Plan purchases with this in mind. The library s primary commitment is to support the curriculum by acquiring materials that students need to complete assignments and begin relevant research. To that end, the Library Director works with faculty to establish annual buying plans that will ensure collection depths relevant to the curriculum. Often, it s best to look at the entire collection in an area before making selections for new titles. To ensure the long life of materials, preference is given to hardcopy, except when hardcopy is unavailable, a work is frequently updated, or the field itself changes frequently.
Periodicals represent an enormous investment, and their costs are difficult to control.
Generally, a recommendation for a new title may result in the cancellation of one already held. Such changes must be judicious, since canceling titles frequently produces short runs of titles and defeats efforts to build meaningful collections. In recent years, the collection has been deeply enriched by the addition of electronic databases that include full text of many journal titles.