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Lansing Community College Library

Collection Management: Acquisition

This guide is a one-stop-shop for librarians and staff to learn more about the Library's collection development guidelines and how to develop, manage, and evaluate our collections to support student success at LCC.

Approval Plan

Our approval plan is through YBP and has been running since October 2010. By having an approval plan, we are getting regular shipment of books based on our approval plan profile. The document below outlines how our approval plan structure is set up. Please take note of  the following symbols:

  • Books will be shipped automatically in subjects preceded by a "B".
  • Notification slips will be sent in lieu of a book for all subjects preceded by an "S".
  • Nothing will be shipped for all subjects preceded by an "X", except as indicated in the notes. Exceptions and clarifications to the general instruction for a subject are noted beneath the subject.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions are usually for the print periodicals collection and some online journals (JAMA, Chemical and Engineering News, etc.) that are paid annually. We have a consolidated subscription through EBSCO. 

Standing Orders

Standing orders are those materials we get automatically. Mostly these are reference materials that are regualrly updated with new editions. We also have series standing orders such as Opposing Viewpoints, Information Plus, etc.  RST with the leadership of the Technical Services Manager reviews the standing orders collection at least every 2-3 years.

Firm Orders

Firm orders are those items that are selected title by title by liaison librarians or the Technical Services manager. These items are typically chosen from them notification slips sent weekly to librarians via GOBI. Items that are firm ordered can also be those materials recommended by faculty and students for purchase.

E-Book Selection

E-Books are selected and purchased in three ways:

  • Subscription --> This usually comes in packages such as Ebrary College Complete, CRC neBase e-books, etc. The titles that come in these packages are all available in the catalog and OneSearch.
  • Outright Purchase --> Titles that are considered purchased (Library owns the title in perpetuity) are e-book collections such as Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL), Gale Directory Library (GDL) and Springerlink e-books.
  • Firm Orders --> Librarians can select individual e-book titles in GOBI the same way as selecting print materials. 
  • Patron-Driven/ Demand-Driven Acquisition (PDA/DDA) --> E-Book titles are profiled according to our YBP profile and candidate titles are loaded into our catalog so that our patrons can have access to them. Library does not purchase the title until it has been used (viewed more than 10 minutes, downloaded, printed or copied).