I. Purpose of the Collection Development Policy

The purpose of the Collection Development Statement is to provide the basis for the systematic development of print and electronic materials that will support the academic needs of the Camden County College / Rowan University Camden Campus Community. The statement sets forth the criteria to be met in selecting books, and other forms of materials.

The statement will serve to inform the Camden County College and Rowan University Camden Campus faculty, students, and staff of the aims of the Collection Development program and to help them understand and interpret the selection of materials for their usage. It will enable faculty to collaborate with the Paul Robeson Library in developing strong and balanced collections.

Regular review of the Collection Development Policy will occur and will involve Camden County College and Rowan University Camden Campus faculty as appropriate.

II. Objectives of the Camden County College / Rowan cooperative library agreement

A. To provide an organized and readily accessible collection of print and non-print materials and supportive equipment to meet institutional, instructional, and individual needs of students and staff

B. To support institutional research of faculty or staff which relates to present or future curricular issues in higher education and specifically community colleges.

C. To provides services which support the above objectives

D. To instruct users in the most effective means of research

E. To assist faculty in development of instructional media and/or instructional systems

III. Criteria for Consideration of Library Books

The following criteria are observed by librarians in the selection of books for the collection:

a. High standards of quality in content, format, and/or literary merit
b. Appropriateness for undergraduate use in general education and/or occupational programs
c. Possibility of use for one or more courses
d. A lacuna in a particular subject area
e. Student interest if subject matter is of general or contemporary nature
f. Author’s reputation in the subject field
g. Positive review evaluations in one or more of the accepted reviewing media and/or citations for the book in specialized bibliographies or indexes
h. Permanence or timeliness of the book
i. Assessment of the translator if books is a foreign language work
j. Reputation of the publishers
k. Only available treatment of a new or obscure subject.

IV. Evaluation of the Collection

To maintain a collection of optimum usefulness, the librarians will engage in a continual evaluation of the books and periodicals held in the Robeson library collection to support Camden County College and Rowan University. This process requires the same attention to quality authoritativeness as the original selection of materials. The Robeson Library Liaison will study portions of the book collection, examining the holding for their currency, validity, and usefulness in the research process, comparing their assessments against standard subject bibliographies for academic libraries especially junior college libraries. The concurrence of faculty representatives in the subject disciplines evaluated will be sought as necessary before withdrawing any questionable materials.

Under no circumstances will materials be removed from the shelves because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

The concern of the librarians in evaluating and in some instances, removing materials will be:

1. Books containing obsolete or inaccurate data or facts;
2. Superseded editions of books currently held by the Robeson Library.
3. Incomplete sets of books, the continuity of which is not maintained
4. Incomplete holdings of journals for which there is no adequate indexing service
5. Multiple copies of titles for which there is not adequate justification
6. Worn or badly mutilated volumes