The primary collection development goal of Rutgers University Libraries (RUL) is to make available to all Rutgers students, faculty, and staff wherever they are located, in an equitable, convenient, and cost-effective fashion, the digital, print, and other scholarly resources needed for research, teaching, learning, and creative endeavors. Rutgers University Libraries are committed to aligning with the University Diversity Strategic Plan and the strategic plans developed by each of the four divisions. The level of collecting needs must be commensurate with university aspirations to be one of the most distinguished public universities in the American Association of Universities. The Libraries will also provide access to in-depth research collections in areas of special interest to the university.
Our strategy for collection development on behalf of the university includes the following:
- Take full advantage of technology to facilitate the acquisition, provision, and use of collections resources.
- Base our decisions on user needs as identified through such measures as liaison ties with faculty, staff, and students in all subject areas; Patron-Driven and Evidence-Based Acquisitions models; surveys of our user population; and direct requests from our patrons.
- Maintain a relevant balance between the needs of undergraduates and the research and teaching needs of graduate students and faculty.
- Develop collections that align with the diverse subject, language, and content needs of patrons.
In order to fulfill this strategy, the Libraries will employ the following tactics:
Acquisition and Licensing of Resources:
- Prioritize digital format over print.
- Cancel print subscription(s) when reliable networked, digital versions are available at Rutgers, except when the digital format is inferior or when print is required to maintain access.
- Annually refine subscription lists of core journals based on impact data and Rutgers-specific usage data.
- Actively monitor and keep to a minimum overlap among electronic resources.
- Acquire appropriate media resources, including managing licenses that support course-adopted media for both restricted and institutional access.
- Participate in consortium pricing to maximize purchasing power, contain costs, and improve the terms of licenses.
- Leverage indices of openly available content such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) in making trusted open access resources widely available to Rutgers students, faculty, and staff.
Textbooks:
It is the policy of Rutgers University Libraries not to acquire textbooks* in either electronic or print forms. However, an instructor can request that their personal copy of a physical textbook be placed on reserve.
For other materials, the Libraries will make every effort to acquire content for courses when requested. There are many cases in which the publisher either does not offer a copy for institutional purchase or imposes institutional pricing and use restrictions that make it impossible or impractical for the Libraries to acquire an item. In such cases, the instructor will be notified.
*For the definition of “textbook” in this case, please refer to the Dictionary for Library and Information Science online definition.
Digitization and Services:
- Acquire appropriate indexing and abstracting tools in electronic format to identify relevant publications.
- Link indexing and abstracting tools to full-text journals and other holdings of Rutgers University Libraries and, where possible, to online document delivery services.
- Provide subsidized document delivery of articles that are not owned or licensed by Rutgers University Libraries.
- Engage with our external library partnerships to strengthen interlibrary borrowing, further expanding the offerings available to our patrons.
- Encourage open access publishing for the dissemination of scholarly information to enhance access to information and in accordance with university policy.
- Make use of our institutional repository to preserve and disseminate Rutgers scholarly resources, including faculty publications and student theses and dissertations.
- Digitize and publicize our unique resources in Special Collections and University Archives, the Institute of Jazz Studies, and other distinctive collections to make them available to university, state, national, and international users.
- Pursue digital preservation of brittle, damaged, or physically endangered resources, emphasizing those resources unique to Rutgers.
The balance among these strategies— digital, print, media, and document delivery— depends on faculty and staff expertise, funding, law, technology, and the needs of the academic users served.
Rutgers University Libraries acquire materials in all formats for a variety of reasons. These include curriculum support, especially acquisition of “core” materials on subjects studied at the university; support of research by faculty and students; and materials representing major trends in scholarship. The Libraries seek collection continuity, maintaining strong existing collections, as they fulfill agreements with other academic libraries to take responsibility for collecting in particular subject areas. In addition, the Libraries’ collections represent a wide variety of cultures and viewpoints, including publications about controversial topics by partisans of differing opinions. This diversity of coverage is essential to the mission of an academic library in a rapidly changing world. The Libraries acknowledge that some titles in our collections may not be compatible with the values of the entire university community, but free expression is part of the ethos of academic libraries. Comments or concerns about items in the collections may be submitted in writing to:
Scholarly Communication and Collections at scc@rutgers.libanswers.com
Addendum
Rutgers University Libraries statement on historical/insensitive materials in the collections
Rutgers was founded in 1766. In the ensuing centuries, Rutgers University Libraries have collected material that by current standards may be considered outdated, biased, and harmful in its content and the way in which it has been described by subject headings and other contextual data. The Libraries are aware of this and are contributing to national conversations on how to update the way we describe collections.
Historical research and the use of primary sources often involves working with materials that invoke past actions and thoughts that demonstrate social, political, and legal attitudes supporting discriminatory practices and beliefs. Yet these materials are necessary to understand how those attitudes were formed and how they might impact the present day.
Academic study of any kind may entail interacting with a variety of voices, some of which an individual may find disagreeable or offensive. Scholars study materials to understand them and at times to form cogent arguments against them. Research on war, natural disasters, medical procedures, crime, and other areas may include graphic content.
In accordance with the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read statement, we do not censor our records or prevent people from accessing them. However, we are working internally and as part of national and international efforts to change standard subject headings or contextual materials, and to address gaps in our collections to ensure that they are more broadly representational.
We recognize that addressing harmful content is an ongoing effort that benefits from the perspectives of our users. We welcome input from our community to help identify and remediate problematic language or descriptions in our catalog, digital collections, and finding aids. If you encounter biased or harmful language in our collections or descriptions, please submit your concerns using the Report a Problem link in QuickSearch or contact us directly at ask@libraries.rutgers.edu. Our team will review each submission and, when necessary, update descriptions, provide contextual information, or take other corrective actions in alignment with best practices.
Contact the Libraries for assistance in finding the materials you need for your historical research.