Criteria for the Selection of Materials

1. The following selection criteria are used in making the decision to acquire materials:
   1. Relevance: supports courses and programs, accreditation processes, employee professional development, scholarly activity, teaching and learning.
   2. Quality: authorial credentials and publisher reputation; accuracy; currency; inclusion in standard guides; favourable reviews in standard bibliographic sources.
   3. Value: intellectual, literary, artistic or social value of the content.
   4. Core: represents foundational collections for academic institutions.
   5. Diversity: representative of a wide diversity of views and expression.
   6. Level: suitable to the curricula and learning outcomes. Materials will be acquired for instructors to use in the preparation of courses, research, and professional development activity.
   7. Language: primarily English language, but other languages are purchased that directly support learning outcomes.
   8. Format: accessible; appropriate for use; content integrity; added value; compatibility with the college network, durability and stability. If usage and access warrant, items may be acquired in more than one format,
   9. Cost: price relative to average costs for materials in the subject area, as well as costs for acquiring, processing and housing or providing access.
   10. Existing Holdings: augments or updates the existing collection. The availability of material through interlibrary loan may be a consideration.
   11. Demand: as indicated by use of similar material; requests by instructors and students.
   12. Duplication: one copy of each item is purchased except when demand is sufficient to justify the purchase of additional copies or when more than one campus Library will benefit from owning the material. Multiple copies of core resources may also be purchased where warranted by high demand at one location; supplementary resources are made available through intercampus delivery rather than duplicated.

Formats

2. The Library collects materials in formats best suited to the user and the content.
3. Materials in electronic formats are preferred when they meet several of the following criteria:
   1. Ease of accessibility (via College network and on various devices)
   2. Ease of use
   3. Current, broad coverage
   4. Full text content
   5. Content suitable to format
   6. Reliable vendor
   7. Reasonable cost
   8. Availability of usage statistics
   9. Fair licensing terms

Cooperative Agreements with Library Consortium

4. VCC Library is a member of resource-sharing cooperatives among post-secondary institutions in British Columbia. Decisions to acquire products are made as a librarians group based on selection criteria listed in this document and in consultation with the Library Dean.
5. Library collections are enhanced through reciprocal borrowing agreements between BC post-secondary institutions and through provincial and national interlibrary borrowing and lending services.

Collection Evaluation

6. Librarians evaluate the VCC collection in the following ways:
   1. Consultation with instructors;
   2. Assessing the relevance of the collection to VCC curriculum;
   3. Assessing if areas of the collection are sufficient to support programs;
   4. Analyzing utilization statistics;
   5. Cost/benefit analyses; and/or
   6. Consideration of the College’s and Library’s strategic plans.
7. Ongoing subscriptions to print or e-resources (such as an online database or a print journal) are reviewed on a regular basis due to rising costs.

Deselection

8. Deselection (weeding of materials) is based on an item’s current inability to meet the Criteria for the Selection of Materials outlined above, as indicated by system-generated statistical reports, and physical condition.

Other Types of Materials

9. Textbooks:
   1. Students are expected to purchase assigned course textbooks.
   2. The Library usually acquires one copy of the textbook. When there is demand and budget permits, the Library will acquire a maximum of two copies of a textbook.
   3. If there is insufficient funding to purchase textbooks, a librarian will approach the department to determine if additional copies are available which can be added to the Library collection.
10. Gifts and Donations:
    1. VCC Library welcomes donations to enhance the existing Library collections.
    2. In addition to the selection criteria listed above, the following selection and retention criteria will be applied to gifts:
       1. Donations fall within the scope of the Library’s collections and enhance the learning and teaching at the college
       2. Space constraints dictate that the acceptance of items is based on the uniqueness of the material in the context of the existing collection
       3. The physical condition of the materials is acceptable
       4. The donor places no conditions on the disposition and use of the material offered
       5. The Library has the equipment to provide access to the format offered
       6. The licensing (if any) allows circulations and borrowing of the material
    3. VCC Library will not issue tax receipts for gifts and donations.