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The purpose of this policy is to serve as a guide for the collection management process at South Plains College.
The South Plains College Library’s mission is to proactively support the SPC Vision and Mission through the provisioning of information resources and learner support environments that enhance the academic experience of our college community. The management of the library collection should parallel the development of the college curriculum. Library resources are acquired in accordance with the following priorities:
The library will not purposely censor any subject or viewpoint, and will resist any attempt at censorship from an outside source. The library endorses the Library Bill of Rights, and the principles of that document are considered an integral part of the collection management process. The selection of materials by the library in no ways implies endorsement of the content or views found within the materials. The library has a challenge process available to any individual with a concern about material. That process is outlined in the Challenges to Library Resources policy.
All materials acquired with library funds are considered library property and are provided by the libraries for the use of the entire college community. Materials are appropriately purchased following campus purchasing guidelines.
Professional Library personnel are responsible for the selection of library materials to meet the specific needs of our campus community and instructional curricula, using the most efficient methods for both physical and digital resources. Librarians are provided with a variety of collection management tools to assist in the selection process.
Library users are encouraged to request materials for consideration of purchase, and these requests will be routed to a professional librarian for due consideration. Requests that can be filled via Interlibrary Loan and from which the requester will benefit from quicker access to the material, or requests for a resource that does not meet general collection development principles or selection criteria, will be filled by interlibrary loan, subject to availability of resources from other institutions.
Faculty members are encouraged to participate in collection development through regular consultation with their subject liaison librarian.
Materials selected for library purchase should reflect the following:
Regular deselection of resources is essential for the development of a quality collection that meets the library’s Collection Management priorities in fulfillment of the Library’s Mission. This includes systematic removal from the shelves of superseded, irrelevant, worn out, damaged, or unnecessary duplicate material by the library staff. Digital resources that are insufficiently used, readily available in another resource, and/or cost prohibitive in relation to their usage will also be subject to cancelation. Deselected physical materials will be discarded in accordance with applicable laws and College policies. Digital resources that are not renewed or are no longer available will be removed from the library’s digital platform. The assigned liaison librarian for an academic program regularly consults with faculty and other stakeholders to ensure a sufficient amount of resources in the appropriate formats reside in the library’s collections.
Content, not format, will be the primary criterion for deciding whether to add any item to the collection. The library seeks to purchase resources in the format(s) that will be most useful for our college community and instructional curricula within the constraints of its budget. Resources are considered, but not limited to two primary formats: Print and Digital.
Materials received as gifts will be evaluated by the same criteria as used to evaluate purchased material. Everything donated to the library becomes library property, to be used as the library staff deem appropriate. No guarantee is made that any donated items will be added to the library’s collections.
Missing or lost titles are not automatically replaced. Only titles for which there is a demonstrated need will be replaced. The library will seek to replace a lost or missing title with the most recent edition if available. Sometimes another edition of the title or a different title on the same subject may be substituted for the title that was lost.
The SPC Libraries welcomes inquiries and challenges regarding library materials as part of our commitment to Intellectual Freedom. Please visit one of our libraries for additional information about the challenge process.
Adopted by the Library Committee, April 14, 1992
Revised January 7, 1993
Revised August 20, 2012
Revised April 25, 2022
