Portland State Library Information Resources Management Policy

Purpose of the policy statement and audience to whom it is directed

The purpose of this collection development policy is as follows:

1. To describe the present collection of Branford Price Millar Library and to articulate the directions of its anticipated growth.

2. To assist Portland State librarians and faculty as they work together to acquire materials in various subject areas.

3. To serve as a support document for budget planning and expenditures.

4. To assist in establishing priorities in the face of flat or reduced budgets.

5. To facilitate cooperative or coordinated collection development with other libraries.

General description of Portland State

Portland State University's mission statement declares its intent to "enhance the intellectual, social, cultural and economic qualities of urban life by providing access throughout the life span to a quality liberal education for undergraduates and an appropriate array of professional and graduate programs especially relevant to metropolitan areas." In fulfilling this mission, the university offers a range of degrees: 36 undergraduate, 46 graduate, 11 doctoral, and 23 undergraduate and graduate certificate programs. Having begun its existence in 1946 as an adjunct site for the delivery of extension courses for other Oregon University System institutions, the University now serves the largest number of students in the state of Oregon and sponsors an ever-growing program of distance and distributed education. Located in the heart of downtown Portland, the University is recognized for its strong focus on regional and civic engagement as well as its commitments to diversity (on the campus and through the curriculum) and service-learning. The University is host to numerous research institutes and centers, and its research programs and sponsored projects continue to grow. Research expenditures quintupled during the period from 1989-2001.

The Branford Price Millar Library's primary mission is to support instruction and facilitate learning at Portland State University, and to provide resources for research and advanced study at the University. The Library collection supports the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Urban and Public Affairs, the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science; the schools of Extended Studies, Business Administration, Fine and Performing Arts; and the graduate schools of Social Work, and Education. The Library also supports the university's various institutes and centers which conduct research and provide community service in such areas as nanotechnology, environmental sustainability, the problems of the aging, international trade and commerce, social welfare and human services, and demographic analysis.

The Portland State University Branford Price Millar Library has grown to become the largest academic library in the Portland metropolitan area, supporting the undergraduates, graduate students and faculty of the University as well as Portland-area businesses and community agencies. Through resource sharing agreements and consortial memberships, the students, faculty and staff of a large and growing number of academic institutions in Portland and throughout the Pacific Northwest may draw upon the Library's collection.

Goals of the information resources management program

• Build a collection that meets the research, curricular and information needs of faculty, students and the University community.

• Advance the missions of the Library and University through the implementation of relevant programs.

• Set policies and procedures that allow staff to engage in collection management in the most effective manner.

• Conduct liaison with academic departments in order to collaborate with faculty in developing the collection.

• Spend the state materials allocation and endowed funds to achieve greatest benefit, tracking expenditures closely to ensure the judicious use of resources.

• Manage the collection so as to account for the physical condition of the materials, space needs, and new trends in curriculum and research. Conduct collection analyses as needed, etc.

• Actively pursue cooperative and coordinated collection development with other libraries.

• Make responsible archiving decisions regarding replacement, withdrawal, reformatting and preservation of materials.

Intellectual freedom

The Branford Price Millar Library subscribes to the principles of academic freedom as upheld by the tenets of the American Association of University Professors and the American Library Association (ALA) Library Bill of Rights. Materials will be added to the collection when judged necessary for the curriculum. No materials will be censored, and a balance of opinion in controversial issues will be maintained. The Library Bill of Rights, the American Library Association Code of Ethics and the ALA Freedom to Read Statement attest to the commitment of the Millar Library and of libraries throughout the country to the principles and practices of intellectual freedom. (See Appendices for documents.)

Collection Overview

The Portland State University Library began as a small collection of books serving students enrolled in University of Oregon and Oregon State University extension courses provided at the Vanport Extension Center in north Portland. After destruction by the 1948 Vanport flood, the Extension Center (and its one room Library) were eventually reestablished on the park blocks in downtown Portland in a building which had previously served as Lincoln High School (now the University's Lincoln Hall). In 1959 the Library relocated to expanded facilities in Smith Center and, in 1968, the collections and public service units moved into their present location in the then newly constructed Branford Price Millar Library (named for the University's second president). An expansion project completed in 1991 added study and stacks space. Now the largest academic library in the Portland metropolitan area, the collection consists of over 1.3 million volumes, more than ten thousand journal and newspaper subscriptions, 13,000 electronic journals, over 100 online databases, and numerous other formats including 1.2 million pieces of microfiche. The Library is currently a selective depository library for the U.S. Government Printing Office's Federal Depository Library Program and also served as the state's regional depository library from 1972 to 2008.

Following the Library's mission of supporting instruction and study at the University, by necessity the collection provides support in a wide array of disciplines in order to serve all the university's colleges and professional schools. There are a few areas of highly focused strength which have generally developed through acquisition of major gifts. Notable among these are the Dahl collection (Chinese literature), a Middle East languages collection, the Columbia River geology collection and the scores collection. The languages and literatures collection is quite strong for the size of our university.

The Branford Price Millar Library building houses the one and a half million volumes of the Library's main collection, as well as the government documents collection, and the music and special collections. Approximately one fifth of the collection is stored in an off site rented storage facility.

Organization of the collection management and development program

The overall responsibility for the selection and quality of the Library collection rests with the professional librarians serving as liaisons to the departmental faculty and with the Assistant University Librarians. Individual faculty members designated by their department heads serve as liaisons to the Library and collaborate in selecting materials which meet the course and research needs of their departments. A subject librarian whose role includes collaborating with faculty in material selection, managing the departmentally-allocated funds, and maintaining appropriate balances between monographic, electronic and serial publications, serves each department and program in the University. In addition, a library liaison is assigned to all Centers and Institutes on campus which are likely to produce scholarly grey literature meeting the library's collection criteria. Librarians also select general, interdisciplinary, and reference materials, fill gaps in the subject discipline collections, and help determine the collection's balance among print, microform, online, CD-ROM and other information formats. Overall coordination of the collection occurs through the Information Resources Management Committee, which is comprised of the subject librarians, the Information Resources Management Coordinator, the Assistant University Librarians, the serials and monographic acquisitions librarians and the electronic resources librarian.

Administrators, students, staff, and other members of the University community are welcome to submit suggested orders for new materials on forms provided at the Information Desk or via the online catalog.

Budget structure and allocation policy

The structure of the materials budget attempts to balance funding to support a multidisciplinary core collection and the bibliographic services necessary for a university library with providing an appropriate portion of the budget to support resources in the disciplines and disciplinary clusters. To achieve this balance, the Library applies an allocation formula to the materials acquisition budget. After reserving 23 percent of the funds for core resources, and 12 percent for allocation to three disciplinary clusters (science and engineering, humanities, and social sciences), the remaining 65 percent is distributed to the departments/disciplinary funds. Each academic department has an associated fund from which monographs, serials, microforms, standing orders and electronic resources are purchased. The Library's allocation formula (significantly revised in 2003) balances number of students and faculty in a department, departmental research grants, and the cost and quantity of published material in the discipline. The Faculty Library Committee reviews and discusses the proposed allocation, and makes a recommendation to the Library Director.

When new programs and courses are proposed, evaluation by the Curriculum Committee and the Graduate Council is required. Proposal forms typically include an analysis of the adequacy of Library resources to support the course or program. Proposals for new degrees require the formal approval of the University Librarian and typically include the subject librarian's analysis of the collection's strength in the proposed area(s) and recommendations for additional monetary support where necessary to fill gaps, support program growth, and address previously uncovered content areas of required for scholarship and research in the discipline.

Resource Sharing

The University's location in Oregon's major population center has provided the Library with extensive opportunities for resource sharing. The close proximity of several academic institutions and research libraries has afforded the Library the opportunity to collaborate in acquisition of expensive sets as well as offering selected highly specific collections on a permanent loan basis to local institutions. Begun in 1990, the Portland Area Library System (PORTALS) was founded under a federal grant to further advance institutional cooperation and resource sharing among the research, academic, community college and public libraries in the Portland area. Portland State University Library was a charter member and retains its membership in the consortium.

In 2000 the Portland State Library joined the ORBIS academic library consortium, an organization including all of the Oregon University System institutions as well as many of Oregon and Washington's four year liberal arts institutions. Through ORBIS the Library participates in numerous resource and cost sharing activities. Library users have direct access to the monographic collections of the majority of university and liberal arts colleges in the region. Interlibrary Loan agreements among the institutions are robust and most partner libraries do not charge for article deliveries. The Library has licensed many of its electronic databases through the consortial pricing agreements established by ORBIS. In 2003, the ORBIS and Cascade (Washington state public four year colleges and universities) consortiums merged to form the Orbis Cascade Alliance. With the merger the resources of the consortium include 22 million books and other materials held by the 31 member libraries.

In addition to the resources of consortial partners, the Library provides an active interlibrary loan (ILL) service. In keeping with the Library's mission to support learning and research for students, faculty and staff, all these user groups have ILL privileges. Currently the service is supported by operating funds, but should the Library's materials budget significantly increase, the recognition of the ILL service as a cost associated with collections and resource sharing would argue for including ILL in the information resources budget.

The Portland State University Library is an extremely important resource for other public, school, academic, and special libraries. In a similar manner, Millar Library users have many of their needs met directly by other libraries in the metropolitan area and throughout the state and the region as well. Efforts at promoting cooperative ventures, local, regional and national, which benefit Portland State and contribute to the usefulness and value of libraries in general will be participated in and actively promoted.

Delivery, Access and Archiving of Information Resources; Technology and Infrastructure

In providing a research collection to users, technology and computing support are necessary to ensure access to the Library's information resources. In regard to print materials, 97 percent of the Library's monographic and serial collections are represented in the online catalog. Retrospective conversion of records is an ongoing effort for which grant funding will continually be sought.

With respect to electronic resources, the Library balances the need for stable, easy access with the need to keep technology costs low. Where feasible and license or technology barriers do not apply, electronic resources will be acquired from vendors who support web-based delivery. Technology systems which significantly improve collection access and services (such as: the ILLiad document delivery system, the electronic reserve system, electronic resources management software and an Open URL server) will be implemented. Stable web-based interfaces are the preferred mode for delivery of these services.

General collection management and development policies

Chronological Coverage

Current and retrospective materials are collected, depending upon the needs of the program or department, the gaps in the collection, funding levels, and availability of materials.

Language

91 percent of the collection is in English. Foreign language materials are added to support area studies, foreign language study and disciplinary needs.

Types of publications

Print Materials:

The Library acquires books, journals, and other serial publications, and microforms (film or fiche) as are appropriate to the curriculum and research in each subject area.

Current Monographs:

Monographs are usually acquired in hardback, but there is no prohibition against acquiring quality paperback editions. The format of paper of hardback may be recommended by the selector. Electronic editions may be selected at the selectors discretion.

Serials:

The Library subscribes to journals and newspapers as well as other serials in appropriate subject fields. Duplicate subscriptions are avoided whenever possible. Hardcopy or electronic formats are preferred although periodical backfiles may be purchased in microform. For materials in tabloid or newspaper formats, strong consideration should be given to subscribing to backfiles in microform rather than having the items bound.

Reprints. Generally, the Library emphasizes the text rather than the edition. Although an original edition may in some cases be required, commercial reprints are usually just as satisfactory and considerably less expensive.

Popular Materials:

Popular materials are acquired on a limited basis to serve curricular and disciplinary needs.

Duplicate Materials/Multiple Copies:

Duplicate copies are added on a highly selective basis generally for high demand frequently circulating works, or for works that are considered foundational to a discipline. The decision regarding the number of copies of a monograph rests with the appropriate subject librarian.

Computer Software:

In general, the Library does not acquire application software for circulation to users. CD-ROMs which accompany circulating monographs are stored in appropriate shelving and may circulate with their 'parent' monograph.

Electronic Resources:

The Library will try to acquire materials in online format rather than CD-ROM in order to facilitate access, save space and processing time, when online format is available and affordable.

Microforms:

Microforms are purchased when the desired materials are prohibitively expensive, or not otherwise available, or when print editions of the materials consume an inordinate amount of space compared to the amount of usage they receive. Preservation occasionally dictates that certain materials be purchased on microform.

Textbooks:

Introductory, general textbooks usually are not purchased. Textbooks may be purchased selectively when they are outstanding examples of work in the field and contain information which the Library does not have, or when the textbooks represent a desirable synthesis of information or new developments in a field.

Theses and Dissertations:

Two copies of Portland State student theses and dissertations are catalogued. One copy is available for circulation, and one copy is kept in Archives. Dissertations and theses from other institutions may be purchased selectively on subject funds and are acquired by virtue of graduate student and faculty requests which cannot be filled through ILL. A print copy is purchased from University Microforms and added to the collection when the requesting users have completed their work with the title.

Children's Books:

To support coursework in the Graduate School of Education, the Library maintains a collection of children's literature representing a range of topics, styles, attitudes, and quality of presentation. This collection is comprised mostly of fiction, picture books, a limited number of nonfiction works, and reviewing journals. An approval plan for North American children's literature award winners has been established. A display collection of titles receiving the Batchelder, Caldecott, Newbery, Correta Scott King, and Young Reader's Choice Awards is also available.

Institutional Scholarly Grey Literature:

It is within the mission of the library to capture, preserve, and make available the scholarly output of the institution. To this end, the library will attempt to acquire technical reports and other scholarly publications produced by Portland State Departments, Programs, Centers, and Institutes. These materials will be cataloged and added to the collection, whether in print, electronic, or both. Criteria for selection is as follows:

1. Authorship: The primary author(s) should be Portland State faculty or staff.

2. Content: The content should be such that a person doing scholarly research might choose to cite the work.

3. Publication: The item would generally not be published commercially, but would have been produced in a quantity intended to limited external distribution.

Examples of what to collect are technical reports, reports of studies, conference papers that have been published in full proceedings of meetings, but which the library may not have acquired.

Examples of what NOT to collect are materials of an ephemeral nature (e.g. brochures, newsletters, administrative notes or memos, workshop notes, course schedules, etc.); materials written by students or interns.

Film/Video

Films and videos are selected as research or instructional materials. The video collection is housed in the Circulation department; with some exceptions, the collection is available for short-term circulation to students, faculty and staff.

Audio

Musical recordings are purchased primarily to serve the needs of the music department's teaching and research. These resources are most typically funded by the music department's allocated funds. Spoken word recordings may be selected as library materials. Preferred format at this time is CD ROM or DVD

Reference works

General, multidisciplinary reference works are purchased on the general core fund and where possible in the format in which they will receive most use. Subject specific reference works are purchased on specific discipline funds or subject cluster funds.

Gifts

The Library adds gift material to the collection after review by the appropriate subject librarian. Generally hardback and high quality paperback books in clean condition are considered.

Subject Collections in Portland State Library

Collection policy statements for the disciplinary subject funds describe the scope of the collection, its multidisciplinary aspects, information of specific import for the individual discipline, the nature of the faculty and curriculum in the departments served and the level and intensity of collecting in the covered subject areas.

For the purposes of establishing collection levels, the following definitions are used.

Collection Levels

Level 0 Out of Scope The library does not collect in this area.

Level 1 Minimal Level A subject area in which few selections are made beyond very basic works.

Level 2 Basic Information Level A collection of up-to-date general materials that serve to introduce and define a subject and to indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere. It may include dictionaries, encyclopedias, access to appropriate bibliographic databases, selected editions of important works, historical surveys, bibliographies, handbooks, a few major periodicals, in the minimum number that will serve the purpose. A basic information collection is not sufficiently intensive to support any advanced undergraduate or graduate courses or independent study in the subject area involved.

Level 3 Instructional Support Level A collection that is adequate to support undergraduate and MOST graduate instruction, or sustained independent study; that is, adequate to maintain knowledge of a subject required for limited or generalized purposes, of less than research intensity. It includes a wide range of basic monographs, complete collections of the works of more important writers, selections from the works of secondary writers, a selection of representative journals, access to appropriate non-bibliographic data bases, and the reference tools and fundamental bibliographical apparatus pertaining to the subject.

Level 4 Research Level A collection that includes the major published source materials required for dissertations and independent research, including materials containing research reporting, new findings, scientific experimental results, and other information useful to researchers. It is intended to include all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as a very extensive collection of journals and major indexing and abstracting services in the field. Pertinent foreign language materials are included. Older material is retained for historical research.

Level 5 Comprehensive Level A collection in which a library endeavors, so far as it is reasonably possible, to include all significant works of recorded knowledge (publications, manuscripts, other forms), in all applicable languages, for a necessarily defined and limited field. This level of collecting intensity is on that maintains a "special collection"; the aim, if not the achievement, is exhaustiveness. Older material is retained for historical research.

Specialized Collections

Maps:

Located on the fourth floor of the Library, the maps collection supports study and research in all disciplines. The collection includes 56,000 printed maps, 1100 atlases and many aerial photograph series. Areas of strength in the collection include: the Portland Metropolitan area; Clark County, WA; Oregon's Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas counties; current USGS topographic maps and an archival historical collection of the Oregon and Washington maps in this series; Oregon natural resources maps. The map collection includes, due to the Library's participation in PL 480 exchange program, a significant collection of 1970's and 1980's era maps of Middle Eastern countries.

The vast majority of the collection is in print format with some content published on CD-ROM; increasingly government agency maps are distributed in the form of cataloging records for online resources which are accessed through the Library's online catalog.

Government publications:

The vast majority of the federal and state government information is acquired through depository programs. Starting in 1963, the Library became a selective depository of federal documents. The Library become the Oregon Regional Depository for the U.S. Government Printing Office's Federal Depository Library Program in 1972 and served as the state's regional library until 2008. In 2008, the Library became a selective depository library as the regional responsibilities were transferred to the Oregon State Library.

The federal government is an important publisher of information of interest to students and researchers in a broad array of disciplines. Federal agencies distribute materials through the U.S. Government Printing Office. As a selective depository library, the Branford Price Millar Library receives most of the publications in any format distributed through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). Formats include print, electronic, or microfiche.

The monographic collection is accessible through the Library's online catalog (Vikat). Many documents have been cataloged into the main collection using the appropriate Library of Congress classification number. For Superintendent of Documents classified materials, the Library subscribes to the Marcive service to acquire downloadable catalog records. In 2001, the Library completed a retrospective Marcive load covering monographic documents back to 1976. The Superintendent of Documents classified materials are shelved on the 4th floor in the Government Information area. A federal grant-funded project has allowed for the retrospective cataloging of federal government serial titles.

The Library is also a depository for Oregon state publications and receives numerous annual reports, serials, and monographs. The Library also selectively collects Washington State and local Oregon city and county publications.

The Library has a standing order for the United Nations publications in microfiche as well as the IIS collection of international intergovernmental statistical publications. The collection of United Nations publications began in 1970. The international documents collection is strengthened through blanket orders for publications from such organizations as the OECD.

Special Collections Room:

The Special Collections room of the Library houses a small but growing collection of rare or especially valuable or fragile materials which have come to the Library either by purchase or through gifts. Users have mediated access to the materials in this collection.

University Archives:

The University Archives contains the official records of Portland State University dating from its inception in 1946 as the Vanport Extension Center.The archives includes paper records, university publications, photographs, reel to reel and cassette tapes, and memorabilia relating to the University. Paper records include Vanport history; legislative documents; files from the office of the President and other administrative and academic units; financial records; professor's personal papers; and materials from University affiliated organizations. University publications include catalogues, class schedules, bulletins, newsletters, and programs. A limited collection of photograph, generally of the founding days at Vanport is available. Ephemera is limited consisting predominantly of programs, invitations, announcements, and other such items.

Appendix A

LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS

Adopted June 18, 1948

Amended February 2, 1961, and June 27, 1967, by

the American Library Association Council

The Council of the American Library Association reaffirms its belief in the following basic policies which should govern the services of all libraries.

1. As a responsibility of library service, books and other library materials selected should be chosen for values of interests, information and enlightenment of all the people of the community. In no case should library materials be excluded because of the race or nationality or the social, political, or religious views of the authors.

2. Libraries should provide books and other materials presenting all points of view concerning the problems and issues of our times; no library materials should be proscribed or removed from libraries because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

3. Censorship should be challenged by librarians in the maintenance of their responsibility to provide public information and enlightenment.

4. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to issues.

5. The rights of an individual to the use of a library should not be denied or abridged because of his age, race, religion, national origins or social or political views.

6. As an institution of education for democratic living, the library should welcome the use of its meeting rooms for socially useful and cultural activities and discussion of current public questions. Such meeting places should be a