Home » Library » Collection Development Plan

Collection Development Plan

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide guidelines for developing, maintaining, and planning the collections of the James Addison Jones Library, Greensboro College. The plan addresses missions and goals of the Library and the College, faculty and staff responsibilities, collection development, acquisitions, gifts and donations, and remote access via electronic resources.

About the college

Greensboro College is a four-year private liberal arts institution chartered in 1838, affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It sits on more than 60 total acres, including the main tree-lined campus in a historical district bordering downtown Greensboro.

Academic Calendar

Fall and spring semesters and a summer session. Short sessions within each term accommodate special programs.

Enrollment

Annually, approximately 1000 students, of which about 60% are traditional-aged students. The remaining 40% is comprised of adult undergraduates, non-degree seeking students, and graduate students. The College serves a diverse population, attracting students from more than 30 states and 15 countries each academic year.

Faculty

Fifty full time instructional faculty members. (Fall 2021)

Advising and Counseling

Faculty advisors, academic and personal counseling, career counseling, and preprofessional guidance in various fields, including dentistry, education, health sciences, law, medicine, theology and veterinary medicine.

Undergraduate Degree Programs

Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music Education, and Bachelor of Science.

Undergraduate Majors

Accounting, art, biology, biology/allied health, birth through kindergarten education, business administration, business administration and economics, chemistry, criminal justice, elementary education, English, English and communication studies, games and interactive media, exercise and sport studies, health and physical education, health sciences, history, history and political science, history and religion, history with social studies licensure, human development and family science, liberal studies, mathematics, mathematics education, middle grades education, music, music education, political science, psychology, religion, secondary comprehensive science education, sociology, special education, and theatre.

Teacher Licensure

Initial licensure is offered in the following areas: birth through kindergarten education (B-K), elementary education (K-6); middle grades education (6-9); comprehensive 2 Greensboro College Undergraduate Academic Catalog 2021-2022 science, English, mathematics, and social studies; and K-12 education in art, health/physical education, music, special education general curriculum, special education adapted curriculum, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (see details in the Greensboro College Graduate Academic Catalog), and theatre.

Special Programs

Ethics Across the Curriculum, Greensboro College Seminar, George Center for Honors Studies, First-Year Composition Program, online degree completion programs, and consortium arrangements.

About the library

James Addison Jones Library

The James Addison Jones Library supports the academic and social community of Greensboro College through a provision of collections totaling approximately 250,000 print and digital books, over 21,000 print and digital journals, sound and video recordings, and music scores. These materials reflect the College’s curriculum, promote information literacy and learning amongst a diverse student body, and support faculty teaching, research, and scholarship.

Collections include the Levy-Loewenstein Holocaust Collection and Curriculum Materials Center (CMC). The Levy-Loewenstein Holocaust Collection contains over 1,400 publications, art, and artifacts pertaining to the Holocaust and Holocaust history. The CMC houses resources for teacher education faculty and students.

The Jones Library is open about 90 hours per week during the academic year with extended hours during final exam periods. Staff members are happy to provide reference service, individual and small group instruction, interlibrary loan service, and assistance with other information needs. Greensboro College participates in NC LIVE, a statewide initiative providing access to electronic resources as well as the Triad Area Library Association (TALA). TALA is an agreement between Triad area libraries to extend borrowing privileges to the students, faculty, and staff of all participating Triad libraries.

Overview of the Library collection

The James Addison Jones Library collection supports the mission of Greensboro College and reflects the dual traditions of liberal arts and the Judeo-Christian faith. The collections and resources of the Library support and enhance the curriculum of Greensboro College, including the core requirements, academic majors, and the programs.

Roles and responsibilities

Director of the Library

The Director of the Library oversees all library operations and administers the library’s annual operating budget. Their duties also include managing and supervising library professional and support staff, overseeing library space policy and use of library space. The Director of the Library is responsible for consulting with college faculty and staff to determine library resources and developing programs and policies in support the college’s academic programs overall.

Reference & Instruction Librarian

The Reference & Instruction Librarian provides Greensboro College students, faculty, and staff with research assistance in a variety of formats. This position is responsible for creating support materials for students and teaching library instructional classes in close collaboration with instructors. The Reference & Instruction Librarian participates in college-wide programs and represents the library in an effective and professional manner.

Library Specialist

The Library Specialist works in many areas of the library including providing instruction, reference assistance, and assisting with acquisitions and the processing and copy-cataloging of library materials. The Library Specialist also joins the rest of the library staff in covering the service desk.

Other Library Staff Members

All Library staff members provide reference service and are in a position to become aware of student and faculty needs. All Library staff members participate in the collection development process by bringing gaps in the collection or materials that should be acquired or weeded to the attention of Director of the Library.

Faculty Members

Faculty input is essential to maintaining a collection that supports and enhances the curriculum of Greensboro College. All faculty are strongly encouraged to forward all suggested material they wish to have added to the collection to the Library Director for consideration. Faculty also participate in weeding, periodicals assessment, collection assessment, and the evaluation and selection of electronic resources.

Students and staff members

Students and staff members are encouraged to suggest Library purchases. The Jones Library take student suggestions very seriously and, when suggestions are pertinent to college curriculum, the Director may choose to purchase suggested materials.

Budget

The budget of the Jones Library includes funding for electronic resources, serials, standing orders, and monographs, as well as binding services. The budget must also cover general library supplies such as paper for student printing. The Library Director administers the annual budget and allocates funds for all library expenditures.

Withdrawal of materials

Withdrawal of library materials is consistent with the goals as listed in the library mission statement.

Obvious candidates for withdrawal from the library collection include:

Additional copies when extra copies aren’t warranted.
Superseded editions not held for academic or historic reasons.
Titles not circulated for an extended period of time.
Material containing outdated information.
Material damaged beyond repair.
Items missing for an extended period of time.
Curriculum Materials Center textbooks more than ten years old.

Decisions for withdrawal of materials will be made based on the judgment of Jones Library’s Librarians and by Faculty request.

Evaluation of collection and identification of weaknesses

Jones Library staff will work collaboratively with faculty, staff, and students to evaluate the Library’s collection. Evaluation mechanisms may include comparing Jones Library’s collection against standard lists such as those in Books for College Libraries, lists of prize-winning books for adults and children, outstanding book lists, and bibliographies published for specific disciplines. Gaps are filled through the Library’s Acquisitions budget.

The collections and resources of Jones Library support and enhance the curriculum of Greensboro College, including the core requirements, academic majors, and the program of lifelong learning. Materials reflect an effort to represent the historic as well as the current, a range of languages and literatures, a spectrum of political and social views, and a grounding in biblical tradition. To the extent possible, the collections and resources of the library support faculty teaching, research, and scholarship, reflect the history and traditions of Greensboro College, and support the personal growth and development and recreational needs of students.

Jones Library does not have a program in which funds are allocated to specific departments for purchasing library materials, however academic departments are strongly encouraged to make suggests on new materials to The Director of the Library.

Materials that are purchased by request from individuals or departments are to be housed in the Library and will be accessible to all members of the Greensboro College community, in accordance with circulation policies. Materials to be housed in academic departments outside the library, including books and audiovisual material, must be purchased from the requesting department’s own budget.

Material Selection

Jones Library’s Librarians select materials for the collection after consulting reviews, bibliographies, recommended lists, or publishers’ catalogs and considering the following:

Relevance to the curriculum or interest of the Greensboro College community
Quality of the text and illustrations
Authority (e.g. of author, publisher, editor)
Contribution of the item to the existing collection
Availability for consortia or interlibrary loan borrowing.

Materials selected are those with high standards of quality in content and format, and should support the stated goals of the Library and the College.

Multiple copies

The Library generally does not order multiple copies of books or journals. Occasionally, the Library will purchase or add an additional copy of a book that is in great demand on a permanent basis. The Library specifically does not purchase multiple copies of reserve materials unless the need for multiple copies is expected to continue. Library staff identify lost, missing, and damaged items and consider replacement.

Retrospective collection development

The amount of material purchased to fill gaps in the collection is contingent on the availability of funds in the acquisitions budget.

Gaps in the collection come to our attention through interactions at the Reference Desk, reviews, examination of bibliographies, syllabi, “best books” lists, articles, and other resources.

The Library Director generally initiates these purchases. Because our collection is to be actively used by the Greensboro College community, the Library does not usually purchase rare books, collectors’ items, or other materials in need of protection or special handling.

Textbooks

The Library does not usually purchase textbooks for the general collection or to place on reserve, unless the book is a reference source, survey, literary work, or other publication that will be of lasting value to the collection. Jones Library does receive a copy of each K-12 state adopted textbook used by Guilford County Schools. Because of their agreement with the State of North Carolina, publishers of state adopted textbooks must deposit one copy of each adopted textbook with each institution that offers a teacher education program. Jones Library’s collections are housed in the Education materials, found in the Reference Room.

Book format

Jones Library purchases hardcover books when they are available. The Greensboro College Community does have access to electronic books (e-books) through NC LIVE and the Jones Library does not actively duplicate in print those books available as e-books through NC LIVE. NC LIVE resources, including electronic books are available through links on the Jones Library website. The Library makes information on how to gain access to them available to faculty, staff, and students. All NC LIVE resources and most other electronic resources offered through the Jones Library are accessible off-campus through a proxy server login. The library has a collection of newspapers and journals on microfilm, but does not actively maintain the microfilm collection.

Non Print collections include music CDs and DVDs.

Suggestions for purchase

All members of the Greensboro College Community may recommend items for purchase any time by contacting the Director of the Library by email, phone, or in-person.

Standing orders

Standing orders are funded through the Library’s acquisitions budget.

Periodicals

Periodicals in the Library live in two locations. The Library does not collect print periodicals with only a few exceptions for popular periodicals. Popular periodicals, located on the main floor in the reference room consist of local and national newspapers and popular magazines.

Thousands of periodicals are available in full text through NC-LIVE and other electronic databases available to the Greensboro College community. These databases are accessible off-campus via the Greensboro College Proxy Server. (Access requires a valid College email). Periodicals may be acquired in print or electronic format or both, determined through consultation with faculty in appropriate disciplines. When electronic periodicals are acquired through aggregators, the Library will cancel print versions only after consultation with the appropriate faculty members. The Library will make access to electronic journals as seamless as possible for faculty.

New journal subscriptions

New journal subscriptions must be approved by the Director of the Library. Generally, the Library does not place new subscriptions for journals that are available electronically through databases such as NCLIVE, ProQuest, or Lexis-Nexis but length of retention and embargoes will be taken in consideration.

Collections

Main Circulating Collection

The library has a main circulating collection of over 70,000 circulating items. These circulating items are located on the four floors of the stacks and are accessible from the main floor and the lower level of the library. The main circulating collection includes all fields of study and is easily accessible using location guides posted throughout the library. Materials located in the Main Circulating Collection are checked out for 30 days.

Reference Collection

The Reference Collection is located in the Reference Room on the main floor of the library and houses thousands of print resources such as encyclopedias, indexes, statistical sources, critical reviews, law research materials, biographical information, and subject specific dictionaries and encyclopedias. The Library also subscribes to electronic references sources that are available both on and off campus. For more information about this collection visit the Reference Desk in the main lobby. The Reference Collection consist of materials needed for:

consultation, rather than cover-to-cover reading,
identifying specific pieces of information,
answering reference questions, and
identifying resources for further reading.

Reference materials are selected based on the best judgment of Jones Library’s Librarian and by suggestions from teaching faculty, other library staff members, or students. Most reference materials circulate for 7 days with some exceptions.

Reserves

Professors place supplemental readings and other materials for their courses on Reserve so that all students in the class will have access to them. Reserve items are available at the Circulation Desk, on the main floor of the library. Reserve materials can include sample tests, solutions manuals, books, videos, study guides, periodicals, photocopied articles, computer software, and many other items.

Because instructors consider student access to reserve materials important, these materials are held where all students will have a chance to examine them for limited periods of time. Reserve items can be loaned out for 3 hours, 24 hours, or 7 days at the behest of the faculty member adding the item to reserve. The faculty member adding the reserve item can also decide if students may take the item out of the library or not.

The Library does not purchase items for Reserve.

The Library follows Greensboro College’s Fair Use guidelines in determining what materials can be placed on Reserve. The Library does not place on Reserve items acquired through Interlibrary Loan or checked out from another Library. The Library will place an instructor’s personal copy of an item on reserve, with the understanding that the Library will not be responsible for loss or damage.

Music Library

The Music Library Collection is located at one end of the Reference Room on the main floor of the Library. This collection provides access to thousands of circulating musical scores, compact discs, LPs, and phonograph recordings. Media stations are available for in-house listening, but compact discs and phonographs may also be checked out.

Curriculum Materials Center (CMC)

The CMC, located within the Reference Room on the main level of the library, houses more than 5000 resources for teacher education faculty and students. Materials include professional literature, juvenile books, activity books, curriculum guides, videos, kits, and North Carolina state-adopted textbooks.

Levy-Loewenstein Holocaust Collection

The Levy-Loewenstein Holocaust Collection was established by Richard and Jane Levy to provide Greensboro College students with a complete and up-to-date collection of publications on Holocaust history. The Levy-Loewenstein Holocaust Collection is located on the top floor of the Library. Additions to the Levy-Loewenstein Collection are made by donation. Levy-Loewenstein materials are available for 30 day check out.

Theses

The Thesis collection at Greensboro College contains theses of students from the Greensboro College TESOL program. The collection is located on the main floor of the library in the learning commons area. Theses check out for 30 days.

Electronic Resources

Jones Library librarians select electronic resources including both databases and websites to make available to the Greensboro College Community through the “Databases A-Z” and the “E-Resources by Subject” section of the Library website. Thousands of periodicals are available in full text through NC-LIVE and other electronic databases available to the Greensboro College community. These databases are accessible off-campus via the Greensboro College Proxy Server. (Access requires a valid College email).

Recreational Reading

The Recreational Reading collection is located along side the DVD collection in a nook in the learning commons area of the library. Recreational Reading Materials check out for 30 days.

Graphic Novels

The Graphic Novel collection is located in the learning commons. Graphic Novel materials check out for 30 days.

Library Committee

The Faculty Affairs Committee serves as the library committee. A librarian is a permanent member of the faculty affairs committee with voting rights.

Donations

Gifts

Gifts may be accepted which are consistent with collection development goals. Once a gift of a collection of books has been received, Library staff may choose to dispose of the books or other materials as they see fit. Materials not consistent with the Library’s collection development goals may be:

offered to the Greensboro College Community for free or in exchange for a small donation,
sold to used bookstores,
sent to charities such as Better World Books, or
discarded.

Gifts that are cataloged and added to the collection will be classified and shelved according to their call numbers. The Library does not keep gift books together in one place, but places them on our shelves according to their classification.

Memorial books are donated to the Library or purchased with funds given to the Library to commemorate an individual or individuals. Memorial books include a bookplate commemorating the individual in whose name the book was donated. Like other gift books, memorial books are shelved according to their classification rather than kept in one place.

Weeding

Withdrawal of materials will be consistent with collection development goals.

Obvious candidates for withdrawal are:

Multiple copies of titles purchased.
Superseded editions not held for academic or historic reasons
Books not circulated for many years
Material damaged beyond repair
Items missing for more than one year
Curriculum Materials Center textbooks that are over ten years old.

Decisions for withdrawal of items will be made by library staff in conjunction with input from appropriate faculty.

Appendices

CONTACT THE LIBRARY

Email: library@greensboro.edu

Phone: (336) 272-7102 x5241

Library Chat: Click the icon in the lower right of your screen to chat with a Greensboro College librarian from anywhere.