To provide the collections, services, and environments to support and strengthen the teaching, learning, mentoring and research mission of Wilkes University.
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Wilkes University
Wilkes University is a private, nondenominational urban university in the heart of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the largest city in the Wyoming Valley. The institution we know today as Wilkes University began in 1933 when Bucknell University established its Junior College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Bucknell University Junior College (BUJC) attracted eager, highly motivated, and able young persons, virtually all of whom were the first members of their families to benefit from higher education. This tradition still remains today, as Wilkes supports and encourages first-generation college graduates. By 1945, the Board of Trustees moved to develop the Junior College into a 4-year institution. In 1947, Wilkes College was instituted as an independent, nondenominational four-year college, with programs in the arts, sciences, and a number of professional fields as well as numerous extracurricular activities.
Wilkes College became Wilkes University in December 1989 and the school officially received university status a month later in January 1990. Today, Wilkes University offers 41 bachelor-level major programs, 9 master's-level major programs, and 4 terminal degree programs.
E.S. Farley Library
The Eugene S. Farley Library, built in 1968, and named in honor of the first President of Wilkes University, is located on the corner of South Franklin and South Streets. The Library contains more than 163,000 volumes of books, more than 55,000 full-text online journals in 55 databases, over 11,000 eBooks and digital imprints, and offers large collections in English and American literature, history, the sciences, and mathematics. Additionally, the library houses the University Archives, four special collections rooms, a smart classroom, and a 24/7 Learning Commons. The librarians of the E.S. Farley Library also support the Pharmacy Information Center and the Health Sciences Librarian, housed in the Stark Learning Center, by providing centralized technical services functions.
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The Technical Services Librarian, in consultation with the Dean of the Library, allocates funds by subject area. As unit account manager, the Dean of the Library has final approval of fund allocations. Allocations will reflect the anticipated needs for collection development in specific subject areas, regardless of format, during each fiscal year. New degree programs or new concentrations must have funding allocated to the library in order for that subject area to be included in the fund allocation. This funding may be new money or a shift in money from a cancelled program or degree.
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The Technical Services Librarian has the primary responsibility for the development of the general collection. The librarian will seek input and feedback from the library liaisons and faculty to assist in developing or weeding collection areas specific to that liaison. Librarians contact faculty on a regular basis as a part of their continuing collection development activities and responsibilities of their position. Professional librarians provide assistance with the selection of materials through distribution of subject-specific catalogs, and other scholarly selection aids, and they provide contacts via e-mail, appointment, telephone calls, and letters. The designated department liaison from the library works cooperatively and effectively with the faculty to meet the goal of spending their allocation and building a balanced collection for the department. It is intended that faculty will think in terms of the curricular needs of the students in their department and not solely on faculty research needs. The faculty members are encouraged to become highly involved in the process of collection development.
All requests for purchase will be reviewed by the Technical Services Librarian to ensure that the material requested falls within the guidelines of the Collection Development Policy. All faculty requests that meet the Collection Development Guidelines will be purchased if funding is available.
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The E.S. Farley Library supports the statements on resources and access contained within the Standards for Libraries in Higher Education adopted by the American Library Association’s Association of College and Research Libraries in 2011. The Standards for Libraries in Higher Education are designed to guide academic libraries in advancing and sustaining their role as partners in educating students, achieving their institutions’ missions, and positioning libraries as leaders in assessment and continuous improvement on their campuses.
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The E.S. Farley Library subscribes to and complies with the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights and its accompanying statements of interpretation including, but not limited to, statements on intellectual freedom, freedom to read, diversity, freedom to view, access to electronic information, services and networks, challenged materials, and labeling or rating systems. In accordance with the Library Bill of Rights, the library will attempt to purchase materials which represent a wide variety of viewpoints on religious, political, sexual, social, economic, scientific, and moral issues that meet the other selection criteria. The librarians do not add or withdraw, at the request of any individual or group, material which has been chosen or excluded on the basis of stated selection criteria. An individual or group questioning the appropriateness of material within the collection, or material not purchased, will be referred to the Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials Form.
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The Collection Development Policy will be continually reviewed and updated by the Technical Services Librarian. Any changes will be submitted for approval to the Dean of the Library.
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