NOTE: This policy is in revision as of August 2008.
Appendices
Revised: February-March 2000
Approved by the University Librarian: August 1, 2000
The Ronald Williams Library both collects informational resources and provides access to information that it does not own in order to support its community engaged in the University's academic programs and to supplement the research needs of its community. Its primary community includes the faculty, students, and staff of Northeastern Illinois University.
As the University's academic programs respond to changes in teaching and scholarly activity, the Library's collection must continuously reflect the dynamic nature of the University. In addition, the Library's collection must adjust also to technological advances and online and networked environments. This collection management policy establishes priorities concerning ownership and access to the record of knowledge in order to communicate current practices and future directions. Since the collection management policy is a reflection of changing university academic programs, ongoing review of it is necessary by the Library and its community.
Collection management at the Northeastern Illinois University Libraries is a process of gathering information concerning the community's needs and translating those needs into decisions about the selection, acquisition, retention, preservation, storage, and provision of access to information resources and materials in order to optimize existing local resources and to develop new resources. Communication, coordination, policy formulation, budget allocation, collection evaluation, and planning are integral to the process. The availability of shared resources and cooperative collection management initiatives made possible by technology and electronic services are major considerations especially in a current environment of limited staff, limited space, limited financial resources, and changing higher education policy. The librarians and library staff engaged in this process are essential to provide the human aspects of leadership, the intellectual expertise for their subject specialties, the collaborative efforts needed for interdisciplinary scholarship, and the provision of service to users.
The Ronald Williams Library first developed a collection development policy in 1988. That policy was extensively revised in February 1996 to include specific policies on individual subject areas. The current policy is a revision of the 1996 policy. It addresses issues resulting from changes in the University's organization structure, updated policies on individual subject areas, the increased use of electronic information, and dependence on the Internet to deliver library services.
Northeastern Illinois University offers high quality undergraduate and graduate programs to a broad spectrum of students. The University has identified the following major goals for FY2001-2006:
Within this environment, the Library provides educational and research support services for the University's academic programs. In order for the Library to fulfill its function, it makes materials and resources available to the University community within the walls of the Library in an organized, systematic manner. It also provides access to materials and resources beyond the walls through online and networked resources and through interlibrary loan.
The Library has identified a three-fold mission that guides the work of the Department.
The Library has identified the following vision:
In support of the University mission, the Library strives to be both student-centered and learner-centered. In being student-centered, the Department of the Library will develop policies, collections and services in a flexible manner to accommodate changing student needs and requirements. Commitments of staff time and expenditures devoted to traditional collections and services will continually be assessed and balanced with demands for new and evolving information resources and services. In being learner-centered, the Library faculty and staff will design and provide information and instruction services, in partnership with academic departments and faculty, with a clear focus on student learning. In being fully student-learner centered, the Library will fulfill its potential to serve as the intellectual commons or crossroads for the University Community where people and ideas interact to expand learning and to facilitate the creation of new knowledge. The following statements define the shared vision of the library faculty and staff in becoming a fully student-learner centered library. 1. The information resource needs of Northeastern Illinois University students and faculty are the key drivers in setting library priorities and in the design and allocation of library resources. 2. The Library is the "portal of choice" for members of the University Community in both the real and virtual environments because it provides responsive access to quality information resources and services. 3. The Library faculty and staff is a community of learners, committed to professional growth, to experimentation with new modes of information access and to working collaboratively with each other and other colleagues to enhance the delivery of information services. 4. Library faculty and staff are actively engaged with classroom faculty in the teaching/learning process of creating well-educated, information-literate graduates who will be life-long learners. To fulfill its mission within the University and to attain the stated vision, the Library has identified the following goals for the planning period: Goal 1. The Library will build a well-balanced collection of print, media and electronic resources that supports the curriculum and meets the information needs of the University's students and faculty. Goal 2. The Library will acquire materials following sound management practices and organize them according to accepted principles of knowledge management and national standards to provide bibliographic and physical access in a timely manner. Goal 3. The Library will implement and manage automated library systems and networked information services to enable seamless access to library resources. Goal 4. The Library will provide ready access to information and research materials beyond local Library collections and resources. Goal 5. The Library will provide individualized reference assistance and consultation to users of the Library's collections, services and electronic resources. Goal 6. The Library will provide a full range of instructional services and learning support opportunities to empower students to be effective users of information resources and to prepare them to become life-long learners. Goal 7. The Library will provide facilities and an environment designed and maintained in a manner to meet the range of needs of library users. Goal 8. The Library will secure the necessary budgetary and staff resources and will allocate these resources effectively to meet programmatic needs. Goal 9: The Library will communicate effectively and regularly with all stakeholders, on and off campus, to build support and to promote use of library collections and services.
Free access to ideas is fundamental to the educational process. The Ronald Williams Library is committed to and complies with the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement and the Association of College and Research Libraries Intellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries, An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights. The collection will be available to all users of the Library. The widest possible diversity of views and range of viewpoints and expression will be represented in the collection. The Collection Development Officer initially will respond to all questions concerning the propriety of specific materials in the collection. The University Librarian and the Library/Media Services Advisory Committee are available for appeal.
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