Library Policies

Faculty librarians at George Fox University have ultimate responsibility for collection development, collaborating with teaching faculty to develop and maintain a collection which supports the curriculum and the university's mission.

Librarians are assigned collection development responsibility for several subject areas based on their liaison duties. Librarians encourage teaching faculty to participate in the process by sharing requests and curriculum needs. University students and staff may also make suggestions for purchase.

In selecting material, the depth and and comprehensiveness of the collection is informed by the academic endeavors of the university, according to the following factors:

• Scope
• Level
• Authority
• Quality
• Format
• Content

In addition, a decision as to whether to purchase specific titles might be influenced by whether the title is held by numerous other Orbis Cascade Alliance libraries.

The library also purchases or subscribes to various packages of electronic content – collections of journals, ebooks, or other resources. Purchasing decisions will be guided by the assessed total value and relevance of the package to the libraries’ users, and the cost of the particular package. We use turnaway counts or usage data from a trial whenever possible.

The library also uses a demand-driven acquisition (DDA) model for much of its book selection.

The library will normally purchase only one copy of a given item. Duplicates will be considered if deemed essential.

The form of material may be books (monograph and serial), newspapers, periodicals, microform, manuscript (archival), government publications, maps, pamphlets, video, sound recordings, electronic, and in the future, new technological formats.

Most information resources provided through the George Fox Library are in electronic format. For example, 99% of all journal title holdings are in electronic format, and most of the books in the catalog are ebooks. Most sound recordings and some video content are provided in a streamed format. Computer software is not purchased for the collection.

Note: Due to construction on campus, the library is difficult to access by car, prohibiting us from receiving large donations.

The selection of materials for the collection from items received as gifts will be governed by the same criteria that govern the selection of purchased items. Items we don’t take will be shipped off to Better World Books or destroyed. The library reports the gift to the university advancement office, who will send the donor an acknowledgment, but it is up to the donor to calculate the value for tax purposes, if desired. For anything more than an armload of books, please call the library first to make sure we’re able to accept the donation.

The vitality of the George Fox Libraries’ physical collections depends upon continuous collection development and careful collection management. To enhance the Libraries’ value and utility, librarians must carefully maintain collections. One important aspect of this process is the deselection of outdated materials that no longer support the mission of the university, the curriculum, or the goal of the university libraries’ collections.

Objectives of Deselection

• To make the most effective use of shelf space
• To increase the relevance of the existing collections to current curricular needs
• To maintain the collections in an acceptable physical condition

Deselection Process

• Deselection decisions are overseen by subject specialist librarians, who use their judgment, expertise and understanding of the current and future needs of the university community to evaluate the collection. It is important to make a conscientious effort to involve the university community and, therefore, other librarians and interested faculty should be consulted. Regular communication to the appropriate faculty and/or department regarding the status of a weeding project is highly encouraged.
• Library staff use standard library methods (circulation statistics, physical condition, duplication, uniqueness, etc.) to identify candidates for withdrawal. Items listed as missing for longer than one year will be reviewed for replacement or withdrawal.

Criteria for Retention

• Faculty identified items that should be retained
• Items, such as “classics” clearly identified through professional selection resources, considered valuable for the integrity of the collection by subject librarians
• Local or university books having historic value
• Books written by university authors
• Books contained within special collections