Collection Development Policy

University Libraries and its resources exist to support the instruction and research needs of Texas State University, its faculty, students, administrators and employees. Accrediting bodies of the university’s academic departments require library support for all courses offered by Texas State University, including online and hybrid courses.

The Libraries' primary goal is to provide our students and researchers with seamless access to the content and services they need. The Collections Team strives to provide content in the forms that are the most accessible and useful to the campus community.

Primary responsibility for the University's access to materials rests with the Collection Team.

A large portion of the current title needs are filled by the libraries' patron-driven purchase plans, which allows the University Libraries to provide immediate access to e-resources that are purchased for the collections after significant user has been determined.

To obtain material not available through patron-driven plans, faculty, staff and students are encouraged to submit requests via the Recommend a Resource form or by emailing colldev@txstate.edu  

Faculty and administrators inform the Collections Team of new programs, new courses, new faculty research interests, and other departmental changes.

The Collections Team is responsible for analyzing faculty and student needs to maintain balanced, current access to materials.

Collection development is understood as the selection of materials the library acquires to physically house in the library or access online. The same principles apply whether the material is purchased, leased, received as a gift, or freely available online.

Institutional goals, relevancy to the research and curriculum needs, quality of content and fulfillment of academic need are the primary factors taken into consideration when selecting materials. Special focus is given to new degree programs and emerging research areas.

In all collections decisions, the libraries are committed to intellectual freedom as expressed by the American Library Association in the Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read statements. Article II of the Library Bill of Rights states:

 “Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”

General selection guidelines for all materials are:

• relevancy of the content to the collection or university community.
• quality of scholarship or literary merit.
• strength of present holdings in subject area.
• appropriateness of level of treatment.
• demand or projected use.
• uniqueness of subject coverage.
• cost (one-time and ongoing).
• authoritativeness.
• reviews in subject-specific or standard library reviewing sources.
• currency of the resource's information, if necessary for subject matter.
• adequacy of existing access methods.
• availability of indexing (journals)
• usability and accessibility
• individual disciplines may have additional considerations or specific collection focus.

In most cases, the preferred format for resources is in online/digital format. However, other formats will be considered for certain disciplines and user needs. University Libraries collect material in the best format for the content.

Historically, selection decisions involved assessments of individual publications or products. With the expansion of electronic resources, the growth in packaged or bundled products, and the financial benefits of consortia purchasing, decisions must now also include:

• The combined value of package or bundle.
• Remote access availability, authentication options.
• Number of simultaneous users.
• Accessibility for patrons with disabilities.
• Perpetual access.
• Network and/or software compatibility; technical manageability.
• Quality of vendor support.
• Compliance with minimum standards for licensing and contract terms (no unacceptable provisions).
• Licensing options and requirements (no unacceptable provisions).
• Author rights.

Material collected is primarily in the English language. Materials in other languages are collected based on their relevance to the curriculum and university community.