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The Library provides students, faculty, and staff access to high quality learning resources in print, audiovisual, and digital formats. Users can access most of these materials from any location. Through the library website, users can connect to electronic resources, including electronic books, audio books, full-text articles and abstracts, and streaming videos. They may also ask the library staff to send printed materials to off campus sites via interdepartmental mail or U.S. Mail.  

Evaluation Criteria 

With oversight from the Library Director, library staff members use the following criteria to evaluate, develop, improve, and maintain the College’s resource collection: 

• Relevance of subject matter to the educational programs of the college 
• Relevance of subject matter to the College’s mission and goals 
• Recommendations by faculty acting as subject-matter experts 
• Recommendations by students, faculty, staff, and community members 
• Academic reviews from professional publications  
• Lasting value of the content 
• Reading level – Because the college serves students at the undergraduate, developmental, and high school levels, appropriate reading level is a criterion for selecting materials. The library also acquires children’s literature to serve students and faculty in the Early Childhood Education program. 
• Strength of current holdings in the same subject area 
• Currency of information 
• Representation of a variety of perspectives 
• Format available – Library staff consider an item’s level of accessibility, potential for remote access, and availability of citation tools. 
• Publication by respected authors and publishers 
• Compliance with U.S. Copyright Laws 
• Cost and availability of funds 

Selection Guidelines by Format 

Books: The Library Director selects books (both circulating and non-circulating) based on positive reviews in professional publications and recommendations by faculty, staff, or students.  

Periodicals: The Library Director selects periodicals by considering alternative coverage in online databases, demand by users, recurring and ongoing costs, program accreditation requirements, and recommendations by faculty, staff, or students. 

Audiovisual materials: The Library Director selects audiovisual material by considering professional reviews, awards received, level of accessibility, cost, and recommendations by faculty, staff, or students. 

Electronic Resources: The Library Director selects electronic resources by considering ease of use, extent of coverage, number of concurrent users, emphasis on full-text resources, mobile device compatibility, proxy server compatibility, level of accessibility, cost, and recommendations by faculty, staff, or students. 

Gifts 

The Library will accept gifts, including books, periodicals, audiovisuals, artifacts, and electronic resources, that meet the same criteria that the staff members apply to the evaluation of purchased materials. In addition to being relevant to the College’s collection, gifts must be unrestricted and in good condition. 

Cooperative Collections 

The Library belongs to and participates in cooperative initiatives, including NCLIVE (North Carolina Libraries for Virtual Education), the Carolina Consortium, the NC Community College System’s shared library services and resources), and OCLC Interlibrary Loan. 

NC LIVE is North Carolina’s statewide library cooperative, supporting 200+ public and academic libraries across North Carolina. NCLIVE provides content, products, services, professional development, and technical support to North Carolinas’ libraries. Resource selections are based on community input and expert assessment.   

The Carolina Consortium enables academic libraries in North Carolina and South Carolina to use their bulk purchasing power to obtain favorable pricing on a variety of electronic resources that are of significant interest to the scholarly community. The Carolina Consortium considers new deals each May. 

The NC Community College System provides centralized purchasing and cataloging services for the community college libraries. This includes planning, development, and implementation of automated support systems, technical support of these systems, and training. Purchasing support includes negotiating discounts with vendors, processing orders for materials, and advising libraries in local purchasing procedures. 

The Library is a member of OCLC’s WorldShare, an interlibrary loan system that provides access to more than 10,000 libraries around the world.  

Collection Maintenance 

The Library uses the Library of Congress Classification System to catalog and organize materials.  Exceptions may be made for resources that are not shared beyond the college. 

Special Collections – The Library locates most resources of the same format together. Exception are Special Collections, which include the Senator Sam Ervin Collection, an ESL collection, an Early Childhood collection, and temporary displays and new arrivals. 

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Replacements 

Materials that are lost or withdrawn from the collection because of wear are not automatically replaced. The library staff will consider replacements based on the following criteria: 

• Importance of the item to the collection and to the college curriculum 
• Demand for the material 
• Availability through book vendors or publishers 
• Cost and availability of funds 

Weeding Criteria  

Weeding is a continuous and systematic process through which the Library removes resources from the collection. Through weeding, the library staff not only removes resources that are no longer useful, but they also clear the collection to help users find the most relevant resources. The Library Director is responsible for all weeding decisions. If the value of a resource is uncertain, the Director will contact faculty experts for advice. This process also provides additional opportunities to communicate with faculty about the need for replacement resources. Removal decisions are based on the selection criteria for acquiring items with a few other considerations: 

• Currency and accuracy of the information  
• Usage of the item as indicated by circulation records  
• Importance of the item to the collection 
• Physical condition of the item 
• Format of the item 
• Available space 
• Excessive copies 

The Library Director will periodically contact faculty to verify specific weeding criteria for resources pertaining to their areas of study. Per agreement, the Library currently applies these criteria:  

• Business materials removed after 10 years, excluding resources of historical value, or considered to be core resources. 
• Engineering materials removed after 10 years, excluding resources of historical value, or considered to be core resources. 
• History, art, and literature materials removed when they are no longer of value to the collection 
• Legal materials removed after 10 years, excluding resources of historical value, or considered to be core resources. 
• Nursing and allied health services materials removed after five (5) years, excluding resources that are of historical value or considered to be core resources 
• Science materials are removed after 10 years or when information is no longer of value to the collection. 
• Social science material removed after 10 years, excluding resources of historical value, or considered to be core resources. 
• Technology materials removed after seven (7) years, excluding resources of historical value, or considered to be core resources. 
• Archived resources preserved and retained in perpetuity (including resources in the Senator Samuel J. Ervin Collection). 

Challenged Materials 

The Library endorses the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement and uses the principles outlined therein to guide selection. Individuals wishing to challenge a resource in the College Library will be asked to complete a Request for Reconsideration form. The Library Director will consider the request and make a final decision. Within thirty (30) days of receiving the form, the Library Director will communicate their decision in writing to the individual who submitted the request. 

Adopted:  August 1, 2022