Faculty Assembly
KRAEMER FAMILY LIBRARY COLLECTION
PHILOSOPHY (Draft 3-04-02)
The CU-Colorado Springs campus vision
and the Kraemer Family Library mission and goals present the framework for collection
building at the library.
Campus Vision:
We will
provide a public undergraduate education unexcelled in the state and selected excellent
graduate programs.
Kraemer Family Library Mission:
The Kraemer
Family Library’s mission is to provide information services, sources, and
instructional support services that are essential to the teaching, research, and service
missions of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
To accomplish this mission the library has the following goal and
responsibility with regard to collection building:
Select,
acquire, maintain, and preserve collections of print, non-print, and electronic library
resources with a diversity of perspectives suitable to teaching and learning programs, and
to a more limited extent, the research programs of the university.
We must make optimum use of the
limited dollars available to us. A primary
element in improving the usefulness of our collections is the adoption of principles that
guide the allocation of library materials resources.
These principles include the following:
- Support for undergraduate programs – over 86% of the student
FTE are enrolled at the undergraduate level, and undergraduates account for over 55% of
current circulation of library materials. 46%
of the undergraduate degrees conferred in the last six years were in three programs –
business administration, communication, and psychology.
Building a basic collection of books, journals, non-print materials, and electronic
resources that will address the primary needs of these undergraduate students,
particularly those in the three disciplines noted above, is a major priority.
- Basic support for all graduate programs with emphasis in the two
largest areas of study -over 64% of the graduate degrees conferred in the last six years
were in business and education. Building
library collections to support these areas is also a priority.
- Support for large new programs, specifically the Beth El College
of Nursing – in the last four years the Beth El College of Nursing awarded almost 10%
of the undergraduate degrees conferred making it the fourth largest program on campus. Building library collections to support this area
is a priority. Support for other new
programs, such as mechanical engineering, ethnic and minority studies, sports and leisure,
and new areas in visual and performing arts should also be considered.
- Support for PhD programs – CU –Colorado Springs
currently has two PhD programs in electrical engineering and computer science. Building library collections to support these
degrees, within the limited resources available, is a priority.
- Support for other programs and faculty research – it is
unrealistic to expect the development of adequate collections in all programs and for
faculty research. In these areas, priority
will be given to access tools (i.e. electronic indexes and databases), and aggressive
pursuit of electronic and document delivery options.
- Continued support for cooperative projects and services, such as
Prospector and local Pikes Peak area library collection development projects. These cooperative efforts allow us to enhance our
collections and maximize return on collection dollars by sharing resources with other
libraries, but they also cost money. Continuing
cooperative efforts is also a priority.
The above principles seek to serve the
greatest number of users possible within the limits of available resources, and form the
basis for a collection development philosophy. Successful
implementation of this philosophy requires the concerted effort of library faculty and
staff working in conjunction with campus faculty and students.
Several factors affect the long-term
collecting goals of the library. These are:
- Historical Funding Issues
- No increase in the library materials budget (except for nursing
materials) from 1992/93 – 1998/99.
- No consistent funding for research materials – for example,
it would cost over $325,000 per year to replace the 509 print journal titles cancelled
since 1991, many of which were research journals.
- 3rd lowest library funding per FTE of Colorado
colleges and universities in our group (1998 IPEDS) – only Auraria Library and UNC
are worse. (CU-Boulder funding per FTE was $523; CU-Colorado Springs was $167.)
- New academic programs added since 1992 did not include additional
funds for the library materials budget, further diminishing the purchasing power of
existing funds.
2.
- Current 6% annual increase for library materials, if continued,
covers neither annual journal inflation of 9-10%, nor growth and new programs.
- Support from the CU President’s Office for the four campus
digital library of electronic materials is one-time funding, not base, and may end at any
time.
- Ongoing support from the student technology fee will help address
the needs for electronic resources.
- It is unlikely that we will be funded to fully support research
in the foreseeable future even if the campus mission changes.
3.
- Users at all levels want the flexible, expanded access
that electronic resources offer.
- Electronic resources are not free and the annual costs for them
inflate at rates similar to journals. FTE
price models frequently increase significantly after enrollments reach 5,000. (This year
our enrollment reached 5,072.) Funds must be found for their purchase and continuance.
- New purchasing models and cooperative purchasing agreements allow
us to leverage our buying power more with electronic resources. But new models also make it more difficult to
charge costs to a specific discipline.
4.
- Dollars expended must be directed at ensuring maximum return as a
resource in demand.
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