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Collection Development and Management Manual CSULB

Policy and procedures on collection development and management at CSULB

Collection Development and Management refers to the acquisition, review, de-selection, cancelation, and other management decisions made in regard to the information and other resources and materials managed by the University Library. 

This Collection Development & Management Manual is intended both as an aid in the orientation of new Library Faculty members, and as a resource available to all Library Faculty members and staff. The University Library of California State University, Long Beach collects:

  • Material in all formats to support the University’s curriculum;
  • Material in all formats to support student and faculty research needs to the extent possible with given resources;
  • Government documents, both federal and California;      
  • Select special collections of particular interest to the campus; and
  • Select popular materials.

Further, decisions on the acquisition, review, de-selection, and cancelation are based on a variety of factors:

  • Library Faculty’s subject knowledge of the discipline and the CSULB curriculum of the departments and programs they serve;
  • Instructional faculty perspectives;
  • Usage of materials in the collections;
  • Standard library and subject disciplinary collection-evaluation resources;
  • Budget availability and priorities;
  • Participation in resource sharing agreements (e.g. SCELC CSU Shared Print);
  • When purchasing materials the library will prefer items that meet or exceed university policy, and/or state and/or federal law regarding accessibility.
  • Direction from the Dean of the University Library (the Dean) and the Dean’s designees, and the advice of the Library faculty’s Collection Development and Management Committee (CDMC).

The criteria for these decisions are based upon:

  • Assessing the continuing relevance and quality of the materials, primarily to support the academic needs of the University community, and secondarily to support some of the recreational needs of the larger academic community; Evaluation based on criteria, which may include but are not limited to: value or quality of the contents, validity, relevance, publication date, usage data, usability, and type of material; Ensuring that the collections are appropriate to the curricular and research needs of CSULB, that they are in useable condition, and that they are available to meet the needs of borrowers.

In the development of its resources, the University Library endorses the American Library Association's (ALA) Library Bill of Rights as affirmed by CSU Academic Senate Policy resolution AS-2685-05/FA.

Approved by Library Faculty January 15, 2016, Reconfirmed April 24, 2020

Updated by CDMC September, 2018, October 8, 2020