Table of Contents:

1. Objectives
2. Selection Responsibility
3. Fund Allocation
4. Selection Guidelines
5. Special Collections
6. Databases
7. Gifts
8. Collection, Maintenance, and Evaluation
9. Copyright
10. Intellectual Freedom

Section 1: Objectives

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1. Library and Media Services is responsible for providing materials that assist students in achieving their educational goals. The primary focus of the collection will be to support instructional programs and courses at Western Nevada College.
2. The library collection consists primarily of academic and vocational/technical subjects that reflect the course and program objectives of the college. The collection represents material that is appropriate for a community college library and the interests and educational levels of the students of the college. The collection contains material that represents a variety of viewpoints and opinions on cultural, social and political issues.

Section 2: Selection Responsibility

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1. Selection of materials is a primary duty of the Collection Department Librarian and other Library and Media staff. Library staff will work closely with academic faculty to determine what items best meet classroom objectives and/or student needs.
2. The Director of Library & Media Services makes the final determination on the purchase of all materials, and is responsible for the implementation of this policy.

Section 3: Fund Allocation

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1. Purchases are made within the limitations of the budget with no specific allocation by discipline or department
2. Items of significant cost, that meet selection criteria, but require a large percentage of the total materials budget, will be held for further consideration if year-end funds are available.

Section 4: Selection Guidelines

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1. The department mission statement provides the framework for the selection process.
2. Library and Media Services strives to meet the needs of students, faculty, and staff either by purchasing or securing through interlibrary loan those materials needed for study and research.
3. Selection aids and tools such as professional journals, bibliographies, and publishers catalogs will be used to identify materials for consideration.
4. Specific considerations in choosing individual materials include some or all of the following:
   1. Support of mission statement
   2. Appropriateness for undergraduate use
   3. Support for class assignments
   4. Support for core courses
   5. Recommendations by faculty, staff and students to support classroom instruction
   6. Strength of present holdings in subject
   7. Cost
   8. Suitability of format
   9. Authoritativeness of author or reputation of publisher
   10. Timeliness or permanence of the material
   11. Classic in subject area
   12. Appearance of the title in bibliographies or indexes
5. Materials not normally purchased are:
   1. Textbooks for courses offered at WNC
   2. Graduate level materials
   3. Books in languages not taught at the college
   4. Popular fiction
   5. Highly specialized research & technical materials
   6. Specialized materials available in local area Nevada libraries
   7. Test books
6. The majority of selections are current English language publications.
7. Lost or stolen materials will be considered for replacement within one year if they are still available.
8. Additional criteria may be developed to determine purchases for special formats.

Section 5: Special Collections

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1. Nevada Collection

   The Nevada Collection emphasizes, but is not limited to, Nevada related material about the following subjects: government, politics, and economics; geography and history; anthropology and archaeology; flora and fauna; environment, geology, recreation, and the outdoors; education; art; biographical sources; and fiction, poetry, and prose about Nevada. Nevada legal materials are housed as part of the Nevada Reference Collection. Selection criteria for the Nevada collection include:

   1. Materials by Nevada authors that contain significant content about Nevada.
   2. Items specifically about the state of Nevada.
   3. Works of fiction, that either take place in Nevada or deal with Nevada, will be reviewed by the Collection Development Librarian to determine the suitability for inclusion in the collection.
   4. Books published by the University of Nevada Press will be reviewed individually to determine if they meet the criteria to be included in the collection.
   5. Faculty, staff, and student requests.
2. Juvenile Collection

   The Juvenile Collection at the WNC Library is a representative collection of childrens and young adult books maintained to provide students at the college with examples of the best written books in those genres. This collection is primarily for students of literature and education and is not intended to serve the same audience as a childrens or juvenile literature collection at a public or school library. The collection also serves as a resource for the colleges ESL program. Decisions on whether or not to include a book in the juvenile collection are made by the Collection Development Librarian. Selection criteria for the Juvenile collection include:

   1. Caldecott Award winning books and selected honor books
   2. Newbery Award winning books and selected honor books
   3. Michael L. Printz Award winning books and selected honor books
   4. Other childrens and young adult award winning books chosen by the American Library Association or the Nevada Library Association
   5. Childrens and young adult books that are generally considered classics in their respective genres
   6. Faculty, staff and student requests
3. Bill Cowee Poetry Collection

   The Bill Cowee Poetry Collection is a special collection donated by Bill Cowee to the WNC Library in 2007. The collection is composed of books from Mr. Cowees private collection and represents poetry from around the world and in various poetic styles, with an emphasis on poetry from the Western United States and Nevada.

   1. Books in this collection that are either lost or damaged beyond repair will be replaced.
   2. Selected books of poetry from Nevada or regional authors will be added to the collection at the discretion of the Collection Development Librarian or the Library Director.
   3. Books added to the collection will be designated in the catalog record and on the book plate as not being included in the original donation.

Section 6: Databases

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The selection of databases for the WNC library, which now comprises the majority of the librarys collection of e-books and periodicals, follows a similar process as specified for books and other materials in the collection. Librarians review the current collection of databases annually to decide if a database should be added, retained, or discontinued. The criteria for selecting or discontinuing databases include:

1. Review of usage statistics for each database
2. Evaluation of the quality of content, breadth of the collection, duplication of titles and subject areas, uniqueness of titles and subjects, and the ease of navigation of the user interface
3. Review of changes in the curriculum and course offerings at the college
4. Evaluation through standard professional reviewing sources
5. Review of cost factors and availability of databases through statewide purchasing agreements

Section 7: Gifts

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Given the movement of materials to online formats, in most instances the library will no longer accept gift books. Exceptional gifts, such as those with historical significance, will be evaluated on a case by case basis by the collection development librarian.

Section 8: Collection, Maintenance, and Evaluation

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1. Library and Media Services withdraws outdated and damaged materials to maintain the quality and currency of the collection. The reference collection is continually monitored for outdated material, which is replaced or withdrawn. Individual sections of the general collection are reviewed according to the annual weeding schedule. Faculty members are encouraged to assist in identifying outdated or inaccurate materials in their areas of expertise.
2. General criteria for withdrawing materials will be based on the librarysWeeding Schedule and Proceduresand includes:
   1. Materials that are outdated or contain inaccurate information
   2. Materials that are not circulating and are not considered to be classics
   3. Duplicate copies that do not have a high level of circulation
   4. Older editions of a title that are not needed for historical reasons
   5. Materials that no longer meet a curriculum need or relate to a program or course that is no longer offered at the college
   6. Damaged or worn material that can no longer be repaired
3. A systemic assessment of the library collection will be based on theLibrary Collection Assessment Plan, Section 4 (Collection Assessment Procedures).

Section 9: Copyright

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1. Library & Media Services follows the guidelines in theWNC Policy on the Use of Copyrighted Materials(3-2-8). All materials added to the library collection and available for use in the library must be copyright compliant or be in the public domain.
2. Any material considered for the library collection that is not copyright compliant, or not in the public domain, will be not be added unless written permission is given to the library from the copyright holder

Section 10: Intellectual Freedom

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1. Library & Media Services upholds the principles of the American Library AssociationsLibrary Bill of Rightsand the Association of College and Research LibrariesIntellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries.
2. In the spirit of open and academic discourse, the library endeavors to select materials that represent a wide variety of opinions, viewpoints, and perspectives. If the appropriateness or value of any material is challenged, the objections must be submitted in writing to the Director of Library & Media Services before any action will be taken on a complaint. The procedure followed in responding to complaints is described in the Nevada Library Associations Intellectual Freedom Statement of Policy and Recommendations and in the principles and procedures outlined in the American Library Associations Intellectual Freedom Handbook.

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