• General Information
• Student Guidelines
• Faculty Guidelines
• Mission Statement
• Information Literacy
• Collection Development
• Library Staff
• More Info

Collection Development Policy

Introduction

The Art Institute of Seattle Library endeavors to develop and maintain its collections in a systematic and informed manner that ultimately best serves the college community. This policy outlines the philosophy,  processes, and operations in place to facilitate these goals.

Objectives

The Art Institute of Seattle provides commercial arts education leading to associate’s and bachelor’s degrees. The Library supports the education of students and faculty towards those ends by acquiring and mediating access to quality information. Curricula taught at the institution provides the foundation for the collection and provision of Library resources and services. The Library builds on that foundation to enrich and diversify offerings that foster inspiration, creativity, intellectual development, and an appreciation for lifelong learning.

Intellectual Freedom

The Library supports intellectual freedom. Resources and services are developed without prejudice or censorship in order to offer a multiplicity of perspectives, attitudes, and creative visions.

Selection Responsibility

The Library Director, Reference Librarian, and Technical Services Librarian share selection responsibilities. Faculty offer additional selection guidance in committee meetings and day-to-day communications so as to reflect changes in curricula and/or industry standards. Student and staff requests are also honored and actively encouraged

Fund Allocation

The Library Director is responsible for allocating the budget to fulfill the Library’s collection development objectives. These allocations reflect courses taught, student enrollment by program, program development, availability of relevant materials, and availability of funds. Library spending is regularly monitored to ensure distribution of funds reflect departmental sizes and  their respective needs and/or demands.

Selection Guidelines

The  Library prioritizes support of academic programs at the four-year undergraduate level. Selection is informed by content, curricular needs, diversity, academic quality, existing holdings, cost, format, and reputation of the creator and/or publisher.

Programs: The Library collects materials relevant to The Art Institute of Seattle’s programs of study. Subjects within these programs include, but are not limited to, graphic design, typography, illustration, advertising and promotional design, photography, animation, game arts, audio and video production, web design, interior design, industrial design, fashion design, fashion marketing, music business, culinary arts and the hospitality industry.

General Education: The Library also collects materials to support the General Education component of The Art Institute of Seattle degree programs. General Education subjects include, but are not limited to, art history, English composition, literature, communications, US history, world civilization, world cultures, business, business law, career skills, geography, psychology, mathematics, introductory foreign languages and software applications.

Literacy: The Library strives to lead the campus in the promotion of literacy and lifelong learning. In addition to curriculum- related resources, the Library continually develops collections of non-curriculum focused material including literary classics, fiction, graphic novels, best sellers, popular media, and general interest magazines.

Formats: In order to facilitate access to a broad range of quality information on and offsite, resources are purchased or subscribed to across formats – including print, non-print, and electronic formats (such as online subscription databases) . Librarians monitor student and faculty demand, library and information trends, and product developments to consider what formats best serve the campus community.

Languages: The Library acquires primarily English language materials.

Textbooks: The Library acquires one copy of each textbook and keeps it in reference for in-Library use only.

Duplicate copies: Duplicates are purchased only if there is high and continuous demand.

Lost and stolen materials: Lost and stolen materials will be replaced as needed and if available.

Out-of-print and retrospective collection development: The Library will purchase out-of-print or retrospective materials only if they are core publications essential to the study and teaching of a particular subject.

Selection Tools

Librarians use many print and online selection tools. These include: an online approval system managed by a third-party vendor, publishers’ catalogs and pre-publication literature, trade and industry periodicals, subject-specific guides, and Library related publications and resources.  

Gifts/Donations

"No strings attached" gifts/donations are welcome. Donations are accepted with the understanding that said donations become the property of the Library. Any decisions made regarding these materials are entirely subject to the Library's jurisdiction. The Library may decide  to keep donations, give them away students, or dispose of them.

The Library does not house collections for donees, nor does it offer any sort of appraisal services or documentation for tax purposes. Please contact us if you would like to make a donation.

Weeding/De-acquisition

Circulation and usage data are used as primary determinants for continued relevance of Library resources. Secondary considerations include the value of the resource to the collection as a whole, completeness of holdings in that subject area, date of content, duplicate holdings, and uniqueness of the resource.

Resources not used or significantly underused are often withdrawn or discontinued. Book collections, online subscriptions and serials subscriptions undergo review on an annual basis, while archived serials collections are weeded quarterly. The reference collection is monitored continually.

Book sales of withdrawn materials are conducted every other year. Proceeds from book sales fund the AiS Library Literacy Scholarship, a Library Scholarship students can apply for every year during Winter Quarter. Book sale leftovers are either transferred to other departments, exchanged, donated to other organizations, or discarded.

Binding and Repair

The Library maintains the physical integrity of materials in the collection through regular repair and reinforcement of materials onsite or through an outside vendor. Badly damaged materials are evaluated for replacement or withdrawal.

Other Resources

As residents of the Greater Seattle metropolitan area, students and faculty may apply for free borrowing privileges with the Seattle Public Library and with the King County Library System. All are encouraged to belong to these organizations and take full advantage of their onsite and online collections.

Resource Sharing

Because the collection is needed on-demand to support the teaching needs of The Art Institute of Seattle, formal resource sharing with other libraries is not offered. Visitors, such as alumni, outside faculty and students, are welcome to use the Library’s print and electronic resources onsite and in a self-service manner.

Revised and Updated by Andrew Harbison, Director of Library Services 2006-
Prepared by Cathy Donaldson, Director of Library Services, 1997-2006  

Approved by the Library Advisory Committee 11/20/2009

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