Collection Policy

Background

The mission of the Roanoke Higher Education Center (RHEC) Library is to facilitate access to information and educational resources to support the academic success of students attending classes at the Center.
 

Policy Statement

The RHEC Library aims to provide a diverse set of informational resources to support the students, faculty, and staff of RHEC member and partner institutions. The primary focus of the library’s collection-building efforts is to support the curriculum of current educational programs available at the RHEC and the subsequent academic needs of students in those programs.

The library obtains appropriate materials in accordance with the following priorities:

  1. Materials to support the current curriculum of programs offered at the Center, as well as student learning in general.
  2. Materials to aid staff and faculty in professional development and teaching activities.
  3. Materials of educational, information, and recreational interest to the RHEC community.

The RHEC Library does not aim to cover every academic discipline. Instead, it emphasizes providing resources relevant to the current programs delivered on-site and in the hybrid delivery format at the Center. As program offerings from the RHEC’s member institutions fluctuate, the library determines the level of coverage for particular fields based on indicators of interest. These indicators include the number of courses offered, the level of enrollment, and retention of the program(s) at the Center.
 

Evaluation and Deselection

In considering the quality of potential materials for acquisition, the library considers a wide variety of factors, including:

  • Reviews in professional library publications
  • Reviews in scholarly journals and other discipline-specific publications
  • Reviews in media publications
  • Literary and academic awards
  • Recommendations from faculty
  • Community input

As institutional membership and program offerings change, the library continuously evaluates the currency and relevance of the collection. Maintenance of the collection includes reviews of circulation statistics and electronic resource usage. The library may choose to deselect material or end subscriptions to electronic resources based on the following criteria:

  • Resources that no longer support the curriculum
  • Duplicates that are no longer in demand
  • Materials that contain outdated or inaccurate content
  • Older editions of titles that have been replaced by newer editions
  • Usage as determined by circulation statistics

 

Book Donations and Gifts

The library accepts donations of books and media items. Materials that meet the selection criteria of this policy may be added to the collection. Space limitations and the material’s physical condition are also factors in determining whether it will be added. The library reserves the right to dispose of gifts not added to the collection through online sales, donations to non-profit organizations, or discarding.