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Information Resources Center Acquisitions Practice
Information Resources Center Acquisitions Practice 54(94)

INFORMATION RESOURCES CENTER ACQUISITIONS PRACTICE

I. Practice

It is the practice of the Special Libraries Association to have an acquisitions policy for the Information Resources Center(IRC) with regard to building and maintaining a representative and current collection of resources.

II. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the IRC serves the professional reading and reference needs of SLA staff and the elected leadership of the Association in the performance of their duties for the association, the membership of the Association, and the general public. The purpose of the acquisitions policy of the IRC is to enable a collection to be developed containing those resources which best serve the objectives of that clientele with emphasis on practical (rather than theoretical) and current (rather than historical) resources. With due regard to the availability of the resources of nearby libraries and information services organizations in the area, it is the aim of the IRC to build, in the field of special librarianship and information services management, a comprehensive current collection of the highest degree of excellence, both qualitative and quantitative, that its monetary resources can provide.

III. Practice/Procedure

The resources to be selected for IRC acquisition should be those items which promise to be of greatest use to SLA staff, members, and the elected leadership of the Association. Judgement as to whether specific resources meet this criterion is exercised most frequently by consulting the opinions of Association staff, members and other experts in the field of library and information science. Titles published in standard bibliographies, dependable review journals, and in lists of publications considered to be outstanding by authorities in the field, will form the basis for selection.

Specific considerations applicable to IRC purchase include:

  • The timely value of the resources, for interest, information or enlightenment;
  • The accuracy of the resource;
  • The authoritativeness of the resource and/or its author.

The usefulness of the resource with respect to other resources already in the collection or easily available from other collections, including:

  • The representation of all sides of controversial issues;
  • The avoidance of resources which merely duplicate, either outright or substance, resources already held;
  • The avoidance of expensive resources which merely duplicate, either outright or substance, resources already held;
  • The scarcity of information on the subject;
  • The cost of the resource in comparison with other equally useful resources;
  • The format of the resource in comparison with other available formats of the same information.

At appropriate intervals, the collection or a selected portion of it is weeded by the application of the selection policy in reverse. Resources judged of no further use to the clientele of the IRC are then withdrawn.

IV. Responsibility

The Manager, Information Resources is responsible for implementation of the acquisitions policy, with the oversight of the Assistant Executive Director, Programs and Development.


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