The Library Director will continually evaluate all Library holdings and project collection needs in terms of both numbers and specific costs. The overall materials budget will be distributed to meet the primary responsibility to maintain a healthy collection of classic and modern works across all disciplines relevant to EOU, exclusive of current curricular or personal faculty interests.
Faculty and staff members are encouraged to actively select materials for the library collection. Library purchase requests can be made using the book order form on the library web pages at http://pierce.eou.edu/home/faculty/bookpurchase. Requested materials that meet EOU Library collections criteria are ordered as funds are available, and requesters are notified upon receipt and processing of the requested item.
Library faculty will work with faculty in the Colleges to assist with the materials selection process. This assistance may take the form of supplying reviews of materials in their field, forwarding announcement brochures in their area, and enabling faculty assistance in weeding, retrospective collection building and identification of special curricular support needs.
The Director will allocate funds for all library material expenditures, including the general collection, reference materials, serials, electronic resources, and specialized collections. The allocation of funds for faculty orders will be at the discretion of the library director. Materials ordered using these funds must fall within the Pierce Library collections scope, as outlined in the collection policies for general and specific collections. The following criteria will be taken into account when allocating faculty funds for materials purchase:
- Number of faculty, students, and upper and lower division enrollment
- Number of majors
- Circulation of materials, per discipline
- Average cost per volume, per discipline
- Value of advanced level materials (more costly) to majors, per area
- Extent of current audiovisuals held, per area
- Buying in special interdisciplinary studies
- Percentage of materials "in-print" or "out-of-print"
- Supplements for faculty research projects
- Special collection needs (e.g.: area history and culture)
- Relative emphasis on books, serials and AV material formats
- Recent past heavy under or over-buying in an area or discipline
- Extra starting needs in a newly taught discipline, sub-area of a discipline, or course
- Varying needs for high priced media items and media use
- Expanded needs, by number and level, in support of a graduate program
- Data use intensiveness, per discipline
- Percentage held per "basic books" bibliography
- Number of volumes considered to be basic/classic
- Rapidity of obsolescence in an area (as for example, computer science)
- New areas of knowledge needing general collection materials
- Percentage of reference materials needed for the discipline
- Rlative amount of high-level research required of students
