1. Introduction
The purpose of this document is to set out guidelines for managing St Mary’s University’s Library Resources Collection. Library Resource Management involves the selection and provision of information resources for University users, and the subsequent management of these resources through their ‘life cycle’. The vision of the Library and Digital Support department (LDS) is as follows:
We will provide the resources, collections, technology and learning support to enable students to flourish, seeking innovative ways to use our resources to enhance and transform learning. Our resources will improve to enable us to provide physical and virtual environments which will inspire students to succeed.
St Mary’s will be able to reach a wider variety of students studying from remote locations, collaborating with each other and external partners. We will deliver learning support services that are pro-active, customer focussed and responsive to the needs of students and staff. Services will embrace the opportunities provided by technology and continue to be high quality, personalised and face to face.
To achieve this, the Library team acquires, organises, and facilitates access to information and knowledge through the Library Resources Collection regardless of format or medium. The ultimate aim of the Library Resources Collection is to connect St Mary’s students and staff to the information they require to succeed in their studies and research activity.
2. Our audience
The St Mary’s Library Resources Collection plays a vital role in supporting the learning and scholarship of the University’s students and staff. For students, the collection delivers access to specialist academic information resources which are not freely available elsewhere. It is a key constituent element of the ‘support package’ students receive from the University in return for their fees, and students now have high expectations for on-demand access to the information resources recommended by their lecturers.
The Library Resources Collection provides crucial support for the University’s Learning Teaching and Assessment, particularly around ensuring provision of high quality learning resources for students registered at St Mary’s University.
The collection also plays an important role in supporting research activity and the University’s Research Strategy through provision of a repository of specialist academic publications across multiple disciplines. Such research activity extends along a spectrum from undergraduate research projects to original research by academic staff. Information provision for specialised research is also supplemented by a subsidised Document Supply service and reciprocal access to other university libraries.
The main audience groups for the collection are (in order of usage levels):
- campus-based students on undergraduate and foundation degree programmes (full-time and part-time)
- campus-based students on postgraduate degree programmes (full-time and part-time)
- distance learning students at all levels, taught primarily online or at off-site venues (a growing area of activity)
- St Mary’s academic staff and research students
- students and staff from other Higher Education institutions (via reciprocal access arrangements)
- members of the general public (limited use only).
It should be noted that the collection is not intended to support students registered on programmes where St Mary’s acts in a validation-only capacity. These programmes are operated by partner organisations and these organisations must supply library and learning resources directly to their students. St Mary’s Library staff will be glad to provide advice on suitable resources to partner organisations on request, but purchase of such resources is not the responsibility of the Library and Digital Support department or the University.
The Library employs specialist staff (Subject Librarians) with an expert knowledge of information resources in specific subject areas. They will offer advice and guidance about discovering and making best use of such resources.
3. Level and type of resources in the collection
In general, resources in the collection are maintained at the level required to meet the learning and teaching needs of St Mary’s students on taught foundation, undergraduate, and postgraduate programmes. This reflects the current predominance of teaching activity over research within the University.
Resources are provided in either online or physical format depending on user needs. Examples of resource types that make up the collection include (but are not limited to):
- academic textbooks aimed at a Higher Education audience
- academic monographs summarising research in specialist areas
- academic journals
- specialist online content such as reports, statistics and news/current affairs material
- electronic/digitised copies of key chapters and articles (copyright-cleared)
- literary and creative works
- general adult interest resources in subject areas linked to St Mary’s degree programmes
- multimedia content such as films, TV productions, and audio-visual learning materials
- digital access to dissertations and theses produced by St Mary’s students (Masters level upwards).
The collection also includes resources designed to specifically support trainee teachers on Educationrelated degree programmes. These resources are generally pitched at a distinct audience and include:
- examples of textbooks used in primary and secondary schools
- teaching packs designed for classroom use in schools
- children’s books used in primary school teaching
- children’s multimedia content used in primary teaching.
In other individual subject areas, the level of collection will reflect the academic level to which those subjects are being studied and researched.
Where possible, efforts are made to meet the information needs of research-active staff via the Library Collection, especially where resources can be shared between students and researchers. However it is expected that specialist researchers will also need to obtain resources from outside the St Mary’s collection. The Library provides various services to assist with this, including a subsidised Document Supply service and membership of the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) Access scheme permitting use of other university libraries.
For many resource types, online formats are preferred over print due to their greater accessibility and convenience for users. This is particularly true of subscription resources such as periodicals, where online subscriptions are always prioritised over print holdings in order to maximise value and accessibility.
Print/physical resources are still prioritised for certain resource types such as textbooks, due to usability issues and the lack of suitable digital licensing options.
4. Allocation of the library resources budget
The Library is provided with an annual budget in order to purchase and maintain the St Mary’s Library Resources Collection. The annual allocation is set with the aim of matching competitor universities on a ‘spend per Full Time Equivalent (FTE) student’ basis. At the beginning of each financial year this budget is allocated as follows.
- A top-slice is taken from the overall budget to fund multi-disciplinary resource subscriptions, print collection overheads (such as book processing fees) and start-up funds for new degree programmes.
- The remaining budget is divided in allocations for each of the four Academic Schools on the basis of relative student numbers and relative average resource prices.
- The Subject Librarian for each Academic School then divides each School allocation into separate allowances for Subscription resources and One-Off Purchase resources (i.e. books and similar materials).
- The One-Off Purchase allowance for each Faculty and Instutute is then generally further divided into funds to resource each degree programme or discipline area.
This process allows limited Library Resource funding to be used flexibly on behalf of each Academic School, recognising that requirements for different resource types vary considerably between disciplines.
A ‘top-slice’ process is maintained in order to fund inter-disciplinary resources which are relevant to users in more than one Academic School. These are generally in the form of aggregated online content databases, which represent a very efficient way to invest in resources on behalf of the whole University.
5. Criteria for selection of St Mary’s library resources
The following criteria will be used to determine whether to add a resource to the collection and the priority level assigned to each resource:
- appearance of a resource on one or more module resource lists (see below)
- relevance and importance of the subject content in relation to current teaching and/or research activity within the University
- availability of funds in the relevant sub-fund of the Library Resources Budget
- the number of potential users for the resource
- academic level of the content in relation to current teaching and/or research activity
- currency and accuracy of the content as evaluated by Subject Librarian and academic staff
- value for money and relevance to multiple groups of users (especially in the context of aggregated database subscriptions)
- cost and availability of better value substitute resources
- level of duplication of content with resources already in the collection
- ease of use (particularly of online interfaces)
- accessibility of resources for those with additional needs.
6. Reading list resources
One of the key roles of the Library Resources Collection is to meet the need of students for rapid access to information resources laid down in module reading lists. This is a crucially important factor in influencing student satisfaction with learning resources provision, and has a significant impact on the ratings received by the University in exercises such as the National Student Survey. Failures of communication in this area reflect badly on the University and its ability to adequately support its students. Students have limited tolerance for such basic failures in the current era of high tuition fees.
As such The Library aims for all resource list items to be readily accessible to students via the Library Collection (in most cases including resources specifically identified for student purchase). This requires close collaboration with academic staff and imposes the need for standardised/controlled reading lists for each programme module. The University operates an Online Resource List System that facilitates provision of reading lists in student-friendly format, and also enables Library staff to make informed decisions on resource purchasing to support taught programmes.
Full details of the University’s policy regarding the format and distribution of reading lists are available in the separate University Reading List Policy.
7. How the collection is provided to users
The St Mary’s Library Resource Collection is comprehensively catalogued and indexed using a Library Services Platform and Online Discovery Service. The Discovery Service (currently Primo Library Discovery) is the main point of access for users, allowing open-ended searching and retrieval of library resources in a similar format to web search engines.
Online resources are available immediately to University students and staff via the Discovery Service. Access to these resources is restricted to entitled users via an authentication system. Online resources can also be directely linked to from other services (such as the University’s Virtual Learning Environment and the online resource list system).
Physical resources are provided to users in the Library buildings, with most being available for loan (depending on user entitlement). Users can check the availability and location of physical resources via the Discovery Service, and then borrow most resources using the department’s self-service system.
8. Procedure for adding new resources to the collection
All library resource decisions are coordinated by professional Library staff, with the first point of contact being the Subject Librarians. Each Librarian is responsible for a specific Academic discipline area and works proactively with academic staff in that area to ensure high quality resource provision. All new library resource needs should be discussed with the relevant Librarian in the first instance.
Purchased resources (principally books and ebooks) are ordered and added to the collection between August and May during each Financial Year. The majority of purchase decisions are made by Library staff based on reading lists supplied on the Online Reading List System. Requests for incidental resource purchases for staff research use can also be made outside the reading list process by contacting the relevant Librarian.
Subscription resources are reviewed once a year during the early summer period. Due to the nature of academic publishing billing cycles, it is normally necessary to commence new online subscriptions in January of each calendar year. New subscription requirements should therefore be communicated to the relevant Librarian at the earliest possible opportunity. The ability of the Library to fund new subscriptions may be influenced by budgetary constraints.
The procurement, financial, and access management process for all St Mary’s library resources is managed by the Library and Digital Support team.
9. Procedure for reviewing content in the resource collection
The Subject Librarians review existing resources in the collection on a regular basis in collaboration with academic staff and other stakeholders. Resources that fall under the criteria below are removed from the collection periodically. In these circumstances, subscription resources are cancelled before the next renewal date and physical resources are disposed of through sale or recycling depending on value. Any nominal income generated in resource sales is added to the Library Resources Budget for purchasing new resources.
The criteria used to review both physical and online resources include:
- relevance and importance of the subject content in relation to current teaching and/or research activity
- currency and accuracy of the content
- removal of a resource from student reading lists
- purchase of new / updated versions of a resource which make previous versions redundant
- availability of a resource in alternative and more accessible formats (e.g. online)
- availability of a resource in better value aggregated collection (except where unacceptable embargo periods are imposed)
- usage levels (borrowing and online usage statistics)
- optimum use of space within the Library buildings
- duplication of resources in the collection
- subscription price increases and evaluations of value for money
- accessibility problems for users.
Detailed criteria may additionally be developed for specific subject areas by the Subject Librarians in consultation with academic staff.
10. Number of copies and loan types for physical resources
The following guidelines are used to determine the number of copies of a particular physical resource purchased, although these may be varied depending on internal financial constraints. For more detail on reading list purchasing policies, please refer to the separate University Reading List Policy.
‘Essential/Core’ Resources for Students (listed on one or more reading lists) one print book per ten registered students potentially using the resource. The maximum number of copies may be capped in certain circumstances due to storage space limitations. Where possible, priority will be given to ebook purchase and consequent reduction in the number of printed copies purchased.
‘Recommended’ Resources for Students (listed on one or more reading lists) one print book per twenty registered students potentially using the resource. The maximum number of copies may be capped in certain circumstances due to storage space limitations. Where possible, priority will be given to ebook purchase and consequent reduction in the number of printed copies purchased.
‘Background’ Resources for Students (listed on one or more reading lists): At least one copy of each resource will be purchased where funds allow. An ebook version of the same text may substituted where this is deemed appropriate for the user group.
General Texts for Students (e.g. study skills handbooks) Number of copies depends on estimated number of users and analysis of usage statistics for similar resources.
Literary Works and Children’s books: Normally one copy of each title will be purchased unless the item appears as Essential reading on a reading list or additional needs are communicated to the Subject Librarian.
Printed Periodicals and Journals: One set of printed issues for each subscribed title will be acquired and retained only if the content is unavailable in online format (or for other discipline-specific reasons agreed with the Subject Librarians).
Resources for Use by Researchers: Normally one copy of each title will be purchased unless additional needs are communicated to Subject Librarians.
The Library currently assigns most physical resources one of three loan types:
- One Week Loan
- Six Week Loan (Children’s books only)
- Reference (use in the Library only)
Decisions on assignment of loan types are made by Library staff, based on reading list needs in most cases. Loan types are reviewed on a regular basis, currently all books are loaned for one week but will automatically renew unless requested by another borrower. Reference status is used sparingly and is generally only assigned to reading list resources in very high demand or resources with a high monetary value.
11. Printed periodicals
The majority of the periodicals and journal subscriptions in the Library Resources Collection are provided online to users via the Library Discovery Service. Online periodicals are generally far more user-friendly and accessible for library users, and Library policy is to remove printed periodicals form the Library Collection where possible to liberate storage space for study use. The Library does continue to maintain a small number of printed periodicals, but titles in this collection are only retained where one or more of the following conditions applies (in addition to the general selection criteria above):
- The periodical title is not available as an online subscription suitable for shared library use or on online open access.
- There is a discipline-specific reason for retaining the printed periodical in addition to online access, as communicated to the relevant Academic Liaison Librarian and agreed with Library and Digital Support.
- The publication has been discontinued, no online access is available, and the periodical is still frequently required for teaching or research.
12. Replacement of lost/missing resources
Where physical library resources are lost by users or reported missing, Library and Digital Support will make decisions on purchasing replacements on a case-by-case basis.
Lost/missing items will generally be replaced with the latest version or edition of the resource rather than the original version.
13. Donated library resources
Small-scale donations of physical resources for library use are generally welcomed by St Mary’s Library. Donors are, however, advised that all donations will be evaluated for relevance to the collection using the standard criteria listed above. The department does not guarantee that donations will be added to the collection, and reserves the right to dispose of donations outside the scope of the collection. All donations must be offered unconditionally.
If added to the collection, they will be organised and processed according to the professional judgement of Library staff and will become the property of St Mary’s University.
The department regrets that it is unable to purchase resources from library users or academic staff (or reimburse for resources purchased elsewhere).
All library resources much be purchased through our standard suppliers using the department’s standard procedures.
14. St Mary’s University dissertations and theses
Masters dissertations produced by St Mary’s University students are collected and stored in the St Mary’s Open Research Archive (institutional repository) where electronic copies are available. The repository is managed by Research Services. Full-text access to these is provided on a request-only basis. Print copies of new Masters dissertations are no longer added to the Library Resources Collection.
Electronic submission and inclusion in the Open Research Archive is the preferred method of storage for new MPhil and PhD theses in order to ensure availability of these research outputs to the wider research community. Undergraduate dissertations are not currently retained as part of the Library Resources Collection.
15. St Mary’s University archive
The Library administers the University’s printed document archive. This collection consists of historical documents and records associated with the University in its current and previous forms. The archive is not considered part of the general Library Resources Collection, although its contents are indexed in the department’s Library Services Platform for administrative purposes.
Archive materials are currently stored in specialist off-site storage and documents are retrieved for interested parties on request. We will be pleased to consider bequests or gifts of archival items relating to the history of St Mary’s University.