Last Updated: 2022-05-18
A.T. Still Memorial Library supports the community of A.T. Still University (ATSU), a private graduate health sciences university home to the founding college of osteopathic medicine. The library serves seven colleges on three campuses in Kirksville, Missouri; Mesa, Arizona; and Santa Maria, California.
The purpose of A.T. Still Memorial Library’s collection development policy is to: guide the library in selecting, organizing, and managing library materials; ensure that collection decisions reflect the library’s purpose and vision; and help the library serve the needs of library users.
Purpose
The A.T. Still Memorial Library supports the University’s mission of education, community health, diversity, and scholarship by providing user-focused spaces, learner-centered instruction, targeted information resources, responsive services, and expert staff; all of which are informed by evidence-based practice and osteopathic principles.
A.T. Still Memorial Library is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The library strives to provide equitable access to diverse library materials and to create an inclusive, welcoming environment.
The library’s target audience consists of the following groups: students, faculty, staff, alumni, and visitors. The library serves the university’s seven colleges:
Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health
Arizona School of Health Sciences
College of Graduate Health Studies
College for Healthy Communities
Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health
School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona
The library’s target audience requires evidence-based health sciences materials that facilitate teaching, learning, clinical activities, and research at A.T. Still University.
Final decision-making for collection development lies with the University Library Director. General responsibility for collection development, however, is shared by the liaison librarians and Technical Services Librarian.
Liaisons and the Technical Services Librarian will solicit faculty participation in collection development, particularly regarding selection, acquisition, and weeding.
The primary source of funding for library acquisition is the funding allocated to the library annually by the university administration for such purposes. Additional funds may come in the way of transfers from academic departments, grants, or donations, and endowment funds.
Library funds are used to maintain a balanced, current, relevant, and high-quality collection that supports the academic programs of the university and diverse student learning needs. Funds will be directed most heavily towards purchasing resources in a variety of formats that support course assignments and that are included in standard bibliographies. Faculty requests are given high priority. No member of the university is excluded from the process of book selection.
Leisure reading is supported (for example, through the Whole Person Collection), although limited funds for purchasing such items require that the selected resources be of broad interest to the ATSU audience. The primary goal of selection, however, is to support the university’s academic programs.
The primary responsibility for selection rests with the assigned library liaisons in collaboration with the Technical Services librarian. The University Library Director approves all acquisitions (with the exception of the Missouri branch campus’s print collections; this resides with the branch head).
Selection of materials is performed by liaison librarians in collaboration with faculty, including the following processes: selection, retention, replacement of items, preservation, and weeding. Requests from students are considered on a case-by-case basis. Liaison librarians work collaboratively with all stakeholders involved with curriculum development, and serve as each department's first point of contact for information about library resources and services. The library reserves the right to make final decisions on purchases of materials, based on the expertise of the librarians; however, every recommendation will be given consideration. To be considered, the material must align with the academic curricula. To request materials, faculty will contact their liaison librarian, or submit the Material Request form. Reserve books will be purchased upon faculty request.
The responsibility for database selection rests with the Electronic Resources Librarian in partnership with the University Library Director. Database recommendations and evaluation follow the same criteria as other library materials.
The following selection criteria are based on the goals and objectives of the library to promote the mission of the university (not in order of priority):
Relevance to the institution's curriculum; development of new courses and programs; or trends in clinical, educational, and biomedical research and healthcare practice
ATSU clientele request
Authoritative and varying perspectives on controversial issues
Ability to stimulate further intellectual and social development
Scope of content
Cost and currency
Resources in a variety of formats and accessible both virtually and physically
Coverage appropriate to the graduate university level
Accessibility on and off campus
Mode of access, seat concurrency, title availability outside a package
Compatibility with existing library systems
Technical support offered by eResource/database provider
Ease of use
Compliance with W3C accessibility guidelines
The following are common sources that may be consulted when selecting materials. The library may use other sources as needed.
Gobi: EBSCO’s online collection development resource for academic libraries. Assists with selection, acquisition and peer benchmarking activities. Includes selection lists of new books, publishing industry news, award-winning titles, and reputable publishers.
WorldCat: Searches collections in local communities and thousands more around the world.
Choice Reviews: Current reviews for academic libraries.
MOBIUS catalog
Online bookstores: Amazon, etc.
Library Journal: A good resource for the Whole Person Collection.
Vendor catalogs and online inventory lists
WorldShare Collection Evaluation: Used for benchmarking the collection and for weeding purposes.
Professional organizations and peer institutions
Item selection is done by liaison librarians (selectors) with the support of faculty. Each liaison is responsible for recommending materials that best meet the curriculum goals for purchase in their assigned subject areas. The library considers it a strategic priority to remain current and to employ various current acquisition models for materials purchases.
A.T. Still Memorial Library is guided by an e-preferred acquisitions model, in which the electronic version is given priority for purchase, unless the print version is specifically requested or needed.
Normally single copies of print books are purchased unless there is high demand, in which case the library will consider purchasing multiple copies.
The library collects both electronic and print materials, with a preference for materials in electronic format. The library strives for unlimited access in all eBook purchases and subscriptions, but seat concurrency (the number of people who can access a title at one time) is determined by cost and availability.
The following is a brief overview of the library’s collected formats:
Electronic resources
eBooks
eJournals
Streaming videos
Databases
Print resources
Print books
Print journals
Theses & dissertations
Objects/games
Anatomy models
Board games
OMM tables
SAD lamps
Study aids, such as headphones and white boards
Media
VHS tapes
DVDs
The majority of the materials collected by the library are in English. Materials in other languages may be collected as needed.
A.T. Still Memorial Library upholds the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights. Requests for reconsideration of materials should be submitted to the Technical Services Librarian.
Continuous evaluation of library materials is necessary in order to ensure that they are meeting library users’ needs. Regardless of format, the library’s information resources shall be evaluated according to an ongoing collection review process. The purpose of review is to check for accuracy, currency, usage, diversity, and subject area gaps. Liaison librarians, in collaboration with faculty, will ensure that library collections are current, relevant, and appropriate for curricular needs. Collections shall be systematically analyzed according to usage statistics, availability of updated resources, appropriateness to courses offered by the college, and requirements of research assignments.
Evaluation of databases will be based on use and relevance; this will be done on a yearly basis at renewal. Databases can be canceled for the following reasons: budgetary pressures, lack of use, or being out of scope.
Library materials will be weeded regularly. The library will use age, usage, and one or more of the MUSTIE factors (misleading, ugly, superseded, trivial, irrelevant, elsewhere) as criteria for weeding both print and electronic resources, as outlined in the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries (Larson, p. 57). Prime candidates for weeding include outdated, low-use, damaged, and duplicate materials.
Weeded print materials may be recycled or thrown out. Weeded print materials may also be arranged on a book cart and placed in a public space with a sign reading "Free books." Anyone is free to take a book. Any remaining books will be recycled or thrown away. Print and electronic resources are pre-coded (suppressed) in the catalog before being deleted, in order to prevent them from continuing to display in Still OneSearch.
The library encourages faculty to participate in the weeding process by providing feedback on lists of candidates for weeding.
Gifts and donations may be accepted by the library at its discretion. A gift or donation that does not align with the library’s mission and vision may be refused. Duplicates of already held materials will not be accepted except in rare circumstances. If the library determines that a gifted book or other item is not suitable for retention, it may sell it, offer it to other libraries or members of its own user community, or recycle it. A deed of gift is produced to send to donors and ATSU Development. There is also a transfer deed for items from other departments.
The library is authorized to replace certain lost, stolen, or damaged materials. Replacement is not automatic. Instead, before replacing an item, it should be evaluated according to the weeding criteria outlined above. In particular, the factors of age and usage are relevant when evaluating the need for a replacement.
The library supports open access and promotes the use of open access scholarly resources, including books, journals, and repositories.
The Osteopathic Medicine Reading Room (OMRR) houses the library’s special collection. The collection includes scholarly texts and archival material.
The library will hold a collection of scholarly texts on osteopathic medicine, with the intention of building a comprehensive collection of resources in order to support both education and research. The library’s focus will be on recent and current scholarship, supplemented by key earlier texts, with the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine serving as the true repository of early scholarship. This print collection will focus on:
Osteopathic medicine and science
The history of osteopathy
Biographies of osteopathic physicians with historical ties to ATSU
Books discussing ATSU and its history
Books written by ATSU faculty and graduates addressing related topics
Books written by ATSU faculty and graduates on other topics may be accepted as gifts
Closely related subjects of importance to ATSU curricula
The library will acquire one copy of each book within scope available for the OMRR, with a preference for hardcover, then paperback.
Access to the Reading Room is available on request.
Interlibrary loan: Library users can request access to resources from other libraries through this service.
MOBIUS consortium: As part of the MOBIUS consortium, the library is able to provide access to a wide variety of materials held by libraries across the Midwest.
This policy is a living document. Accordingly, it will be reviewed annually and revised as needed.
Larson, J. (2012). CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries. Texas State Library and Archives Commission. https://www.tsl.texas.gov/sites/default/files/public/tslac/ld/ld/pubs/crew/crewmethod12.pdf