Donating Items and Collection Development

The process of material selection at a library is called collection development.  

The objectives of the SUNY Adirondack Library's collection development guidelines are:

• to support the college’s core curriculum,
• maintain the existing collection and
• meet the research and information needs of the college community. 

The ultimate responsibility for selection rests with the librarians. Faculty recommendations are also essential to help maintain the currency of the collection because of their special expertise in specific disciplines.

Selection should be in accordance with the library’s mission, bearing in mind the requirements of each academic program, as well as diverse learning and teaching styles. When selecting acquisitions, librarians consider the following:

• enrichment of the curriculum of the college
• appropriate academic level
• professional journal reviews (Choice, Library Journal, others)
• authority and competence in presentation
• contemporary significance
• format (print, electronic, media)
• permanent value
• relation to existing collection
• scarcity of information in subject area
• price

SUNY Adirondack faculty, as subject experts, share the responsibility of ensuring that the library has appropriate and sufficient quality resources for student research. Faculty consult with their subjects' liaison librarians at the SUNY Adirondack Library to request quality materials for the library.

The librarians regular de-select materials, or "weed," using the same collection development criteria. 

Sections of the circulating collection are reviewed and weeded regularly as part of the collection's ongoing maintenance. This not only makes room for new materials purchased by librarians, but also ensures that the library's collection is as relevant and useful to students as possible.

Librarians will de-select older materials that have been replaced with more current information, have not been borrowed or used in recent years, are not related to current courses, are in poor condition, do not fit within the scope of a community college library, or are now available through online resources.

The SUNY Adirondack Library currently subscribes to many print magazines, scholarly journals and newspapers, collectively called periodicals.  The collection covers general interests as well as discipline specific titles.  Budgeting and selection of periodicals differ from book purchasing because periodical subscriptions represent an ongoing commitment in terms of cost, ongoing maintenance and space.

The following criteria are considered when evaluating print periodical titles for acquisition or cancelation:

• enrichment of the curriculum of the college
• present use of this or other periodicals in a subject area
• projected future use
• price as well as projected availability of funds
• reputation of journal
• inclusion in a currently-subscribed periodical database
• duration of the library’s subscription.