V. General Guidelines

A. General Criteria for Selection of Libary Material

1. Appropriateness for the undergraduate and/or graduate programs at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater as stated in the missions and the collecting levels. Materials that go beyond the academic curricula but meet the cultural, career, recreational and information needs of the campus community are also given consideration.
2. Possibility of use for one or more courses.
3. Identified strength and weakness of the existing collection in a particular subject area.
4. High quality in content, format, and/or literary merit; authoritativeness of the author or reputation of publisher/producer.
5. Permanence of the material.
6. Currency and timeliness of the material.
7. Expected usage: for occasional needs, interlibrary loan may be used as a viable alternative to ownership.
8. Appropriateness of chosen format (printed, digital, audio, visual) for the subject matter.
9. Cost of the material.

B. Foreign Languages

Generally library materials are acquired only in those languages in which academic programs are offered. In subject areas other than "Languages" and "Literature", the Library emphasizes the acquisition of English-language materials.

C. Multiple Copies

To provide the broadest range of materials for the support of the curriculum, Andersen Library normally purchases only one copy of a title. Requests for multiple copies will be considered individually depending on the substantiated needs and the value of the item as a part of the Library's permanent collection. In instances when a decision is made to purchase multiple copies, the additional copies are acquired in the most economical format.

D. Out-of-Print Materials

The Library will try to purchase or replace out-of-print materials through out-of-print jobbers at a reasonable cost.

E. Textbooks

Resources used as textbooks for specific University of Wisconsin-Whitewater courses normally are not purchased for Library's permanent holdings except when research material on the subject is limited.

F. Theses

(rev. 2/04)

University of Wisconsin - Whitewater theses completed prior to fall 2003: Two bound copies are retained by the Library. One copy is integrated in the general collection and made available for circulation. One copy is retained as a non-circulating archival copy in the Special Collections.

University of Wisconsin - Whitewater theses completed since fall 2003: One bound copy is retained by the Library as a non-circulating archival copy in the Special Collections. An electronic copy is made available on the Web. For details, go to the collections webpage.

Theses of other universities, which are available through University Microfilms, may be selected by faculty for the general collection following the same general criteria established for library materials. Library staff do not actively select non-University of Wisconsin-Whitewater theses to add to the collection.

G. Research Projects

Andersen Library does not purchase extensive in-depth materials for short-term research projects of faculty and staff members or graduate students. Use of interlibrary loan is encouraged.

H. Preview of Expensive Items

Books, audiovisual materials, computer software, and CD-ROMs costing more than $200 should be ordered "on approval", "for examination", or "for preview", unless the item has received favorable reviews in professional sources or is published/produced by a long-standing reputable company. Likewise, trials should be arranged for expensive electronic resources. Faculty requesting expensive items should attach reviews, or arrange "for examination" or "previews". Previews can be arranged with Acquisitions. Subsequent recommendation for purchase should include a filled preview/examination evaluation form. (See Appendix D).

When a video/DVD is judged to be of sufficient value to be added to the collection, normally the previewed copy is returned and a new copy is purchased for longer shelf-life.

Trials are normally set up for networked resources to be considered. Thorough evaluation based on criteria outlined in VI. D2 will be done before the subscription begins.