Health Sciences Library & Biocommunications Center

Mission

The mission of the Health Sciences Library and Biocommunications Center is to provide an environment conducive to student learning and the biomedical information resources necessary for teaching, research, service, and patient care, and to support efforts to improve the health of Tennesseans.

Goal

The primary goal of the library’s collection development policy is to maintain a collection capable of supporting the Health Science Center programs. Faculty, staff and students must be able to rely on the library to provide them with the information they need for their research. The campus must also maintain accreditation of its programs. While few libraries have budgets that permit in-depth coverage of any one subject, a collection budget that at least meets national norms is essential to ensure that the library is an aid and not an impediment to institutional productivity and accreditation.

Selection Priorities

The library acquires journal, book and non-print items that support the curriculum, patient care, reference service, and management of the health care enterprise. The library aims to support as broad a range of campus programs as possible. Selection is based on the library faculty’s judgments on the relevance, coverage and potential usage of specific resources. The recommendations of UTHSC personnel are also taken into consideration.

Journals, in both print and electronic form, make up the bulk of the collections expenditure. Evaluation of periodical subscriptions is ongoing. New subscriptions, as well as maintenance of existing subscriptions, are continent upon availability of funding. Primary emphasis is on the acquisition of current titles. The library will make an effort to acquire older issues and backfiles as needed and as funds permit.

Materials issues by the Health Science Center or written by current or former faculty or staff are collected as they are of historical interest; selected materials issued by other local health care institutions are also collected. Endowment funds such as the Simon R. Bruesh Endowment fund help to support these kinds of purchases. UTHSC students are required to provide the library with a copy of Masters theses and Doctorial dissertations.

The library generally does not purchase multiple copes of monographs or duplicate serial subscriptions.

Decisions with regard to format (for instance whether to subscribe to a journal in print or electronic format) are based on a range of criteria. These include price, license restrictions, availability, and demand.

Collection development decisions are made by the Library Director with the assistance of the Coordinator, Collection Development, the Electronic Services Librarian, and the Electronic Resources Selection Committee.

Faculty Input

The library welcomes faculty input on the collection. Through the liaison program, the library solicits input from faculty from each department on campus. Suggestions for purchase may be submitted through the online suggestion form [link]. All requests for additions to the collection will be evaluated based on the library’s collection development goals and priorities. Budgetary constraints often prevent the library from purchasing all suitable items immediately; these items are added to a “wish list” for future purchase. One-time purchases, such as books, are often easier to fund than subscriptions. Materials not added to the collection may be obtained through interlibrary loan.

Gifts

The library accepts gifts of materials within the scope of its collection policies that support the teaching and research activities of the campus. The library will evaluate gifts on a title-by-title basis and reserves the right to determine retention, disposition and other factors relating to the gift.

Withdrawal

Non-renewal or de-selection may be considered for items that are not heavily used, where the focus of campus programs has changed, prices have increased, or material is redundant, obsolete or outdated.

Prepared by: Anne Carroll Bunting, Coordinator, Collection Development, and , Electronic Services Librarian, April 4, 2006.