Collection Development Policy
Kenyon's library collection development practices are attuned to Kenyon's overall educational mission and values as an undergraduate, liberal arts college. Our collection development practices are flexible and encourage creative ways of meeting Kenyon's information needs. We are prepared to meet new collection management challenges, anticipate future needs, and take advantage of promising opportunities as they present themselves.
We are building a strong, versatile library collection, which helps to foster diverse communities, examine inequitable systems, and develop inclusive practices for teaching, learning, and research support. We provide support for the current curriculum to include all majors, departments, and programs. Our collection is a resource for faculty research, but our materials budget does not allow us to systematically collect at the "research" level. We accept specific requests for local purchase of research-level materials on a case-by-case basis. In addition to supporting the College's formal academic programs, the library provides resources for the general academic interests of the Kenyon community.
Librarians are responsible for developing the library collection but rely on faculty to help in this endeavor. Librarians coordinate their efforts to ensure that the library collects to meet the needs of the college as a whole, and the individual departments. Faculty and librarians in different departments may collaborate on collection development in different ways, depending on the needs of the discipline and the resources available.
Kenyon is fortunate that our collection does not exist in isolation but as a subset of the larger OhioLINK collection, which spans almost all the academic libraries in Ohio. This enables Kenyon patrons to have quick, practical access to a wide variety of materials beyond our local collection, increasing the depth and breadth of available resources and perspectives. Our membership in OhioLINK also helps provide access to many electronic books, journals, and databases we would not otherwise be able to afford. This collaborative effort informs all of our collection work.
The library collects a broad spectrum of resources in a variety of formats. The formats collected include printed books, periodicals, sound recordings, video recordings, maps, microforms, and various electronic resources. The primary criterion for selecting any item is its relevance to Kenyon's teaching mission. When we evaluate information resources we consider their content, cost, accessibility, and viability. The library collects primarily English language materials, but also collects in other languages as required by the curriculum.
The library regularly assesses the usefulness, relevance, and condition of its collection to ensure that we make the best use of the available budget and space to provide a dynamic, relevant and effective collection in support of the curriculum. (Updated March 2023)
Digital Collections
See the Digital Collections development policy at Digital Kenyon.
Retention Parameters
Retention Parameters
Deselection, or withdrawal, is just one part of collection development and is best understood within the context of the library’s overall collection development policy. Our goal is to create a dynamic, relevant and effective collection that supports the college curriculum. Retaining materials that no longer meet current or projected future user needs is a sign of poor collection stewardship.
Just as deselection should not be viewed in isolation, neither should the Kenyon collection. Kenyon's collection is a small subset of the broader OhioLINK collection, and the physical collection is but one part of the overall collection.
Gifts
The library accepts gifts of materials relevant to Kenyon's needs and in usable condition. These gifts may be single volumes or larger collections. Due to the high costs of managing the gift process, the Library's primary interest is to acquire only materials which are highly relevant to Kenyon's needs. All potential gifts will be evaluated in terms of the collection development goals of the library.