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Collection Development & Management Policy of the E.S. Farley Library: Pharmacy Practice & Pharmaceutical Sciences Collection

The Collection Development & Management Policy of the E.S. Farley Library.

Pharmacy Practice & Pharmaceutical Sciences Collection

Relationship to Mission

The collection which supports the Wilkes University Nesbitt School of Pharmacy serves as an information resource for the education, research, and practice activities of students, faculty, and staff. 

Purpose and Authority of Policy

This policy is intended to set a broad framework of priorities for the continual evaluation of the existing collection, to determine goals for maintaining and developing the collection, and to set budgetary priorities.  It has been approved by the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy's Executive Committee and the Dean of the E.S. Farley Library. The collection policy is implemented by the Technical Services Librarian of the E.S. Farley Library.

It has four main purposes:

  1. It is a planning tool, and exists within the context of the overall goals of the University and the School of Pharmacy.
  2. It is a management tool which will foster a greater degree of consistency and continuity in the selection policies and practices for pharmacy literature.
  3. It is a communication tool and provides information as to what may be expected to be found with the collection, what may not, and the reasons why.
  4. It aims to facilitate co-operation in the development of local and regional library resources.

Revision of the policy will be considered in conjunction with surveys of the collection, limitations of resources, and other changing conditions.

Levels of Coverage

This policy is influenced by a number of factors, not the least of which are the realities of shrinking budgets and expanding technologies. In keeping with the Farley Library’s practice, we will seek to build a core collection, showing modest but steady growth, that will enjoy active use, and we will not develop an in-house collection of expensive and/or highly specialized research materials that are available through interlibrary lending, journal vendors, publication-on-demand suppliers, etc.

With this in mind, materials will be acquired in one of these levels:

Basic Information Level

A selective collection that serves to introduce and define a subject and to indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere such a collection will provide basic support for areas such as:

Alternative Medicine
Anatomy and Physiology
Biochemistry
Biotechnology
Geriatrics
Immunology
Industrial Pharmaceutics
Medicinal Chemistry
Microbiology
Neurology
Nuclear Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology/Hematology
Parenterals
Pathology
Pathophysiology
Patient Physical Assessment
Pediatrics
Substance Abuse
Surgery
Veterinary Pharmacology

Study Level

A collection that is adequate to impart and maintain knowledge about a subject in a systematic way but at a level of less than research intensity. It is closely tied to the needs of the curriculum.

The collection supports in-depth study in the following areas:
Clinical Pharmacy
Drug Adverse Events
Drug Identification & Information
Natural Products
Non-prescription Drugs
Pharmacology
Psychopharmacology
Therapeutics
Toxicology

Responsibility for Selection

The Technical Services Librarian chooses monographs which meet the selection criteria with the aid of professional experience, reviews from the literature, recommended lists, and consultation with faculty and other professionals. The Librarian is responsible for avoiding disproportionate purchasing in one area at the expense of others and for surveying the resources of other accessible libraries to prevent unnecessary duplication of holdings. In the same manner, the Electronic Resources Librarian selects appropriate journals, serials, and database subscriptions following the guidelines set within this policy.

Faculty members are expected to request materials with particular emphasis on the teaching, research, and development activities of the School of Pharmacy.  They should ensure that new fields or new subjects in relevant fields are not neglected.

Changes relating to journal subscriptions or questions regarding this policy are referred to the pharmacy faculty for their input.

Selection Criteria

The following criteria are considered in the selection of all materials:

  1. Quality of Content:  The validity, importance, originality, and contribution to the subject.
  2. Language:  English only.
  3. Subject:  Appropriateness to the scope and level of the collection, relationship to existing materials in the collection.
  4. Price:  Especially the relationships between value for price, price of other needed materials, and the budget.
  5. Production Quality:  Readability, layout, printing, internal indexing, references, durability, illustrations.
  6. Point of View:  Intended audience.
  7. Recommendation:  Inclusion in various lists of recommendations (AACP, Doody, etc.), reviews in reputable journals, recommendations from faculty or other professionals.

In addition, the following criteria are considered for the noted types of literature and/or resources:

TERTIARY

  1. Bibliographic data:  Year, title, availability.
  2. Authority:  Author, currency, publisher.
  3. Evaluating Aids:  Reviews, interlibrary loan requests, user requests for such material.
  4. Usage:  Use of older editions of the same title or similar works in the existing collection.
  5. Collection Balance:  Significant gaps in scope or coverage.

SECONDARY

  1. Scope and Coverage:  Number and nature of journals, texts, other publications included.
  2. Ease of Use:  "User-friendliness," vendor training and support, documentation.

PRIMARY

  1. External Indexing:  Inclusion in standard indexes or bibliographic databases that are frequently used, the frequency with which journal is cited in the literature.
  2. Reputation:  Publisher, refereeing, reliability of publication of issues.
  3. Usage and Availability:  Number of times articles from an unowned journal are requested through interlibrary loan/document delivery, use statistics for owned journals, availability of journals from area libraries.


Note:  Subscriptions to new journals are placed to begin with the next calendar year.

WEBSITES AND ELECTRONIC DATABASES

  1. Availability for multiple platforms: For mobile applications, emphasis will be placed on resources that are compatible with multiple platforms/devices, especially the most heavily used devices owned by the library’s users.

2. The credibility of App store: If a mobile source is from an unfamiliar marketplace (i.e., not iTunes, Android Market, Blackberry App World, etc.), or from a credible publisher, extra care must be placed on evaluating the resource.

3.Access:  Technical ease, accessibility, online support.

Textbooks

As a general policy, the E.S. Farley Library does not purchase textbooks that are adopted for courses.

Since our materials budget is limited, our funds are used to purchase works that supplement/augment the curriculum.  Attempting to purchase multiple (or even single) copies of class texts could consume a significant portion of our book budget. 

Some books that have been adopted as class texts are in the collection but not because they were course adopted; they were purchased because they have become standard references in their own right and should be in a pharmacy collection (e.g., DiPiro's Pharmacotherapy or Katzung's Basic and Clinical Pharmacology).

The purchase of textbooks is regarded as part of the student's expected cost of earning a degree.  Also, purchasing textbooks places the library in competition with the college bookstore, which libraries aim not to do.

A faculty member may, however, submit a personal copy of a textbook to be placed on reserve for a course.

Gifts

Gifts are judged by the same criteria as purchased materials.  If they do not meet the selection criteria, they will not be accepted.  If after having been accepted, they are deemed not acceptable or needed, the librarian will dispose of them in the manner that is most suitable to their format.

If an individual wishes to claim a donation for tax purposes, he or she must determine the value of the gift.  The librarian will not issue receipts for this purpose.

Duplicates

Multiple copies of some titles which experience high demand may be obtained for the collection. 

Replacements

Replacement of missing or damaged items is considered in terms of the current value to the collection (as determined by selection criteria) and evidence of demand.

All replacements are dependent on the availability of funds.

Weeding

Periodic withdrawal of material which is no longer useful is essential to the maintenance of a high quality and functional collection. The removal of materials will be based on the selection criteria.  Generally, the following types of materials will be subject to weeding:

  1. Duplicates of books purchased when the title was in heavier demand
  2. Badly damaged or worn material
  3. Material of no current significance
  4. Currency of content

Journal cancellation usually will result from one of the following reasons:

  1. Changes in curriculum
  2. Budgetary limitations
  3. Availability from other libraries which makes continuance unnecessary or extravagant
  4. Insufficient space to allow continuance

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