PRERREQUISITOS DE LA MAESTRÍA EN BIBLIOTECOLOGÍA Y ESTUDIOS DE LA INFORMACIÓN,

MODALIDAD A DISTANCIA

Unidad 1

El desarrollo
de colecciones

Sanchez Vignau, Barbara Susana y Grizlee Meneses (2005). Collection development

policies in university libraries: a space for reflection. pp. 35 - 43. En: Collection
Building, vol. 24, no. 1. Habana, Cuba: University of Habana. En: http://www.emeraldinsi-
ght.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullText
Article/Pdf/1710240106.pdf [Consultado: 3 de noviembre de 2009]
 Collection development policies in university
libraries: a space for reflection
Barbara Susana Sanchez Vignau
Faculty of Communication, University of Havana, Havana, Cuba, and
Grizly Meneses
Office of Information, Central University of Las Villas “Marta Abreu”, Santa Clara, Cuba

Abstract
Purpose – To identify the necessary components in the formulation of collection development policies.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on both research about collection development policies and data compiled as a result of a
survey of 16 centers of higher and technical education in Cuba.
Findings – Although the directors of university libraries and managers of collection development were aware of the process of collection development,
few have collection development policies, and few have carried out user studies.
Originality/value – A model for a collection development policy for the system of university libraries is proposed.

Keywords Collections management, University libraries

Paper type Case study

Introduction of materials in order to satisfy the demands of the users.

Traditionally, in the information life cycle, collection
development has been considered an essential element of
the system. Nevertheless, the actual reflections that converge
in it are one of the most significant processes in the effective
performance of any unit of information. For that reason, it
becomes necessary to establish the theoretical aspects – the
concepts of collection development as the initial phases of the
library-information activity.
The process of collection development is defined as:
.
Collection development: a process that permits the library to
develop a collection of materials that respond to the
information needs and service requirements of the users
(Negrete Gutiérrez, 1993).
.
Collection development: a process that allows for the
identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the
materials collection of a library in terms of the needs of
the users and the resources of the community (Evans,
1987, p. 13).
.
Collection development: a system of public services, which
characterizes the process of making decisions that
determine the suitability of acquiring and conserving
materials in the library (Osburn, 1979).
.
Collection development: a universal process in the library
world in which the library professional assembles a variety
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This dynamic and constant cycle brings together six
elements: user study, policies, selection, acquisition,
weeding and evaluation (Evans, 1987, p. 7).
.
Collection development: a process which assumes that the
information needs of the users are satisfied in an economic
fashion and inside of a reasonable period of time using
resources as much internal as external to the organization
(Sánchez Vignau, 1999).
In the definitions previously detailed, a common factor is
the consideration of the needs of the users for which the
collection is designated. The stated common factor appears
as a distinct element for collection development and at the
same time differentiates the selection and acquisition that
until now has been considered the genesis of the
information life cycle.
The antecedents of collection development rose in the
decade of the 1970s in the university libraries of Anglo-Saxon
countries. There were factors international and external that
caused the aforementioned change:
.
The economic crisis on a world scale. It is in this period that
inflation began directly affecting the publishing world.
This produced the rise in the cost of paper, printing and
composition. Librarians were obliged to ration the use of
money to develop their collections.
.
The increase in the number of publications. Scientific research
increased, and periodicals became the support for
excellence to mould these studies.
.
The advances in community technology. It is attributed to the
explosion of new information technologies and

Translated by Alexandra Gomez and Kay Cassell.

Collection Building
24/1 [2005] 35 –43 Received: 22 September 2003
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0160-4953] Reviewed: 18 February 2004
[DOI 10.1108/01604950510576119] Accepted: 24 May 2004

35
 Collection development policies in university libraries
Barbara Susana Sanchez Vignau and Grizly Meneses
communication that have penetrated into the large sectors
of the social life including universities, firms, publishing
houses.
.
The variety in the format of the presentation of information. As
a result of the new technologies, information does not only
appear written on paper, but in electronic formats such as:
CD-ROM, online databases, DVDs and for the
universities constitutes a new challenge to establish such
collections.
Collection development allows itself to be used in the
consulted literature, parallel to the management of
collections. However, it is a process that comprises the
management of collections, being understood as a more
general activity that includes the planning of the collection,
development, organization, availability, access, evaluation,
preservation, conservation and restoration of the collection.
Edward Evans creates six postulates that govern collection
development in this period (Cadavic Arango, 1994, p. 19):
1 it ought to be geared principally to the needs of the
community, more than an abstract standard of quality;
2 to be effective it ought to respond to the total needs, more
than the needs of specific users;
3 it ought to be carried out with knowledge of and the
participation in cooperative programs at local, regional
and national levels;
4 it ought to consider all kinds of formats of materials for
inclusion in the library;
5 it has been, is and will be always a subjective work and
consequently prejudiced and subject to errors; and
6 it is not something that is learned completely in class or in
a lecture hall, but that it is by effective practice and
making errors that a person becomes efficient in this
process.
In the later postulates, Evans follows the precept of the
functioning of the organization oriented to the users more
than to the processes. It keeps in mind the influence that the
revolution of the new information technology and
communication have had in the different sectors of society
and its implication in the different mediums of presentation of
the information. It assumes that collection development, as an
intellectual process carried out by humans, ought to devise
diverse forms in order to offer suitable information to the
user. It refers to cooperation as a necessary activity for
encouraging collection development, so it allows libraries as a
group to count on materials in more areas of knowledge, as
well as more specialized ones. Nevertheless, it is not easy to
make a successful cooperative project of collection
development, because conflicts between the needs of the
individual libraries and the needs of the group may arise, this
is one reason that characterizes collection development as a
subjective work in constant correspondence with the
information needs of the users. Collection development as a
process, according to Evans, is composed of different
elements:
.
Community. A group of people (readers, library users) to
which one ought to give service, either this group is a
political unit (a country, a state, a municipality) or an
entity more specialized (a university, a school, a research
center, a firm).
.
Analysis of the community. They supply data for the
planning of the library that allows them to establish a
36
Collection Building
Volume 24 · Number 1 · 2005 · 35 –43
mechanism for participation in the collection development
process.
. Collection policies. They ought to cover such aspects as
donations, de-selection or discarding and cooperation.
. Selection policies. They ought to be more concrete as to
facilitate the decisions about what materials to buy, to
accept or to include in the collection if they are donations.
.
Acquisitions. The business operation in which the
community has little or no participation except donating
money, but the library does purchase orders, the selection
of the vendor, the reception and revision of the materials
acquired.
.
Discarding policies. It is necessary to reflect throughout a
policy.
.
Evaluation of the collection. It determines the quality of the
work that is carried out in the library, having accounted
for the needs of the community.
Other approaches are employed to represent the process of
collection development and between them distinguish the
proposal by the authors Sánchez and Guerrero, in their work,
“Algunas consideraciones sobre el alcance conceptual de los
términos desarrollo de collecciones, completamiento y
selección y adquisición de fuentes de informatión”, they
consider the following processes:
.
Formulation and/or revision of the policies. It is the first
aspect of extreme importance to collection development
since it is the intellectual activity that involves planning.
.
The study of the needs of users. It allows knowledge of the
new expectations and level of users demand, as well as
their interests and needs as far as the information requires.
.
The study and evaluation of the collection. It allows the
analysis of the composition of the collection by subject
area, obsolescence, language and type of document, the
increase of the collection in a time period, its use, its
availability and its accessibility as well as the covered
needs.
.
The evaluation of information sources. It will contribute to
the selection of the appropriate literature for the
satisfaction of the users’ information needs, through
library and infometrics methods like the Law of Bradford,
analysis of citations, the Law of Lotka.
.
The planning and evaluation of resources. It is the method of
optimizing the resources of what is available, of realizing a
reasonable distribution of the assigned budget for the
collections, of knowing and defining the resources for the
selection of information sources, and of determining the
formats in what information is acquired.
.
Decision making. It is a dynamic process that reunites in a
given moment a large number of future alternatives.
.
Acquisition. It is where it is necessary to determine the
acquisition methods (purchase, exchange or donation),
the procedure to be utilized by acquisitions, and the
management of the vendor for the delivery of
information.
Both approaches reflect in different terms the same process.
There does not exist a contradiction between them because
the authors maintain the idea that a deep knowledge of the
universe of users for which the collection is developed is
vital. They raise the need to write policies that govern this
work so that they do not allow for improvisations within this
activity.
 Collection development policies in university libraries
Barbara Susana Sanchez Vignau and Grizly Meneses
The analysis of the collection – this covers study and
evaluation – is also a feature that repeats in two forms. Evans
attributes the central role in collection development to the
personnel of the library since from it starts all the processes
that shape to the cycle. In the case of Sánchez and Guerrero it
does not appear explicitly, but they expose aspects that
depend to a great extent on the workers of the center to
implement, for example, the decision making for acquisitions
or the planning of the resources, still the general form of the
role of the librarian is indispensable for the successful
development of this activity.
Collection development is an active process that involves a
generation of new ideas for acquiring information in
correspondence with the information needs of the user;
thus, it currently establishes various trends:
.
The satisfaction needs of the users. It is one of the
fundamental aspects, because they are the reason of being
of any unit of information. Here in a great extent depends
the successful development of the organization of
information; and collection development as an initial
activity inside the library ought to be based on this thesis:
to select and acquire literature that in the first place
satisfies the needs of the users.
.
The use of the intranet and new technologies. The intranet has
become a vital work tool throughout its very rapid
development. It has particularly contributed to the new
information technologies and facilitated a generation of
rapid and easy access to information. Through intranets,
the activity of collection development is favored since it
directly supports its operation. A clear example of its
contribution to this process could be the distribution
method through the institution’s local acquisition network
or document inquiries relevant to the users.
.
To increase the plans for cooperation. The increase in the
plans for cooperation is an essential method of selection
and acquisition of bibliographic material inside the library.
Collection development depends on the aforementioned
plans, therefore, the price of information is each time
higher and the union of various entities of information can
replace in great measure this obstacle. Also they make
access to a broader volume of information possible.
.
The forms of presentation of information. Being collection
development the managed process of the treatment of
documentary heritage inside the libraries, it ought to
essentially contemplate all existing support of information
as well as the different routes for its acquisition. No longer
is paper the medium for excellence, the electronic
hardware is also playing a fundamental role inside the
publishing market; therefore, collection development
ought to be prepared to face these challenges.
.
To increase the technological and financial resources.
Collection development is directly proportional to the
resources that are available. While the bigger the budget
and the technological material assigned to the library for
this activity, the greater the possibilities that the librarian
has to develop the collection in an optimal way.
Collection development in university libraries
With the thesis that characterizes university libraries in these
times as managers of information and knowledge, collection
development plays an essential role, although the formation,
development and maintenance of the collection are not the
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Collection Building
Volume 24 · Number 1 · 2005 · 35 –43
unique aim of the libraries, it is certain that at the present
time it is an essential element so that they can provide the
services that they offer.
To develop a collection in a university library requires
measures that avoid taking arbitrary or subjective decisions
that do not respond to specific qualities. Also in collection
development of a university library where the information
ought to be the most current possible, that justifies the
accelerating process of a generation of knowledge, it is
necessary to take into account what format of presentation of
information is appropriate. It is indispensable, moreover, to
identify the suitable method of acquisitions all the time since
the electronic market has increased considerably and
publishing has changed in a virtual environment so that
databases are online and so that journals appear in digital
format.
To have collection development as a key activity within the
university library, an indicator of the great importance owed
to the quality of the library collection, is an essential aspect for
the optimum function of its information services. In it one
must count on as many specialized collections as groups of
disciplines recognized in the institution for obtaining titles, as
well as fundamental lines of research, reason that gives credit
to collection development as a necessary process within the
library-information activity.
The creation, development and evaluation of the
aforementioned collection are processes within the
university-owed to the great wealth of information that
ought to be acquired and its diversity-could not be improvised
because they could commit errors in the selection of
bibliographic material. Collection development implies, in
this sense, a plan that deserves and guides the development of
this activity within the university library.
Therefore, it is advisable to count on a collection
development policy that governs the selection and
acquisition of documents. The policy ought to be clear, that
it indicates the same objectives, is flexible, and establishes the
aspects for its later evaluation. Another important reason that
justifies the elaboration of a policy is the revolution of new
information technologies and communication with which has
appeared new mediums of information (CD-ROMs, online
databases, etc.); moreover, the subscriptions to electronic
publications and presses are made through agencies that are
mostly on the web. Therefore, it is no longer essential and
necessary to visit the publishing house to consult its
catalogues or registries of new acquisitions, everything can
be executed in electronic form. As a result, the collections that
undergo this change and are indispensable for the university
community ought to be developed in a coherent format,
minimizing the risks of confusion. This is only possible with a
collection development policy that reflects departmental
interests of the person in charge of this activity within the
institution.
Collection development policies in university
libraries: experience and reality
Pauline Atherton defines policy as a formulation or general
declaration of intention that helps to translate the objectives
of the programs into realization, supplying administrative
guidelines for making decisions and its implementation
(Atherton, 1978).
 Collection development policies in university libraries
Barbara Susana Sanchez Vignau and Grizly Meneses
If one starts from policy rules or general outline, it can be
affirmed then that they imply planning. They permit the
organization of the work not only of a department but also
any other information system. The editing of a policy is not
a simple enumeration of tasks that must be fulfilled. Aspects
of extreme importance exist that characterize the policies as
a tool that contributes successfully to the accomplishment of
the objectives raised by the institution:
.
they are a description of what it intends to fulfill;
.
they are an arranged effort to better the services and
programs of the institution;
.
they indicate an arranged and reasoned change;
.
they provide for making decisions; and
.
they normalize activities.
The policies could differ from one organization to another in
the sense that each one has its own requirements and
priorities. Moreover, they ought to edit in a manner that
“obliges” and “facilitates.” To oblige in the sense that they
ought to be restrictive, that they not give an opportunity for
nonfulfillment and facilitate in the measure within that
predetermined margin, they can have various opinions, and
they are permitted to make their own decisions, always
suitable to the interest for which they prepared the
aforementioned policy. The coordinators of the activities in
diverse units, Atherton said, are the essential factors of
efficiency in the operation.
The elaboration of a collection development policy for a
university library besides fulfilling the characteristics before
mentioned ought to take into account factors that determine
in a given moment the effectiveness of the operation:
.
In the internal order, elements such as the objectives of
the institution, the studies of the specific community, the
size and character of the actual collection, the kind of
plans of study, the extension of the programs of research,
the available resources, the selection of the materials and
the responsible person of the same as well as the
acquisitions, its process and managers.
. In the external order aspects such as the dynamic of
information, the forms of distribution, the changes that are
produced in the publishing and information market, the
technological development that permits access to
information and cooperation that exists with other libraries.
The selection policies ought to collect the general principles of
this activity, that includes the person responsible, the possible
participants (professors, any students or researchers with which
they guarantee in a certain way the information needs of the
users). Also there are other criteria to bear in mind for selection
(quality, subject content, usage, language, suitable format).
Acquisition policies ought to express the preferred
acquisition method (exchange, gifts, purchase, legal
depository). Moreover, it ought to establish the more
convenient option in order that the information arrives the
quickest possible way at its destination. It is necessary to
explain the methodology to follow for the acquisition plans.
The discard policies or de-selection ought to explain the
reasons under which discarding happens, to establish a time
between one de-selection and another, as well as the state of
the discarded documents.
The Committee on Collection Development of the
American Library Association (ALA) thinks that a collection
development policy ought to be an instrument that (Poveda,
1981, p. 40):
38
Collection Building
Volume 24 · Number 1 · 2005 · 35 –43
.
trains all sectors to work with the greatest consistency in
the achievement of defined goals;
. informs the users, administrators, managers on the range
and nature of the existing collections and on the plans for
the continual development of the resources;
.
supplies information that contributes to the process of the
allocation of budgetary funds; and
.
allows the comparison with other institutions because it is
necessary that they consider policies sufficiently
standardized.
The writing of a collection development policy can vary from
one form to another, in correspondence with the
characteristics of its university library or its system of libraries.
For example:
.
In Spain a collection development policy elaborated on
the network of libraries of the University of Santiago de
Compostela stated in the first place the definition and
scope of the same and advocates for the design of
subprograms of collection development for different
faculties. It describes in detail the aspects that brings in
the program and each subprogram, divides the policies of
selection and acquisition by type of document
(monograph, periodical publication, audiovisual and
electronic resource, electronic journal). It suggests as it
ought to choose the supplier. It also reflects the policy of
expurgation (synonym of discard) according to the
determined criteria.
.
REBUIN has published a collection development policy
with elements much more general than the previous,
respecting the format of general consideration, the policies
of selection and discarding, conservation and evaluation of
the collection.
.
The University of Monterrey Library, in Mexico, has a
collection development policy the same as previous,
divides its collection into reference works, reserve books,
general heritage, digital library, music collection,
audiovisual collection, maps and art galleries. However,
the acquisitions policy subdivides in the different existing
methods (exchange policy, gift policy and purchase
policy). It includes also budgetary policies, what is the
normal for the period between purchases, the money
destined for the aforementioned purchases. It establishes
inventory policies, that is to say, dictated the time to carry
out the inventory, the person in charge as well as the
planning.
.
The National System of Medical Science in Cuba also has
a collection development policy, that although it is not of
university libraries exclusively, it does include them,
therefore, of interest for this study. The policy is divided
into three fundamental elements: the collection (type,
language, scope), the process of selection, acquisition and
discards (methodologies, process) and the application of
the policy (which are the entities that ought to be
governed for the aforementioned policy).
.
The University Libraries of Notre Dame, in Indiana
(USA), has elaborated its collection development policy
for the format of the document. It establishes specific
guidelines to acquire the electronic documents and print
documents.
.
The University of Montreal Library, in Canada, the
University of Pennsylvania Library and the New York
University Library, in the USA, have a collection
 Collection development policies in university libraries
Barbara Susana Sanchez Vignau and Grizly Meneses
development policy described by subject or by the area
of knowledge of the university to which it pertains. It
carries out activities according to the different career
fields.
. The University of Auckland Library, in New Zealand, has
a collection development policy of a general form. It
describes its own purpose, the person in charge, how
selection and acquisitions ought to be done, but in
contrast to the others it has established individual policies
for electronic formats.
.
The Virginia State University Library, in the USA, has
elaborated a general collection development policy but
very comprehensive that also includes the mission of the
policy, purpose and tools of collection development,
person in charge, selection priorities, cooperative work,
students involved in the process of collection
development, selection policies by type of material,
criteria for the selection of each kind of material, how to
evaluate the collection, its maintenance, and the
evaluation of the collection development policy.
In order to reach a consensus resulting in elements that ought
to be considered a Collection Development Policy for the
university library system, it is necessary to identify the more
relevant aspects of each policy analyzed and that at the same
time the results coincide.
By order of frequency, the general considerations-that
include the scope of the policy, the person in charge of the
same, the mission as well as the institutions that they ought
to manage-the selection, acquisitions and weeding policies-
the elements that appear most frequently in the revised
policies. According to the characteristics of the prevailing
collection the indicator dedicated to the format and type of
document that has been selected in the libraries and though
the language is not identified in the majority of the policies
examined, we consider it of great importance for the present
study.
The ALA proposes a guide for the formulation of collection
development policies that include in the following elements
(Poveda, 1981, p. 43):
.
Analysis of the objectives of the institution. It includes the
needs of the users (research, educational, recreational,
general information, reference) the general limits of the
collection subject, the priorities and limitations that
govern the selection (language, format, etc.) and the
regional, national or local cooperative agreements.
.
Detailed analysis of the collection development policy by subject
fields. It is carried out across the classification in order to
know the collection.
.
Detailed analysis of the collection development policy by
format. It is here where there is to bear in mind the
different types of documents (magnetic tapes, audiovisual
materials, periodicals, microforms, manuscripts, official
publications, maps) in order to establish developmental
procedures.
.
Indexes. As a policy ought to be accessible by a wide
variety of purposes, it ought to add at the end the index
that correlates with the subject terms.
From the analysis carried out to the different policies
presented and the inspection of the contents that the ALA
proposes, it concludes that a collection development policy
for university libraries must consider the following elements,
although it could be enriched with other components closely
39
Collection Building
Volume 24 · Number 1 · 2005 · 35 –43
bound to the scenario where the university libraries
develop:
. mission and purpose;
.
the entities that govern;
. the person in charge to carry out the policy and watch over
its application;
.
the elements of the collection (content, language, format);
and
.
the policies of selection, acquisition and weeding.
Collection development in Cuban university
libraries
For the study of the process of collection development in
Cuban university libraries, an example of 16 centers of higher
and technical education was used, and a poll was the
technique employed for the gathering of the data. The same
gathered the principal indicators included in collection
development. The results tabulated across the techniques
proposed by the authors Baptista Lucio, Fernandez Collado
and Hernandez Sampieri in their book Methodologia de la
Investigacion (Methodology of Research).
The results obtained could be generalized as follows:
. Of the directors of university libraries or managers of the
activity of collection development in libraries, 100 percent
know the term “collection development”. This result
confirms the tendency to manage and direct the work of
selection and acquisition of the sources of information
over and above the processes that collection development
considers. With it a very common quotation demonstrates
in this term, “where selection and acquisition previously
spoke today speaks collection development.” The
knowledge of the term enables the use of new resources,
tools and methods that guarantee a better rigor in making
decisions for later acquisition.
.
Of the population polled, 87.5 percent makes use of a
departmental unit for the activity. The process of
collection development in the country goes through a
period of reform and change and even though all the
centers interviewed recognize collection development as
an activity inside their library, all do not give it enough
importance.
.
It verifies the existence of limits that offset a successful
collection development, especially the availability of a
stable budget on which depends the majority of the
libraries. In this research the results fluctuate, since the
university centers did not have a national budget limit in
order to use in collection development, others have not set
aside a budget and others do not have a fixed budget, and
the majority of these centers represents between two and
ninety percent. Although other approaches exist to acquire
information sources such as, exchange and donation, it is
necessary to rely on a minimal budget to plan the
necessary purchases for each center.
.
Of the university libraries polled, 100 percent own in their
collections all types of information sources that
bibliographically support the needs of its users. Among
them the collection of serials, monographs, theses and
reference works stand out. It has been substantiated how
the use of new electronic resources has permitted the
creation of new types of collections such as: videos, online
databases and megabases of data. Translations are a type
 Collection development policies in university libraries
Barbara Susana Sanchez Vignau and Grizly Meneses
of collection that does not abound in the centers that were
polled.
. The implementation of user studies is not carried out in a
uniform manner in the libraries analyzed. The user
studies – the first aspect to be considered in order to carry
out successful collection development- succeeded in being
implemented in 100 percent of the centers studied. In the
majority the studies were carried out in all class courses
that proved to be advantageous in order to fulfill the
objectives of the collection development process.
Nevertheless, although it does not include the majority
of the centers, the rest offer statistics that affect the
development of the activity. Because of the importance
that users studies have, they ought to be carried out in a
systematic form. No previous study substitutes for a new
one. This process allows us to find out with accuracy,
which areas of collection development need to be
addressed. For the characteristics of the academic
institutions user studies take on a special importance,
given the great volume of information generated and
needed to guarantee the fundamental functions of the
same.
.
It was verified that serial publications are the type of
document most rapidly updated. The publications
pertaining to the decade of the 1980s and 1990s prevail,
besides these of the period of 1990-2000. The situation
puts at a disadvantage the university institutions that,
knowing the value of this information resource, cannot
guarantee the updating required for the users. Similarly
the non-serial publications behave in the same way. This
situation is the result of limitations in the acquisition of
resources due to economic problems. The newest
information does not appear as numerous as those
pertaining to previous periods.
.
The predominant languages in the collection of the
library are gathered in three fundamental groups. The
Spanish and English languages predominate over the
rest of the languages. The conduct of the Spanish
language is logical and maintained in the majority of the
collections; however, the outlook for the selection of
documents in the English language have been extended
which indicates the need of the students and professors
in the university to consult representative bibliographies
from the developed world, the majority of which are in
the English language.
.
Within the criteria considered for the selection of the
collections only 31.25 percent of the centers polled have
used metric studies as important criteria for selection.
This conduct affects the results of the selection, thus,
limits in objective form the final decision making, which
guarantees the titles that they can be acquired. The
majority of the university libraries do not consider that
bibliometric or informetric studies as necessary tools and
do not know the procedures for obtaining the results.
Metric studies determine with greatest accuracy, which
publications constitute the nucleus within a subject or the
most prestigious authors in a field of knowledge or the
publications and authors most cited in the bibliography
for its later selection and analysis.
.
The consultation of lines of research and specialists with a
range of expertise are identified as the methods most
utilized by all the centers to determine information needs,
thus, it demonstrates the level of existing relationships in
40
Collection Building
Volume 24 · Number 1 · 2005 · 35 –43
each institution with a research activity and with the
specialists that they use. The plans of study and their own
experience with the human resources that work in each
area also result in criteria in order to carry out the
selection of information sources.
.
Within the resources for the selection of sources, the
publishing catalogs are identified as the most used source,
as well as the use of the Internet and the subject libraries.
The performance of the libraries online, in order to
develop the collections, is lower, however, its acquisition is
well valued by all the libraries that form part of the
subsystem of university libraries. They permit the recovery
of information for the users, such as the location of other
core publications for the organization.
.
In the activity of selection and acquisition of collections
they favor in the first place the texts that are basic for the
specialty, followed by the necessary bibliography to
cover the information needs in the research. The
acquisition of reference works, although sources of
great importance, do not hold the same attention in all
the centers polled, never appearing as the number one
priority.
.
Those polled do not support priorities in regards to the
document formats, only three libraries affirmed
establishing priorities by format and agreeing in response
to prioritizing the electronic format. Due to financial
problems in the country that determine the little
availability of information resources in our higher
education institutions, it is recommended that priorities
exist in so far as the format of documents especially those
in electronic format because of the advantages that they
offer. The electronic format can be used at the same time
by various users and in dissimilar places unlike the paper
format, it permits other conservation techniques and a
saving of the physical space in the warehouses. In the use
of electronic formats a technological infrastructure is
needed that facilitates the process of tracking down and
recovering information and in this sense the universities
have directed their best efforts.
.
In regards to the means of acquisition, donation appears
to be the most used in all the centers followed by
exchange, as a result of the little financial availability of the
libraries to afford the purchases that are needed. However,
another acquisition procedure derived from the traditional
purchase begins to distinguish between the university
libraries. This procedure is called cooperative purchase.
This procedure allows financial resources between various
centers to be grouped and thus, obtain the greatest
quantity of quality information resources, especially
megabases of data that offer a great quantity of full text
information and juried journals. Thus, acquisition has
very favorable experiences that indicate its systematic
usage.
.
The discarding of documents is carried out in 100 percent
of the university libraries and the expressed reasons by the
persons polled coincided fundamentally in the lack of
thematic updating and the nonuse of the collections.
However, the frequency with which this happens varies.
The discarding is carried out but always considering the
difficulties that it could bring with it for the mobilization
of the institution specialists in the tasks. In the same the
specialists in Collection Development and other specialists
of the institution participate.
 Collection development policies in university libraries
Barbara Susana Sanchez Vignau and Grizly Meneses
.
Only three university libraries of those studied had a
collection development policy and at this time had put it
in a written document. It is important to point out that in
order to do collection development it is necessary to
establish a policy, since it not only manages the work of
the institution, but it hinders the accomplishment of
improvisations so helpful in this field.
.
All the people polled consider the following elements
necessary in a collection development policy: the scope of
the collection; the forms of acquisitions; user studies;
languages; procedures for discarding.
Proposal for a collection development policy for
the system of university libraries of the Ministry
of Higher Education of Cuba
The policies, according to Ponjuan Dante, points to the
essence unlike a plan that points to activities (Ponjuán Dante,
1993). For Menou and Atherton, they are the collection of
principles that guide the regular course of action and consist
of:
.
the image of the objective as a goal or collection of goals
that ought to be reached;
.
the specific resources for which the carrying out of the
goals is aimed;
. the assignment of responsibilities to implement the
approaches; and
. the collection of rules and guidelines that regulate the
implementation of the methods (Menou, 1990).
The policies also are standards for which it carries out,
regulates and controls the later work within a specific
activity or in the broadest sense of the word within the
society.
In the research, the Manual of Rules and Procedures, edited
by the Ministry of Higher Education (MEH), was studied
where they established some elements in order to set a
standard for the activity of selection and acquisition of
documents. In the same, they offer methodological
indications by means of work policies that are currently
considered dated because of the changes that have occurred
inside the information sector at the national and international
levels, this situation indicates the need to plan a policy for
collection development formerly known as selection and
acquisitions.
The Manual of Rules and Procedures does not contemplates
user studies as basic elements for selection and acquisition
of sources of information dedicating the most attention to
the thematic balance to attain in the collection of documents
of the Center of Higher Education and each Scientific
Technical unit of the country. The analysis carried out
determined that a collection development policy for the
university library system of the Cuban MEH ought to
include the following elements:
.
general objective of the collection development policy;
.
specific objectives of the collection development policy;
.
the person responsible for carrying it out and fulfilling it;
.
the audience or scope of the collection development
policy;
. user studies;
.
the elements of the collection (language, coverage,
format);
.
the selection policy;
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Collection Building
Volume 24 · Number 1 · 2005 · 35 –43
.
the acquisitions policy; and
.
the discarding policy.
General objective
To develop collections of the university library pertaining to
MHE in order to satisfy the needs of the fundamental
processes of higher education (predegree, post degree,
research, training of staff and the university extension) on
the basis of a greater cooperation between the libraries and
starting from the intensive use of the NTI.
Specific objectives
Specific objectives are to:
.
establish procedures to normalize the process of selection
of the collections in order to obtain updated bibliographic
material including authors of acknowledged prestige;
.
recommend the best approaches for the acquisition of
information;
.
be conducive to cooperation between the university
libraries of the system in the matter of collections, for its
acquisition and its maintenance;
.
develop collections that enrich and strengthen the
bibliographic heritage of our universities;
.
maintain the subject balance of the collections; and
.
determine the obsolescence of documents and establish a
suitable discard policy.
The person responsible
The establishment of the collection development policy of the
system will fall on the council of the directors of the different
university libraries as a whole. The control of the same will be
the role of each one of the directors of the university libraries
of MHE.
Scope
The policy will be directed to all the universe of university
libraries of the Centers of Higher Education as well as the
Scientific Technical Units pertaining to MHE in the country.
It has a public nature.
User studies
The staff of the libraries of each faculty and the central
libraries are the people in charge of carrying out the user
studies and with a frequency of a maximum of two years.
However, the priorities of information ought to be revisited by
the designated librarians in each entity at the end of each
semester. The results of each revision ought to be determined
by the Department of Collection Development for the future
selection and acquisition of the sources of required
information.
Elements of the collection
Elements of the collection are as follows:
.
Language. The selection of documents will be preferably
in Spanish and English. Also documents in French,
German and other languages that will be included though
in less proportion depending on special requirements.
.
Subject coverage. The selection and acquisition of the
documents will be in correspondence with the subject
plans of the different academic fields of study in the
universities and the lines of research of the centers,
prioritizing the basic bibliography and research in each
case. They ought to select and acquire documents that
cover the best possible of the necessary materials.
 Collection development policies in university libraries
Barbara Susana Sanchez Vignau and Grizly Meneses
.
The format. It will prioritize the acquisition of resources in
the electronic version and the digitization of printed
documents whenever possible. Also they will acquire
monographs and serial publications in printed format.
Selection policy
The process of the selection of information in the university
libraries is guided by the following criteria:
1 In order to select the information resources necessary
they will use in this order preferably the specialized
bibliographic sources (“Books in print” and “Ulrich’s”
in their most up-to-date versions) as well as the internet,
and specialized and subject databases. The rest of the
sources could be employed according to the resources of
each center.
2 In the selection they ought to know the priorities of
information of the users considering the user studies
and the systematic revisions that they carry out in the
different universities and centers of research of MHE.
3 The Department of Collection Development for the
selection of information ought:
. To carry out metric studies in order to know the
authors of most significance inside of a subject, the
publications most important inside of a subject.
.
To institute, of an obligatory form, the consultation of
the librarians with the heads of the university courses
and lines of research, in order to be able to obtain the
lists of the basic and complementary bibliography.
This process ought to be initiated each elective
period.
.
To select the sources in correspondence with the
study plans and the lines of research of each center or
university.
Acquisitions policy
The process of acquisitions of the sources previously selected
constitutes one of the fundamental steps for achievement of
the molded objectives in the collection development policy.
For it takes into account the following aspects:
. Cooperative purchase will be specially treated. The
universities and centers of research with similar profiles of
careers and fields of study will associate in small
consortiums in order to acquire the necessary
information.
.
To maintain the exchange and gifts as complementary in
order to acquire necessary information.
.
In the exchange activity, the journals that each
university and research center creates will be used in the
first place.
Discarding process
It is the product of the dynamic growth of resources in a
university library, some parts of the collection are remaining
without use and since the purpose of discarding is to better
the quality of the collection, it is necessary to establish
parameters for the de-selection that helps the balance of the
collection. Therefore, the university libraries and the research
centers of MHE ought:
. To carry out general discarding thoroughly every five
years.
. To carry out discarding systematically by subject or groups
of them according to the criteria of specialists.
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Collection Building
Volume 24 · Number 1 · 2005 · 35 –43
.
The responsibility of discarding falls on the director of the
library.
. In this process it is necessary for some representative of
each area of the library (service, processing, reference) to
participate, the heads of the university departments and
the lines of research, as well as the person in charge of
collection development in the library.
.
They will bear in mind the physical state of the
documents, its use by the users of the system, the dated
subjects, as well as the quantity of examples by title in
order to ease the physical availability of the collections.
.
They will systematically submit primary and secondary
collections, their index of growth, circulation, use and
other factors that may help evaluate them.
.
The discarded documents will be offered in the first
place as exchange or gift to the university libraries of
MHE, subsequently the rest of the Cuban university
libraries and finally to all the libraries that respond to the
subjects of the discarded documents. To not reply in a
determined period these materials could be destined for
other uses.
In the application of policy it is recommended that:
.
this policy will apply to all center of MHE carrying out the
necessary modifications in order to accommodate the
special requirements of each center;
.
when it is necessary some radical modification of the
same, this ought to plan to advise the directors of the
university libraries of MHE; and
.
to publish a new manual of rules and procedures in order
to contribute to a better functioning of the collection
development policy, where it contemplates the new
typography of documents and formats.
Conclusions
The subject of collection development turns out to be vital
in the future of the organization of information. The quality
of the collections and the service that they offer in any
information institute depends on the process of selecting
and acquiring the information sources. The activity of
collection development necessitates policies that govern its
main moments and gather procedures and necessary
proceedings that support the work of the professional
managers, and facilitate decision making. The
information policies have to adjust to the requirements of
the organization and provide information to all its
members.
References
Atherton, P. (1978), Manual para Sistemas y Servicios de
Información, Unesco, Paris.
Cadavic Arango, C.A. (1994), “¿Selección y adquisición o
desarrollo de colecciones? Revisando a Evans”, Revista
Interamericana de Bibliotecologı́a, Vol. 17 No. 1.
Evans, E. (1987), Developing Library and Information Center,
Libraries Unlimited, Littleton, CO.
Menou, M. (1990), “Information policy and national
development: an educational perspective”, paper
presented at the seminar FID/ET, Havana, p. 14.
 Collection development policies in university libraries
Barbara Susana Sanchez Vignau and Grizly Meneses
Negrete Gutiérrez, M.C. (1993), “El papel del bibliotecólogo
en el desarrollo de colecciones en la biblioteca
universitaria”, Investigación Bibliotecológica: Archivologı́a,
Bibliotecologı́a e Información, Vol. 7 No. 4, p. 5.
Osburn, C.B. (1979), “Toward a reconceptualization of
collection development”, Advances in Library Administration
and Organization, Vol. 2, p. 177.
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Volume 24 · Number 1 · 2005 · 35 –43
Ponjuán Dante, G. (1993), “Las polı́ticas nacionales de
información en el contexto latinoamericano: el caso de
Cuba”, Ciencias de la Información, Vol. 24 No. 1, p. 44.
Poveda, H. (1981), “Guı́a para la formulación de polı́ticas de
desarrollo de colecciones”, Revista AIBDA, Vol. 2 No. 1.
Sánchez Vignau, B.S. (1999), Conferencias de la Asignatura
Desarrollo de Colecciones, University of Havana, Havana, p. 5.