Collection Policy
The Mission Statement presents the framework for collection building at Auraria Library. Three factors influence the long-term collecting goals and the day-to-day operations of Collection Development Services. These are:
- Large and Unique Educational Community - Auraria, with the largest population of any Colorado campus of higher education, serves the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the University of Colorado at Denver.
- Curriculum Ranging from Vocational Training to Doctoral Programs - The Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) has defined the institutional and instructional characteristics of each school. The differing role of the library for each is also stated.
- Chronic Underfunding - Funding per full-time equivalent (FTE) student for Auraria Library has been, and continues to be, below all other four-year colleges and universities in Colorado. This has an immense impact on the collection and services that can be developed.
As part of a strategic planning process, a task force of external professionals was formed to review the quality of the collection at Auraria Library. The Report of the Task Force on Collection Quality summarizes its findings and recommends steps to improve the identified weaknesses. This, and other strategic planning efforts, culminated in a new emphasis on the importance of collection development to the success of the Auraria Library mission.
A primary element in improving the usefulness of the Auraria Library collection is the formulation of a philosophy to guide the allocation of learning materials resources. This philosophy entails four major efforts:
- Development of Strong Undergraduate Collections - Over 90% of the FTE students are enrolled at the undergraduate level. Building a core collection of books, journals, electronic and non-print materials that will provide these students with a successful library experience is a major priority.
- Support for Large and Unique Graduate Programs - Two areas of study, business and education, account for more than 60% of the FTE graduate student enrollment. Two others, public affairs and architecture/planning, are unique terminal degree programs in Colorado. Building adequate library collections to support these four disciplines is also a priority.
- Support for Other Graduate Programs and Faculty Research - Within the limited resources of Auraria Library, it is unrealistic to expect the development of adequate collections for the remaining number of graduate programs and for faculty research. Dynamic information delivery programs, utilizing the fiscal resources of collection development, are developed and maintained to address the information needs of these constituents.
- Requests for Supplemental Support and New Programs - If any of the three institution desires to increase the level of support given an existing discipline or program or to provide library support for new areas of study, the Library encourages the allocation of special supplemental funds for that purpose. The supplemental budget will be tracked separately and expended with the advice and consent of the specified faculty.
The Federal Depository Collection
The Auraria Library was designated a selective federal depository in 1978 as a Senatorial designation. The federal depository collection shares the responsibility of serving the government information needs of the residents of the 1st Congressional District (primarily the City and County of Denver, with a population of 663,000 in 2000) with the regional depository at Denver Public Library and the selective depositories of the Colorado Supreme Court Library; Regis University; U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit Library; University of Denver; and the University of Denver College of Law. Located in downtown Denver, the Auraria Library serves the business community as well as private citizens in the metropolitan area of 2.4 million.As stated in the Auraria Library Collection Philosophy over 90% of the Auraria campus students are enrolled at the undergraduate level. Building a core collection for these students is a major priority of the library. In addition, priority is given to the 4 strongest graduate programs which enroll more than 60% of the graduate students: business, education, public affairs, and architecture/urban planning. Support for other graduate programs and faculty research is supported on a limited basis due to limited resources.
The Auraria campus in downtown Denver is non-residential and many faculty are part-time: therefore providing off campus access to Internet publications, electronic databases and web sites is an important priority. Off campus access to licensed commercial databases is provided through the library's proxy server. The demographics of the campus are nontraditional, with an average age of 27 with most students employed full or part time. Both students and faculty commute long distances from within the metropolitan region of 2.5 million residents. Therefore the students and faculty have limited time and an effort is made to guide them to information is a very timely manner, utilizing telephone, fax, and e-mail reference when appropriate.
Selection Responsibility
The Head of the Government Publications Department, in consultation with the subject bibliographers and reference librarians, selects the government information resources. The selection of items from the Government Printing Office is reviewed annually at the time of the Annual Selection Update at which time items may be added or deleted.Items no longer needed to support the curriculum or research needs on the Auraria campus or those items reviewed as inappropriate for this library will be cancelled.
Implementation of this Collection Philosophy requires that Collection Development Services personnel, in cooperation with all other library service areas, be knowledgeable of existing collections and technologies, efficient in expending resources, innovative in developing collections and programs, and proactive in working with faculty and students. By doing so, Auraria Library can be successful in satisfying the information needs of all primary constituents.