular materials of general interest.
• Books may be collected in print and online formats.

Reference Materials

• The reference collection includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, directories, indexes, bibliographies, statistical compilations, and handbooks.
• The reference collection is regularly reviewed for currency, accuracy, and relevance.
• Reference materials may be collected in print and online formats.

Periodicals

• The print periodicals collection supports LCC curriculum and provides a core collection of general interest periodicals.
• New print subscriptions are only acquired after careful consideration by librarians.
• Newspapers are available in electronic formats.
• Electronic periodicals or journals are provided through online databases or individual subscriptions.

Audiovisual Materials

• The Library does not actively collect physical audiovisual materials such as DVDs or music CDs. 

Streaming Videos

The Library provides streaming videos for use by faculty and students in teaching and learning. Inclusion of these materials in the Library's collection should meet the following guidelines in addition to general selection criteria:

• Item has demonstrated applicability in more than one course or discipline.
• Treatment and presentation of subject content are on an appropriate academic level.
• Format is cost effective, durable and accessible.

Course Reserves and Textbooks

Textbooks and supplemental materials may be purchased for the course reserve program if they are

• Required for a general education course.
• Selected by the librarian liaison or library staff because they add value to a program and multiple subjects.

Realia

The Library of Things provides devices and tools to support LCC academic programs and LLC DEI initiatives.  

• Items include non-traditional library items such as technology, audiovisual equipment, crafting materials, tools, and therapeutic items.
• Items are selected based on the relevance to LCC curriculum and programs, student and faculty feedback, potential need, cost, safety, and space.

Special Collections

• Special Library Collections have separate policies that may have individual selection and deselection policies. Special collections policies are listed in the appendices. 

General Selection Criteria

The following criteria will be used in making selection decisions for materials in Library collection:

• Relevance of material to the LCC curriculum
• Critical review or quality of the material content
• Listing in standard bibliographies and guides
• Reputation or authoritativeness of the publisher
• Reputation or authoritativeness of the author
• Calculated or estimated price
• Potential for use or known need
• Strength or weakness of the collection in particular areas 
• Usefulness with respect to other materials in the collection, including the representation of all sides of controversial issues 
• Currency of the material
• Ability to obtain the material through other means, such as electronic access, MeLCat, or inter-library loan (ILL)

Gifts

The library does not accept gifts in the form of books and media donations. Community members wishing to add a copy of their published material to the library collection are encouraged to submit a request through the Suggest Items for Purchase form and the library will review it for purchase. 

Weeding/Deselection

Weeding or deselection is the process of removing materials from the library collection in a systematic and deliberate way to maintain a current, viable, and useful collection that serves the curricular needs of the College. Weeding is a dynamic and ongoing process, and the following factors are used to determine when materials should be removed from the collection:

• Superseded editions
• Duplicate copies
• Age and physical condition of the book
• Frequency of circulation
• Obsolescence of content
• Presence of other books on the subject matter
• Removal of a program from the curriculum
• Inclusion of titles in recognized bibliographic sources

Special Library collections and E-Resources may have their own process and criteria for weeding and deselection of library materials. 

Weeding is a collaborative process across library departments and teams. Laison librarians are responsible for identifying items for deselection in assigned liaison areas.

Cooperative Collection Agreements

The Library supplements the information resources that are available to its users by participating in various cooperative agreements. The Inter-Library Loan (ILL) program provides access to journal articles and book chapters available from libraries within Michigan and elsewhere. MeLCat provides access to both print and multimedia resources statewide. Both of these services are available for free to all students, faculty, and staff of LCC.   

Liaison with User Groups

Library staff endeavor to promote close working relationships with LCC departments and programs. Faculty librarian liaisons are assigned to specific course subject areas to work collaboratively with teaching faculty, serve as a department's first point of contact for information about library resources and services, and select materials to support curricula.

Recommendations

Recommendations for new or additional library materials from LCC students, faculty, and staff are accepted and encouraged. Requests can be made electronically by submitting a Suggest Items for Purchase form.

Reconsideration

If a library user finds an item objectionable and wishes to have it removed from the collection, the user may ask that title be reconsidered. The following process has been developed for reconsideration of library materials:

1. The person making a request for reconsideration submits a completed Request for Reconsideration of Library Resources to the Library Director.
2. The Director assigns the request to the Library Reconsideration Committee for review.
3. The Library Reconsideration Committee reviews the request and submits a written recommendation to the Director.
4. The Director makes a decision and notifies the person making the request.

The Library will make every effort to resolve the matter within 60 days of receiving the request.

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