The University of Queensland

There are many challenges facing academic libraries, such as responding to flexible learning approaches, new technologies, product pricing, and the volatility of the Australian dollar. The correct identification of key and emerging areas of research requires the close monitoring of organisational directions.

Making decisions about the purchase of individual items for library collections requires a clear understanding of the various needs of library users and the determination of overall priorities.

The purpose of this document is to outline collection development at The University of Queensland, and to identify general principles for shaping the Library's collection. These principles will change over time, requiring the policy to be updated on a regular basis.

Also included are overviews of each subject area under the Australian Research Council's Excellence in Research for Australia FoR codes. In addition, special collections are identified and described. Some principles of collection management are noted.

The development of the collection is an activity which involves both Library staff and Library users. The academic schools and research centres participate in the selection of specific items related to their disciplines. The Collection Development Policy provides guidelines for all.

Library-wide collection coordination is the responsibility of the Library's Associate Director of Collections and Information Resources. This role chairs the Collections Management Group, which reports to the Collections Priority Directorate.

Requests for resources should be submitted to the appropriate librarian. All physical material acquired using Library funds must be housed in the relevant library location.

Based on the current collection development environment operating at The University of Queensland, the following general principles apply:

1. Resources will be selected for the Library's collections that support the teaching, learning and research needs of the University.
2. Maintaining an appropriate balance between teaching and learning requirements and research needs will be a priority.
3. The Library's expenditure on its collections will be no less than 45% of the Library's recurrent budget.
4. Where possible, the Library will supplement expenditure on its collections with funds provided from research infrastructure, bequests and endowments, as well as other income.
5. A balance needs to be maintained between databases/journals and monographs. The general aim is that no more than 80% of the Library's collections budget will be spent on the databases/journals.
6. Subject to negotiation of suitable licensing agreements, the preference is to acquire resources in digital rather than print format. Specific disciplinary requirements will be taken into account.
7. The levels of collecting for each disciplinary area will be determined primarily in relation to needs at The University of Queensland.
8. All resources purchased or otherwise obtained by the Library will be housed in the Library's collections, except electronic resources only available via suppliers' servers.
9. Wherever possible, the Library will avoid unnecessary duplication of resources.
10. Budgetary constraints inevitably mean that the Library is unable to satisfy all the information needs of its users from its own collections, particularly to support research. The Library's collections will be supplemented by providing University students and staff with access to inter-library loan and document delivery services on a predominantly free basis, for academic purposes.
11. Given the finite space for physical collections in its on-site libraries, the Library will move lesser-used material to closed-access facilities.
12. The level of collecting and the effectiveness of the collections will be regularly assessed using a variety of mechanisms.
13. Materials deemed to fall outside subject retention schedules will be withdrawn from the collection, and will be offered to UQ Alumni for their biennial book fair.

The Library collections budget is normally issued early in the year, and operates from January to December.

Funds

• The main source is the University's operating grant to the Library
• The grant currently includes an annual increase of 2.5%
• Information resource inflation is typically in the range of 5-8%
• Approximately 80% of resources are published overseas, meaning there is significant exposure to fluctuations in the currency market, particularly the US dollar, the Euro and the British pounds
• Any shortfall in funding must be covered by other sources of income, reductions in the salaries budget, or reductions in the collections budget

Allocations

In summary:

• 73% is allocated to journals and databases
• 20% to monographs and multi media
• 5% as contestable funds
• 2% to document delivery, binding, and global processing.

Database and journal funds

A single allocation is used for databases, and print and electronic journal subscriptions. The Collections Management Group meets ten times a year and assesses all new database and journal subscription requests.

Contestable funds

Two contestable funds (divided into subscriptions and one-off purchases) support University initiatives such as new courses and emerging research strengths. The Collections Management Group assesses submissions for expenditure against this fund.

Print monograph and multimedia fund

The fund supports the purchase of material on course reading lists, as well as other print books and multimedia. Funds at St Lucia campus are split between the Teaching and Learning Service, and the Research Information Service. Non-St Lucia branches receive allocations largely based upon agreements with University partners.

Ebook funds

There are three allocations for the purchase of ebooks via: subscription, non-subscription, and Patron Driven Acquisitions models. Submissions for ebook packages are assessed by the Collections Management Group.

Document delivery fund

A single allocation is made for the procurement of material not held by UQ Library. This may be by borrowing books from other libraries (inter-library loan) or by electronic document delivery of journal articles (from other libraries or commercial suppliers).

Binding fund

A single allocation is made for binding, mainly for journals to be retained for an extended period, and for the binding of music scores.

Global processing fund

One allocation is made for processing costs associated with postage, customs, and shelf-readying materials (e.g. security inserts, cover reinforcements, spine labels).

General History of the Collections

The Library grew not as a single unified collection, but as a group of subject-based libraries and departmental collections. The unified collection was begun in 1911. Until the appointment of the first University Librarian, Richard Pennington, in 1939, the Library was managed by the Library Committee.

There was no allocation of money to the Library. Selection was in the hands of academic department heads. Orders were placed no more than four times a year, initially through a local bookseller and eventually via Blackwells, particularly for overseas material. At this stage, the Main Library was virtually the Library for the Faculty of Arts, though largely devoid of material in the humanities and Australiana.

By 1939, there were eight departmental libraries and a number of smaller collections, all in the areas of science, medical science and engineering. These libraries contained up to half the total book stock. The enduring emphasis on departmental libraries has been ascribed to by former 1960s Acting University Librarian Barry Scott as being the result of the fact that:

Donations of material, while not great in numbers, still constituted a significant proportion of the collection. Overall, the collections grew very slowly. The size of the budget remained fairly static, even after the appointment of the first University Librarian. The funding situation changed in 1951, when the Commonwealth Government began to provide substantial support for Australian universities. This was followed by the recommendations of the Murray Committee report on Australian universities (1957) being accepted. It was as a result of this latter injection of funding, that there was a serious attempt to purchase research material.

The great bulk of the Library's older material was acquired from the late 1960s onwards by retrospective purchase (second hand, microform, and reprint) and donation.

For more information, see John East's Brief History of The Universty of Queensland Library.