Revised May 2020
Revised February 2022
Preface
The Don C. Locke of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College supports the mission of the College by providing resources that meet the curricular and co-curricular needs of all students, faculty, staff, and A-B Tech community. Materials are acquired in a wide variety of formats including physical and e-books, DVDs, audiobooks, compact discs, and electronic resources.
Responsibility for Selection
The development and assessment of library collections is a collaborative process between the Librarians, Academic Deans, Division Chairs, and Faculty of each division. The Library recognizes the faculty as the subject specialists in their areas and strongly encourages them to request library materials of all types that support their programs. The Librarians explore the availability of electronic databases to support academic programs and recommends those databases to the faculty members. Trials of electronic databases are encouraged prior to purchase to make sure the resource will be of use to the faculty and students.
Criteria for Selection
The library acquires resources to support the curricular needs of the college based on the following selection criteria:
- Importance/relevance to the curriculum
- Faculty recommendation/request
- Accreditation requirements
- Professional status and reputation
- Licensing requirements and access restrictions
- Patron needs, including requirements of specific populations
- Authority, accuracy, and currency
- User demand
Librarians will consult a variety of sources to find materials appropriate for the collection: This will include, but is not limited to, reviews in professional journals, publisher’s catalogs, flyers and brochures, and professional association bibliographies and subject-specific lists. Other appropriate collection development resources may be used as well.
Physical books are generally purchased over electronic books unless a book is specifically related to a program that is taught at one or more of the college’s off-site locations or in the high school programs. Support for these programs is provided by purchasing electronic books and making them available in the library catalog.
Electronic resources from well-known vendors such as Ebsco, Proquest, and others are considered before other database vendors. However, after evaluation, should the database prove useful for the curriculum the library will obtain a subscription at the recommendation of the faculty.
Availability of funds is always a factor in the selection of physical and electronic materials. The library carefully weighs currently available resources or resources that are less expensive when considering a subscription or purchase of extremely expensive resources.
Content Considerations
The library generally purchases only one copy of each item selected. Multiple copies are purchased only when the need can be documented or projected. The library does not generally purchase textbooks for courses being taught. Instructors may place single or multiple student editions only (Instructor editions are prohibited by copyright) on reserve for students to use either in-house or for home use.
Materials selected are typically in the English language, however, materials will be purchased in other languages to support the teaching of those languages at the college.
In compliance with state and federal disabilities laws, videos, DVDs, and other audiovisual materials purchased for use by students and faculty will be open or closed-captioned or have other features that will aid those with disabilities identified under the relevant laws and statutes.
Recreational Reading
The library recognizes the importance of and supports leisure reading for all patrons of the library. To that end, the library selectively acquires materials of general interest in addition to purchasing materials related to the college’s curriculum. These materials may be in print or electronic format and are dependent on the budget, and may include:
- Popular fiction
- Popular biographies
- Popular non-fiction (how-to, DIYs, and personal improvement/life skills)
- Leisure books, periodicals, or films in physical or electronic format
Gifts and Donations
The library may consider accepting gifts and donations of books and DVDs depending on several factors:
- Material must be in good condition and free from mold or mildew DVDs or other videos must be in original case.
- Books should not be marked in or otherwise defaced.
- Materials must directly relate to a curriculum area or meet the criteria for recreational reading.
- Once donated, all material becomes the property of A-B Tech and the librarians will
- evaluate and retain those items that fit the collection development criteria.
- Items not added to the collection may be sold, or donated to other libraries or nonprofit
- organizations, shipped to state surplus, shipped to a book recycler, or destroyed.
The library will not accept donations of:
- Old textbooks
- Outdated computer software
- Lab manuals or workbooks
- Magazines, journals, or newspapers
- Non-print materials (except popular DVDs)
- Any material not directly related to the curriculum at A-B Tech
The library does not and cannot place any value on materials donated to the college. Values of gifts for tax purposes must be determined by the giver in consultation with his/her tax accountant or attorney. Acknowledgment of the gift will be limited to a letter stating that the giver gave X type of material to the library on a specific date.
Copyrighted Material
The Don C. Locke Library complies with all provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.) and its amendments. The library supports the Fair Use section of the Copyright Law (17 U.S.C. §107) which permits and protects citizens’ rights to reproduce and make use of copyrighted works for the purposes of teaching, scholarship, and research.
Challenged Materials
The library has the responsibility to provide materials and information to meet the needs of the college’s curricula and programs. The library also has a responsibility to provide materials related to individual interests regardless of the personal preferences of others.
The Don C. Locke Library supports the American Library Association in its endorsement of both intellectual freedom and the freedom to read as stated in its Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement. The choice to use library materials is an individual matter. While people may reject materials for personal use, no individual or group has the right to censor or restrict the freedom of others to read or use those materials.
Challenges to materials present in the library, either physical or electronic, must be presented in writing to the Director of Library Services. At a minimum, the challenge must include the full name of the person presenting the challenge, contact information including current address, phone number, and email address, affiliation with A-B Tech or other groups, the title of the material being challenged, and a full explanation of the challenge including acceptable resolution to the challenge.
The request will be reviewed to ensure that it provides full information about the nature of the complaint. Challenges will then be forwarded to the Dean of Academic Success and the Vice President for Academic Instruction for investigation and recommendation. Challenges to materials will generally be rejected on First Amendment grounds.
Deselection (Weeding) of Library Collections
Deselection and weeding of library materials is an important part of the overall collection development process and is important to the health of the collection. Removing obsolete, outdated, and worn or damaged materials is essential and should be carried out systematically. Faculty members, in conjunction with the librarians, are encouraged to review the collection in their subject-specific areas, recommending the withdrawal of obsolete materials and suggesting new replacement titles.
Factors to be considered when selecting materials for discard are:
- Physical condition of a work
- Coverage of the subject by other materials in the collection
- Availability of better or more recent editions
- Demand for and past use of materials
- Accuracy of information content
- Number of copies in the collection
- Availability of electronic editions
- Popularity and/or timeliness of work (in the cases of popular reading)
Disposition of materials selected for discard must be managed in accordance with regulations from the State Surplus Property Agency (North Carolina Administrative Code 2C.0403). Discarded materials may be donated to other non-profit agencies, given to other community college libraries, or sent to a jobber for recycling.