Collection Development Policy : Collection Development Guiding Policies

The NVC Library supports the intellectual freedom of every individual to seek and receive information from all points of view without censorship as outlined in the American Library Association’s (ALA) Library Bill of Rights and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Statement on Academic Freedom.

In an effort to provide well-rounded materials and sources of materials that represent diverse sources of information and viewpoints, some materials may be considered controversial by certain groups or individuals. The acquisition or use of any item does not imply endorsement of the content by the Library.

Collection development is a community effort. The Library encourages selection collaboration and recommendations from the NVC Community, including all library patrons, under advice and discretion from the librarian team. While the primary duties are the responsibility of a Collection Development Librarian, it is a community effort to build a comprehensive collection. Librarians will liaise with faculty, staff and administrators in assigned discipline areas. Librarians will review book lists, book review guides, and publisher-recommended reading lists to add new titles to the library collection.

To recommend a book, journal, or other resource for addition to the NVC Library, please fill out the Suggest a Purchase form. 

The Library applies the same criteria to all materials under consideration for inclusion in the collection, including recommendations and donations. The criteria are as follows:

• The expected usage of the resource

• Required material for course or program accreditation

• Support to the current discipline curriculum in scope, quality, and demand

  • Curriculum Outlines: One librarian, typically a Collection Development Librarian or Faculty Librarian, will serve on the Curriculum Committee to stay abreast on the latest additions to the NVC Course offerings. The Librarian ensures that textbooks are appropriate for class. Approved Course Outlines submitted by instructors also provide guidance on which materials would best support the information needs of NVC students.
  • Division Liaison Work: Librarians serve as liaisons to divisions where they can get feedback about how the library is serving the needs of their area, as well as inform them of library changes that may affect their course offerings and overall department.
  • Library Orientations: Librarians will make purchases based on specific course needs (e.g. during library orientations or library orientation prep). 
  • Reference Transactions/Course Assignments: Librarians are constantly assessing the collection when providing reference assistance. When materials needed by students and are not available at NVC Library, librarians will aim to purchase materials that support student assignments.

• Presentation of new information from diverse perspectives and viewpoints

• Redundancy

• Cost

  • Does it fit within the current budget? 

  • Will the longevity of usage warrant the physical processing costs?

• Adequate shelf space to accommodate

• General reputation of the author and content reviews 

In addition to the above criteria the Library makes every effort to diversify the Library collections by including: works written by and/or about historically marginalized, underrepresented and oppressed voices; works in hi-lo reading levels to support Adult Basic Education and ESL. 

Format: The Library collects books and materials in print, electronic and open source formats. Books and materials are available in multi-level reading levels to support students with varying high and low reading levels.

Language: Books and materials are primarily collected in English language with the goal of continuing to build a modest Spanish language collection. Books and materials collected in languages other than English serve to support the study of languages, literatures, and cultures. 

Print

The general collection print books include, but are not limited to:  

• Circulating main stacks: Non-fiction, biographies, classic literature, short stories, and more. 

• Reference: The reference collection includes print and online encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, directories, indexes, bibliographies, statistical compilations, and handbooks. 

• Leisure Reading (recreational): includes popular novels, classic novels, popular paperback auto/biographical, diverse and inclusive fiction, and graphic novels. The preferred format is paperback, however in the case where new releases are published and available in hardback first, the hardback format is selected. This ensures the timeliness and relevance of the material. 

• Quick Reads (formerly easy readers): Easy level reading books and adaptations to support students with lower reading levels and English language learners. 

• Print periodical resources, such as magazines and journals are not included in the general collection policy. See newspaper databases for access to online periodical resources. 

Electronic Resources

The general collection non-print materials includes, but is not limited to:

• Audiovisual materials, such as DVDs and audiobooks. Audiovisual materials are purchased in accordance with ADA accessibility standards, such as closed captioning. Please contact all librarians at library@napavalley.libanswers.com if you have an accessibility request.  

• Electronic resources, such as article databases, electronic books / databases and streaming media are mentioned in the Electronic Resources Tab. To learn more about electronic resources from the user end, please consider booking a library workshop to have a librarian visit the classroom for instruction or schedule a research appointment with a librarian during open library hours. 

Textbooks are not selected for the general collection unless it is designated as a core resource by a faculty member. Core resources are titles that have been deemed essential to a field. The purchasing of textbooks is not sustainable due to their high cost, frequent publication of new editions and inferior or lack of binding. Although textbooks are not typically purchased for the general collection, textbooks are purchased for the Reserve Textbook collection. Visit the Course Reserves page for more information. 

Other exclusions include: 

• Multiple copies of a title (exceptions apply);

• Titles where the information will quickly lose value and accuracy;

• Audiovisual materials in obsolete or obsolescent formats; and

• Titles containing information that is deliberately false or misleading.