COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES FOR ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
INTRODUCTION
The Library of the University of Connecticut The library of the University of
Connecticut develops, maintains, and makes
discoverable robust and unique collections that support the research and learning needs of the UConn community
and beyond. The University Library serves all of the undergraduate and graduate programs on the main campus,
the four regional campuses, and the UConn Health campus. While the UConn Law Library is administratively
separate from the University Library, the University Library and the Law Library maintain a strong affiliation,
particularly in the areas of collection development and access. With 3.9 million print volumes and well over
110,000 electronic and print journals, the libraries of the University of Connecticut form the most comprehensive
public research collection in the state.The University Library maintains nine physical locations: four on the Storrs
campus, one at each of the four regional campuses, and one at the UConn Health campus. The Homer Babbidge
Library, the flagship location of the University Library, is in the center of the Storrs campus and serves both
undergraduate and graduate programs. The Storrs campus is also home to the School of Fine Arts Resource
Center in the Fine Arts complex, the Pharmacy Library in the Pharmacy/Biology building, and the University
Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Each of the University’s four regional
campuses — Avery Point, Hartford, Stamford, and Waterbury — maintains a library dedicated to serving the
programs at those sites. Regional campus libraries hold undergraduate-focused core collections as well as
specialized research collections tailored to the needs of graduate programs: Marine Biology at Avery Point;
Business, Public Policy, Education, and Social Work at Hartford; Business at Stamford; and Education, Nursing,
and Engineering at Waterbury. The Storrs and regional campus locations of the University Library shares a single
catalog and each of these libraries serve as a gateway to the collection as a whole. The UConn Health Sciences
Library location of the University Library maintains a separate catalog reflecting the specialized needs of the
UConn Health community.This document applies specifically to the Storrs and regional locations of the University
Library (heretofore referred to as “the Library”) and outlines the principles and guidelines used to develop the
collections at these locations.
Scope of the Collection The Library develops and maintains collections that inspire discovery and the creation of
new knowledge by providing resources that support and enhance research and scholarship, undergraduate and
graduate education, and emerging areas of interdisciplinary interest at the University of Connecticut. The depth of
collection development varies by discipline and is driven by the scholarship and teaching priorities of the
University’s academic programs.The Library recognizes that free access to ideas and freedom of expression are
fundamental to research and education in a democratic society. The Library is committed to providing a balanced
collection representing a diversity of perspectives. The collection will not exclude any materials on the basis of
their creators’ and/or publishers’ race, color, ethnicity, religious creed, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, or
physical or mental abilities.
Access versus Ownership The Library is responsible for acquiring, curating, and preserving enduring research
collections and ensuring their availability for current and future scholarship. Decisions about which materials to
purchase for permanent retention are balanced against the need to provide access to a broad array of information
resources with immediate scholarly and research value. Research strengths, academic priorities, and the
information needs of students inform decisions about when to collect for permanent retention, when to lease or
borrow materials, and when to rely on openly available repositories.
Cooperative Collection Sharing and Stewardship The Library’s collection meets the needs of the UConn
community while also functioning as a node in networks of collective collections developed by libraries partnering
at regional, national, and international levels. The Library recognizes the vital importance of these collective
collections in ensuring for the long-term retention of the scholarly record and the ongoing ability of researchers to
access this record. To this end, the Library is committed to participating in partnerships with other libraries that
facilitate collection sharing and stewardship. Among the partnerships that the Library participates in is the Eastern
Academic Scholars Trust (EAST), a print retention partnership of over 50 college and university libraries. The
mission of EAST is to ensure that faculty and students in the northeast United States have access to the collective
scholarly record of print monographs, journals, and serials in the participating libraries and that this record is
preserved.
Licensing Online Resources The library of the University of Connecticut negotiates licenses as “One UConn,” and
including the Storrs campus libraries, regional campus libraries, the Health Sciences library, and the Law library.
When negotiating license agreements for online resources, the Library refrains from purchasing resources where
restrictions would impede research or intellectual freedom, or be impossible to enforce. The library strives to
ensure access is granted to the fullest extent possible and that the UConn Board of Trustees’ approval, signature
authority, and contract requirements are all met. In furtherance thereof, licenses negotiated by the libraries
generally reference and incorporate terms and conditions set forth in the LIBLICENSE Model and in other
standards widely adopted by research institutions.Additionally, the library negotiates licenses to be in compliance
with the State of Connecticut’s contract requirements. Licensed resources must include the State of Connecticut’s
required contract provisions.
Collections Budget The Library’s collection allocations are used to acquire ownership of or access to monographs,
media, journals, databases, and data and datasets; support inter library borrowing and lending; enable the
discovery of print and online materials worldwide; steward the University’s scholarly output; secure participation in
collaborative repositories that safeguard the long term preservation of both print and digital resources; and
participate in relevant professional memberships. The Library also collaborates with schools and departments to
co-finance and co-sponsor specialized resources that benefit our research community.
Responsibility for Collection Development The Library’s Collections Steering Committee has administrative
oversight for the collections. It sets collection development policies, makes broad collection budget allocations,
and regularly reviews these allocations for strategic adjustment. Selection/retention decisions for high-cost
resources also fall within the purview of the Collections Steering Committee.The Library’s Research Services unit
coordinates the assessment and development of collections and discovery tools of cross-disciplinary nature, while
individual subject librarians have responsibility for assessing and developing collections and information sources
relating to their assigned academic disciplines. Fund allocations are divided among academic disciplines based
on the size of the program, department, school or area, the nature of material needed, the record of expenditures
in relation to previous years, and the existence or presence of new initiatives and/or faculty.
General Criteria for Collection Development The Library works with the UConn community and consortia to
determine which resources should be acquired or retained and employs the following general criteria when
evaluating resources to be added to the general collections:
Relevance to education and research programs: Applicability to faculty and graduate students’ research interests,
current curricular needs, and research trends in academic disciplines.
Scope and depth of the existing collection: Breadth and historic retention of the Library’s collection in the subject area.
Quality: Level of scholarship and creativity; long term relevance of content and format; reputation of the author,
publisher, contributors, and editorial board; and availability and importance of illustrations and bibliographies.
Currency and timeliness: Rapidity with which new information significantly advances or supersedes earlier
scholarship in the subject area.
Discoverability, usability, and accessibility: Ability of users to locate materials in scholarly databases and free
search engines, intuitiveness of the interface design, and accessibility of online materials for users with
disabilities.
Cost: Expense of acquiring, processing, cataloging, shelving, and preserving materials, both commercially sold and free.
Renewal rates: Subscribed resources with renewal rates of four percent or more are subject to review. The review
will assess the basis for the significant cost increase and may result in cancellation.
Language and country of origin: Optimal language and perspective for specific programmatic research and
education needs.
Contribution to open scholarly communication: The resource positively impacts open access to research and
scholarship; the information is or will soon become readily accessible to the world community.
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES FOR ACADEMIC PROGRAMS