Collection Development
General Policies
Requests for purchases/subscriptions are encouraged and can be placed using the library’s online Suggest a Purchase form or by contacting a subject librarian. All requests are reviewed by a subject librarian. Review criteria include relevance to current course offerings, ability to add depth or breadth to the existing collections, and cost. Requests for individual purchases over $500 are also reviewed by the College Librarian.The library does not buy streaming/electronic materials if institution-wide, IP-authenticated access is not supported, except in rare situations.
Audio
Musical recordings and audio books are purchased to support the teaching, learning, and research missions of the College.
The library offers a small, vinyl collection of popular music for student entertainment. Vinyl records are purchased at the end of the calendar year with the solicitation of student feedback. Faculty requests made to support teaching, learning, and research will be purchased at the time of the request.
Children’s Literature
The primary mission of the children’s literature collection is to support student teaching and research in the Education Studies program, which focuses on elementary education. The collection includes fiction and nonfiction monographs. Major award winners (Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott King, etc.) and honor books are purchased annually. In addition, all suggested purchases in support of the collection’s mission will be considered. (General policy is not to add kits, or other media.)
Dissertations and Theses
Dissertations and theses are treated as specialized research materials and are acquired only to support senior thesis/capstone research.
Films
The preferred format is DVD. The library does not rent films, in DVD or streaming formats. The library does not purchase performance rights if there is an additional cost involved.
Journals/Serials
The library subscribes to journals and newspapers as well as other serials in appropriate subject fields. Duplicate subscriptions are avoided whenever possible. Preferred format is electronic.
Monographs
Preferred format for print books is paperback. Duplicate copies are not typically purchased, but exceptions may be made under certain circumstances (Saratoga Reads, First Year Experience, etc.). The library does not purchase textbooks. In very rare cases, textbooks may be acquired if they represent significant contributions to the presentation of a subject or if there is a scarcity of other material in the field. The library collects monographs written by, or with contributions by, Skidmore faculty for inclusion in our circulating and special collections.
Research Databases
Requests for new database purchases or subscriptions are reviewed by the library on a case-by-case basis. The library respectfully requests that members of the Skidmore community refrain from contacting vendors directly regarding trial access or pricing.
Software
Software is not typically purchased by the library, but by individual departments or by IT. Exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis, as when a software package accompanies a book.
Gifts
All gifts will be evaluated in light of the following criteria: physical condition, support of overall collection development priorities, relevance of content, and ability to add depth or breadth to the existing collections. The library does not assess or affirm the value of any gift for tax purposes. Gifts that are not added to the collection may be sold or recycled. The library reserves the right to decline gifts. If you are considering a donation, please contact any of the subject librarians.
Weeding
As an academic library Lucy Scribner Library must maintain a collection that meets the needs of its faculty, staff, and students and remains relevant to curricular demands within the limit of our physical space. As such librarians will periodically weed the collections, removing books and other materials that no longer meet those needs, taking into consideration criteria that may include relevancy, currency, age, usage, the physical condition of the items, and retention commitments including our participation in EAST. These criteria vary among the disciplines, and it is at the discretion of the relevant subject librarian to decide what is removed and what remains in the collection.
Bookplates
The Library provides bookplates in honor of and in memory of individuals connected with Skidmore College. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate requests for bookplates to be placed within specific titles. Bookplates will be placed in a variety of books from our circulating collections. Magazines, DVDs, CDs and other non‐book formats are not included. There will be no tracking of which books bookplates are placed in.
Lucy Scribner Library reserves the right to remove (weed) books out of our collections, which may include books that feature bookplates. We will not contact individual bookplate honorees when bookplated titles are removed from the collection.