Collection Development Policy : Overview

1 Introduction

1.1 This Collection Development Policy is formulated within the context of the strategic directions of the university. The goals of the library are aligned with the goals of Monash Directions 2025 and take into consideration the Excellence and Diversity - Strategic Framework 2004-2008 /, the Research and Research Management Review (2004) and the Education Plan 2006 – 2010, due to be finalised in 2006.

These, together with the faculty operational plans, are the drivers of the library's strategies to support the teaching, research and community programs of the university.

These strategies include:

• liaising and planning with the scholarly community to develop collections and related services;
• organizing and maintaining the collections for effective use;
• providing access to scholarly information in all formats to users wherever they are located;
• ensuring long term access to scholarly information resources in all formats by preserving and archiving where appropriate these information resources;
• participating in cooperative and collaborative activities to improve the range of resources available to scholars and students.

1.2 Monash University Library supports the Australian Library and Information Association’s policy statement on free access to information and the core values of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA).  In the Monash University context the underlying principle guiding collection development is to promote the free flow of information and ideas in the interests of a thriving academic environment.  The library supports an inclusive approach in developing collections, irrespective of the controversial nature of the information or ideas.  The library seeks to ensure that library users have access to information from a variety of sources and agencies and to resist attempts by individuals or groups to restrict access to information and ideas while at the same time recognising that powers of censorship are legally vested in state and federal governments.

1.3 Collection development and management in the twenty-first century requires provision of information to library users through a balance of acquisition and access to resources not owned by the university. Such access is central to the ongoing process of maximising the acquisitions dollar and extends the availability of resources to users. Managing information is of vital importance, as is making the collections in which the library invests available to library users. Print may be acquired for the collection or provided through document delivery.  Electronic resources may also be acquired, but are more often made available through licence agreements with information providers. This is a significant shift from the historical emphasis on acquisition of strong local collections of print resources for long term access and use. Less than ever can a university library attempt to purchase all available materials across an extensive range of teaching and research areas. Libraries now aim to provide essential print resources for teaching and learning as well as print research materials on a selective basis, together with licensed and purchased access to remote electronic resources for users located on and off campus.

2 Purpose

2.1 The Collection Development Policy is a public document that describes existing collection strengths and future collecting activity in order to inform both users and funding decision-makers of collection development priorities. It demonstrates the commitment of the library to support the range of teaching and research directions of the faculties and research centres of the university. The development and management of the collections depend on cooperation between librarians, academics and students. This policy is designed as a web-based, dynamic document which will be reviewed and amended to reflect changes in university research and teaching. The Collection Development Policy is also a means of facilitating cooperation with other libraries. To assist such cooperation, and to increase national and international access, the Collection Development Policy will be made accessible via the Australian Libraries Gateway.

2.2 As an internal library document the Collection Development Policy provides guidance to staff in the selection of resources, assists with focus on client needs, and aids in the orientation of new staff.

3 Scope

3.1 This document provides background on issues affecting collection development, principles and general policies which guide those entrusted with this role, and gives detailed statements of collecting intention for each faculty and special collection.

3.2 This document does not cover collection development policy for overseas campuses.  These will be developed and made available through the relevant library homepage.  Collection development for Malaysia and South Africa is the responsibility of the respective Campus Librarian.

4 Monash University: a brief history

4.1 Monash University was created by an Act of Parliament in 1958 and enrolled its first students in 1961. The university then consisted of the faculties of: Arts; Economics & Politics; Engineering; Medicine; Science. It was a single campus institution, located at Clayton. Today Monash University comprises faculties of: Art & Design; Arts; Business & Economics; Education; Information Technology; Engineering; Law; Medical, Nursing and Health Sciences; Engineering; Pharmacy; Science; on six campuses in Australia and two overseas in Malaysia and South Africa.

4.2 The university grew rapidly and in 1990 it merged with the Chisholm Institute of Technology, with campuses at Caulfield and Peninsula, and affiliated with the Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education, with a campus at Churchill. In 1991 an additional merger with the Victorian College of Pharmacy, located at Parkville, expanded the university further. In 1995 a new campus was established at Berwick.

4.3 In July 1998 the university opened a Malaysia campus in Kuala Lumpur, with programs in Business, Information Technology, Engineering and Science. In 2001 the university opened operations in Roodepoort near Johannesburg in South Africa with courses in Arts, Business and Economics, and Information Technology.

4.4 The university also has centres in London, and Prato in Italy.

5 The library

5.1 Monash University Library is one of the major research libraries in Australia. It contains, as at mid-2006, more than 3 million items, including 2.43 million printed books, over 8,000 current print journal subscriptions and almost half a million items in other formats such as music scores, maps, microforms, videos, DVDs, audio tapes, CDs, and CD-ROMs. In addition, access to over 750 databases, 22,000 electronic journals  and 240,000 e-books is provided via electronic networks and the internet.  These numbers continue to expand annually.

5.2 Amalgamations between Monash University and other institutions have brought together libraries with different historical emphases - from purely undergraduate institutions to those which have placed greater emphasis on the research tradition. All campus libraries now support postgraduate coursework and higher degree by research courses, as well as meeting the undergraduate demand for course related material.

5.3 One result of the library's policy of adequately supporting undergraduate demand from the home campus is the extensive duplication of resources in some areas of the collection across multiple branches. This duplication of high demand resources is supplemented by a well used intercampus delivery system.

5.4 The library serves a university population of over 47,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and almost 6,000 staff.  Resources and services are also available to students and staff of other tertiary institutions, as well as to members of the public, on a limited basis. Eight branch libraries provide resources for students studying on six Victorian campuses. There are also libraries at the two international campuses, in Malaysia and South Africa.  Affiliations with libraries and learning centres in Australia and overseas help ensure that students in remote locations are also served. Monash University Library places increasingly strong emphasis on the provision of resources and services electronically. This offers students and staff the flexibility to access the library wherever and whenever they wish.

6 Access

6.1 Monash University Library is committed to fair and equitable access to items in its collections. In general there is no restriction on access to materials, the bulk of which are on open access and available for loan. Exceptions are those print items which are held on closed access in special collections for reasons of cost, vulnerability, rarity or preservation. Loan or document delivery restrictions can apply to some rare books, reference, or other special collection items and non-book formats. Low use materials are transferred to on site or off site storage.

6.2 Very high use materials are kept in Reserve collections, and must be used in the library building.  Other high demand items may be placed on short loan.  Loan restrictions may also apply to journal volumes, loose issues of print journals and non-book formats.

6.3 Monash students and staff may place requests for material already out on loan or held in another branch library or offsite store.  When available these items are delivered to a user-preferred branch library for borrowing. 

6.4 Most electronic resources, both serial and monograph, are accessible to all users, apart from those resources with licences which specifically exclude access to non-Monash users. Generally licenses are successfully negotiated which give access to electronic resources for Monash staff and students regardless of location in order to support the Monash global and off campus thrust in teaching, learning and research. License negotiations are also generally successful in gaining limited access for walk in community users of the Monash University libraries.

6.5 The majority of print materials are available to be lent via document delivery within Australia, except for those in high demand at a given time, and those in non-lending collections. Individual articles in electronic serials are generally also available for document delivery purposes.

6.6 Intellectual access to the collections is provided through the library catalogue. 95% of collections are accessible through the web-based catalogue and at least 90% of catalogue records meet international standards. Like most large research libraries, parts of the Monash collections still require retrospective conversion to these standards. Such standards have been achieved by major projects for all serial records and some of the monograph collections where retrospective materials are more heavily used, including English language literatures, history, reference collections, politics, education and rare books. Further areas will be tackled as funding permits. Some annual progress on rare books has been achieved, including the Travers gift of Australian medical books. Uncatalogued print music and sound recordings have also received targeted attention. There remain, however, some uncatalogued gift collections in non-Roman scripts and in some specialist subject areas and non-book formats.

6.7 Monash University holdings are regularly loaded to Libraries Australia, the national bibliographic and holdings database which facilitates resource sharing and document delivery.

7 Collection development processes and responsibilities

7.1 Resources are acquired through individual purchase, approval plans, blanket orders, deposit and donation. Access to electronic resources may be through subscription or purchase, with terms of access contracted through licence agreements with information providers.  Cooperative purchases through consortial arrangements are increasingly common for the acquisition or licensing of expensive electronic resources.

7.2 Collection development is the responsibility of the Collection Management Librarian and ten faculty teams, each consisting of a team leader and subject and/or liaison librarians and supported by reference librarians. Budget monitoring is undertaken by the Collection Management Librarian in consultation with faculty team leaders and subject librarians.

7.3 Selection is undertaken principally by academic staff and subject/liaison librarians to ensure that material is relevant to the teaching and research needs of departments, schools and faculties. New title information is provided from a number of sources including library supplier new title services.

7.4 Provision of access to books and other texts prescribed for courses offered by the university is a priority. Arrangements have been put in place with Monash bookshops, as well as with teaching departments, to ensure all reading list material is acquired in a timely fashion. Copies are supplied according to the library formula for multiple copies.

7.5 Staff and students are encouraged to recommend titles for purchase by the library.

7.6 Requests for new journal or electronic resource subscriptions generally come from academic or library staff. Because of the high cost of many of these resources and the fiscal need to restrain ongoing commitments, library staff negotiate with the faculty to determine priorities before new journal titles are purchased and to ensure that there are uncommitted funds available.

7.7 Requests for new electronic resources are welcome, and will be assessed against the electronic resources purchase principles, to ensure that the resource is cost-effective, that licence conditions are acceptable, and that the resource can be made available with the existing technology infrastructure of the university.

7.8 The library has  published criteria to guide the selection of new works, which aim to ensure that quality resources of relevance are added to the collection

• Selecting websites
• Electronic resources purchase principles

8 Library collection acquisitions budget

8.1 Funding for acquisitions is provided on a calendar year basis. The collection acquisitions budget is divided among the faculties by a formula approved by the General Library Committee. The formula attempts to allocate funds equitably and according to need, taking into account undergraduate and postgraduate numbers, and the relative cost of journals and books in the disciplines offered by each faculty. The formula is reviewed from time to time.  Within each faculty, the various departments or schools may be given a notional allocation.  

8.2 Many large databases and electronic journal packages cover a wide range of disciplines.  In acquiring or licensing such resources costs may be shared between more than one faculty, or met from general funds retained by the library for this purpose.  The basis for cost sharing may include subject coverage of the resource, past or predicted use by the faculties or past print subscriptions to the same resources.

8.3 Since a large proportion of the library's resources are acquired from overseas, the value of the Australian dollar against foreign currencies at any particular time, especially the US dollar, is a significant factor in acquisitions decisions.

9 Definition of collecting levels

9.1 Collecting levels

While formal conspectus evaluation has not been used, the North American RLG (Research Libraries Group) conspectus definitions of collecting levels below have been employed. The subject or liaison librarians have made judgements on collection levels on the basis of their knowledge of the collections and their users. The collections have been described in terms of Level 3 Teaching, and Level 4 Research. As a major research library a Level 2 Basic information level collection is held in almost all areas of knowledge. The library also represents a range of viewpoints in the collection.

9.2 Collecting level 0: Out of scope

The library does not intentionally collect materials in any format for this subject.

9.3 Collecting level 1: Minimal information level

Collections that support minimal inquiries about this subject and include a very limited collection of general resources, including monographs and reference works. Periodicals directly dealing with this topic and in-depth electronic information resources are not collected.

The collection should be frequently and systematically reviewed for currency of information. Superseded editions and titles containing outdated information should be withdrawn. Classic or standard retrospective materials may be retained.

9.4 Collecting level 2: Basic information level

Collections that introduce and define a subject, indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere, and support the needs of general library users by :

• a limited collection of general monographs and reference tool;
• a limited collection of representative general periodicals;
• defined access to a limited collection of owned or remotely-accessed electronic bibliographic tools, texts, data sets, journals, etc.

The collection should be frequently and systematically reviewed for currency of information. Superseded editions and titles containing outdated information should be relocated to offsite storage, or discarded if they are not the last copy.

9.5 Collecting level 3: Study or instructional support level

Collections that provide information for study of a subject in a systematic way, but at a level of less than research intensity and support the needs of general library users by :

• an extensive collection of general monographs and reference works and selected specialized monographs and reference works;
• an extensive collection of general periodicals and a representative collection of specialized periodicals;
• limited collections of appropriate materials in languages other than the primary language of the collection and the country, for example, materials to aid in learning a language for non-native speakers or literature in the original language, such as German poetry in German or Spanish history in Spanish;
• extensive collections of the works of well-known authors and selections from the works of lesser-known authors;
• defined access to a broad collection of owned or remotely-accessed electronic resources, including bibliographic tools, texts, data sets, journals, etc.

The collection should be systematically reviewed for currency of information and for assurance that essential and important information is retained, including retrospective materials.

9.6 Collecting level 4: Research level

Collections that contain the major published source materials required for doctoral study and independent research include:

• a very extensive collection of general and specialized monographs and reference works;
• a very extensive collection of general and specialized periodicals;
• extensive collections of appropriate materials in languages other than the primary language of the country and collection;
• extensive collections of the works of both well-known and lesser-known authors;
• defined access to a very extensive collection of owned or remotely accessed electronic resources, including bibliographic tools, texts, data sets, journals, etc;
• older material is retained and systematically preserved to serve the needs of historical research.

9.7 Collecting level 5: Comprehensive level

Collections in a specifically defined field of knowledge that strive to be exhaustive as far as is reasonably possible i.e. "special collections"), in all applicable languages include:

• exhaustive collections of published materials;
• very extensive manuscript collections;
• very extensive collections in all other pertinent formats;
• older material is retained and systematically preserved to serve the needs of historical research;
• a comprehensive level collection may serve as a national or international resource.

10 Branch library collections

10.1 Clayton Campus

The library collections on the Clayton campus are distributed according to the faculties, schools and departments served.

10.1.1 Sir Louis Matheson Library

The Sir Louis Matheson Library serves the faculties of: Arts; Business & Economics; Education. As the largest library it also houses much of the general and reference collection. This library contains a number of special collections:

The Asian Studies Research Collection (ASRC) is a specialist research collection with primary focus on the fields of language, literature, the humanities and the social sciences. Materials located in the ASRC include vernacular books, newspapers and journals in a number of Asian languages including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and other Southeast Asian languages. The ASRC also includes the Melbourne Centre for Japanese Language Education (MCJLE) collection, which supports Japanese language teaching in South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania,  and some special archival collections, such as the Southeast Asia Pamphlet collection, the Burma Democracy collection and the Norodom Sihanouk Archival collection.

The Laura and Israel Kipen Judaica collection houses materials relating to the history of Jewish civilisation and Judaism. The Giligich Yiddish collection consists of a range of books written in the Yiddish language and includes drama, poetry, prose and literary criticism. These collections support courses offered by the Australian Centre for the Study of Jewish Civilisation.

Music and Multimedia Services provide access to the Matheson Library's non-print collections, including the wide range of equipment used to view or listen to these materials. It includes an extensive collection of music resources, with 13,500 music recordings and 30,000 volumes of music scores, and other materials on DVD, video, CD-ROM, microform and in kits..

The Rare Books collection contains over 109,000 rare and vulnerable items, the earliest dating from the mid-15th century. In it are kept most books printed before 1900, Australiana printed before 1920, first editions of significance, some limited editions under 500 copies, manuscripts and all other works in need of special protection or housed together as discrete special collections. Material in the Rare Books Collection is on closed access and is generally not issued on loan.

10.1.2 Law Library

The Law Library is one of the largest law libraries in Australia. The collection includes law report series and legislation from all of the world's major (and many minor) common law jurisdictions. Special strengths of the collection include corporations law, human rights and international law, taxation, criminal law and criminology, and the law of the Pacific Islands.

10.1.3 Hargrave-Andrew Library

The Hargrave-Andrew Library serves the faculties of: Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences; Science; Engineering; Information Technology. Materials of particular significance include the large map collection and an extensive range of mathematics books. The medical science print collection is also distributed through the teaching hospitals which comprise the Alfred Hospital (Ian Potter Library), Monash Medical Centre (Clayton and Moorabbin), Box Hill Hospital, Dandenong Hospital and LaTrobe Regional Hospital and other teaching hospitals in Victoria. The greater part of the serial collection is now in electronic format and an increasing number of monographs and major reference works are being acquired in this format.

10.2 Berwick campus

The Berwick Library and Learning Commons supports the faculties of Art & Design; Business and Economics and Information Technology. The collection primarily supports undergraduate teaching however is being further developed to support specific research initiatives in multimedia, tourism and regional and urban studies.

Berwick library opened in 1996 and was expanded in 2005/6 to incorporate IT computer facilities and renamed as the Berwick Library and Learning Commons.

10.3 Caulfield campus

The Caulfield Library collection supports the faculties of: Art & Design; Business & Economics; Information Technology; Arts; Science;  Medical, Nursing and Health Sciences (specifically, social work and psychology). The Caulfield Library is the oldest in historical terms of all the Monash libraries as the campus dates back to 1922 when it was the Caulfield Technical School.

The Caulfield Library collections are particularly strong in materials acquired to support teaching and research in business including the MBA program. There is an extensive collection of books and journals covering subjects taught by the Faculty of Art and Design, including graphic design, painting, sculpture and industrial design. There is a strong computing science collection.

10.4 Gippsland campus

The Gippsland Library collection supports the faculties of: Art & Design; Arts; Business & Economics; Education; Engineering; Information Technology; Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences; and Science.  Providing quality resources for education students is a specialty of the library. There is a large collection of curriculum teaching materials which trainee teachers are encouraged to use on their teaching rounds. Picture storybooks and junior fiction form part of this collection.

The Gippsland Library also provides a valuable community resource for the entire Gippsland region and library staff welcome use by community members.

The Gippsland campus was established as the Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education in September 1968. Gippsland affiliated with Monash in 1990, becoming the Monash University College Gippsland, and amalgamated with Monash in 1993, becoming the Gippsland campus.

10.5 Peninsula campus

The Peninsula Library collection supports the faculties of: Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences; Education; and Business and Economics.

There is a specialised teaching materials collection which includes models, kits, picture books and CDs to support early childhood and primary teaching courses, as well as a significant collection of materials to support nursing, including models.

Additional collection strengths include materials for paramedic and emergency medicine.  Collections are currently being developed to support physiotherapy, occupational therapy, health sciences and sport and outdoor recreation.

The library also holds the Vera Bradford Music Collection which includes a number of unique popular music scores. Additional scores have been added to this collection and are periodically lent to local musical societies.

10.6 Parkville campus

The CL Butchers Pharmacy Library at the Victorian College of Pharmacy is a special collection for pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences and drug technology. Specialised databases on drug technology are available in addition to print resources that include a valuable historical collection.

11 Faculty, school or department collection development policies

These are based upon the disciplines taught and researched at Monash University. The body of each policy approaches the discipline from the faculty, department or school perspective. The collections table attempts to provide an integrated overview of the resources available in that discipline across the library system. Most of the individual department / school / faculty collection development policies have no formal restrictions as regards format, date or language but where these apply, they are detailed in the individual policy.

12 Cooperative relationships with other libraries

12.1 Collection development

12.1.1 CAUL

CAUL (Council of Australian University Librarians) provides a mechanism for consortium purchase of electronic resources.  Monash University Library is actively involved in CAUL joint purchasing initiatives through participation in CEIRC (CAUL Electronic Information Resources Committee).

12.1.2 ARLAC (Academic and Research Libraries Acquisitions Consortium)

The library cooperates with seven Victorian university libraries, three South Australian university libraries and the State Library of Victoria to leverage the collective purchasing power of the consortium members by making a joint commitment to spend a percentage of their monograph votes with a preferred supplier for English language materials.

12.1.3 Group of Eight

The libraries of the Group of Eight universities collaborate to improve collections and services, including collaborative acquisition and resource sharing activities.

12.1.4 ALIM (Asian Libraries in Melbourne)

ALIM, a joint Melbourne-Monash Protocol initiative, was launched in April 1993, with the objective of promoting cooperation in the development of Asian studies collections and shared use of resources acquired by the two universities.

12.1.5 Joint purchase of major research microform collections

Joint purchases of major microform collections in Victoria have involved Monash, Melbourne, La Trobe and Deakin University libraries, as well as the State Library of Victoria.

12.2 Access for library users

12.2.1 CAVAL reciprocal borrowing scheme

This scheme enables students and staff of Monash University Library to borrow from other academic libraries in Victoria.  It also enables registered borrowers from other member libraries to borrow resources from Monash University Library.

12.2.2 University Library Australia National Borrowing Scheme

Monash participates in the University Library Australia National Borrowing Scheme organised by CAUL (Council of Australian University Librarians). The scheme allows Monash staff and students to borrow from other participating Australian academic libraries.

12.2.3 Libraries Australia

Monash University Library contributes catalogue records and holdings information to Libraries Australia, the national bibliographic database of the National Library of Australia.

12.2.4 Document delivery

The library is a participant in the worldwide inter-lending network which enables Monash staff and postgraduate students to obtain resources from other libraries.  Special arrangements are in place for obtaining documents from the University of Melbourne under the Melbourne-Monash protocol.

12.2.5 SESTICON

As a member of SESTICON (South Eastern Scientific and Technical Information Consortium), the Hargrave-Andrew Library cooperates with member libraries to provide the most effective access to information resources. Selected serial titles in areas of shared research interest are circulated among the SESTICON libraries.

12.3 CARM (CAVAL Archival & Research Materials) Centre

This is a CAVAL (Cooperative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries) initiative for joint storage of low use research materials to ensure their retention and preservation.

12.4 Joint research projects

The library participates with other research libraries in developing projects and grant applications for research projects which lead to improved access to resources for library users.

13 Amending and updating the collection development policy

The Monash University Library Collection Development Policy is a living document that requires ongoing updating. Changes may also be required from time to time to reflect changes in the wider university, such as the introduction of new courses or the cessation of existing ones.  Changes to teaching programs may require relocation of resources between branch libraries, or the building of new collections at a campus.  Amendments may also be required in response to changing research interests.

Updating of the Overview and General Policies sections is the responsibility of the Collection Management Librarian.  Updating of the Faculty Policies is the responsibility of the relevant faculty team leader in the library.  Updating of Special Collection Policies is the responsibility of  the relevant collection manager.

The Information Resources Committee is responsible for approving all changes to the policy, except the Faculty Policies. 

Amendment history

March 2001
            initial draft (Kay Steel)
September 2001
            exposure draft (Paul Wilkins and Robert Stafford)
            October 2001
            amended with corrections (Kay Steel and Marie Pernat)
            March 2006
Re-organised and updated (Jill Wilson and Robert Stafford)
            June 2006

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