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The Library’s Materials Fund (Banner #010157) is established as part of the University’s regular budgeting process and comes from Legislative appropriation. This fund is used for one-time purchases of books and media only, either physical or electronic. Unlimited user access is purchased for electronic titles unless pricing prohibits, or content is of an esoteric nature with anticipated low demand/use.
The Library subdivides this fund and provides an allocation to each academic department to support their library needs. Factors involved in determining equitable allocations include: total enrollment of majors in the department’s programs; FTE count of teaching faculty in the department; average cost of materials for the discipline; and the number of credit hours the department teaches, weighted by undergraduate and graduate courses. Calculations are based on figures from the previous year. The Library also supports non-departmental line item budgets from this fund, including the reference, multimedia, Passport, Ruby Canton, and juvenile collections.
This fund does not roll, therefore all monies must be spent by the deadlines established by the Acquisitions Department. Any monies remaining in the Library Materials Fund at the end of the year are spent at the discretion of the Resource Acquisitions Manager.
The Library’s Serials (#010158) and Electronic Resources (part of #010345) Funds are supported, respectively, by the University’s Legislative-appropriated budget and Library Fees charged per credit hour. These funds support serial subscriptions, standing orders (both print and electronic), database subscriptions, and perpetual access purchases. When negotiating license agreements for online resources, including individual journals and aggregated databases of articles, books, and streaming media, the Library strives to ensure access is granted to the fullest extent possible. Package deals are evaluated carefully to ensure enough unique content exists to be a useful addition to our collection.
The Acquisitions Department collects usage data and provides Librarians and faculty with annual use reports. Selection of these resources is based on curricular and accreditation requirements. These resources are purchased according to recommendations from Librarian and Faculty Liaisons. Cancelations are based on use and availability of content through alternative sources, changes in curriculum, and the state of the Library budget.
While titles on these budget lines are attributed to departments for tracking purposes, the Library must consider the overall state of subscriptions offerings when evaluating these expenditures. Therefore, these funds are not open for spending by any single Selector.
Other revenue sources that the Library relies on for materials purchases include the following:
These guidelines apply to all purchased materials. See Procedures for Materials Selection for more detail about purchasing circulating materials. Guidelines for specific collections are covered in their respective sections; they may vary some from those listed below. If technology is requested with library funds, the selector will direct such requests to the Director of Library Technology & Data Management. Otherwise, selectors should consider the following factors when purchasing materials:
The following types of materials are not selected for the Library unless they fulfill a demonstrated research need within an academic discipline. Some criteria may not apply to specific library collections.
The Library will order textbooks when faculty request them, when they are appropriate for the Curriculum Collection, when they are appropriate for Course Reserves, or when they are standards in their respective fields. Digital editions are preferred, especially when they allow for multiple simultaneous users. The Library will purchase no more than two copies of each textbook in physical format. Faculty who have personal copies of textbooks are encouraged to put them in Course Reserves.
Lost or damaged titles in the collection may be replaced. The applicable Librarian Liaison will make replacement decisions, including whether a patron may provide their own replacement copy, using the following criteria:
A title may be replaced with a newer edition of the same title. In some cases, the Librarian Liaison may decide to select another title covering the same or similar subject matter.
A title may be replaced with a newer edition of the same title; however, a replacement is not a copy-for-copy swap. A replacement title is treated as a new item for cataloging and may be for an item that has been declared lost. When the replacement title is for an existing physical copy on the shelf, the shelf copy must be treated as a separate request for withdrawal.
The Library welcomes materials offered as gifts. However, the donor must understand that the Library may decide not to add the materials to the collection and that the materials will not be returned. The Library does not pay for shipping or transportation costs of donations from outside the Oklahoma City metro area. The primary point of contact is the Coordinator of Advancement & Communications, who works closely with the Librarian Liaisons to select items for the collection. After evaluation by Librarian Liaisons, if accepted, gifts are integrated into the appropriate collection, but may be sold if not accepted. Donors who wish special treatment for their donations should negotiate before offering the donation. Donors will receive a copy of library gift policies and eventually a letter of appreciation with a list of items donated. The Library does not attempt to place monetary value on donated items. Librarian Liaisons evaluate and select appropriate items following the selection criteria in this document.
Donations to Special Collections & University Archives are handled as a separate process and should be directed to the Coordinator of Special Collections & University Archives.
Gifts the Library does not accept:
Chambers Library staff in Acquisitions and Metadata & Cataloging will perform initial quality checks to confirm academic value of new materials when items are received. These steps will be integrated into the new materials workflow to help identify purchased items that typically would not be selected for the Library collection, including those without academic value, from a questionable publishing source, etc. This initial quality check is intended to flag such items for additional Librarian review before they are sent through the full cataloging process, where significant time and other resources would be spent on readying them for the collection, particularly for items requiring original cataloging.
Acquisitions staff will monitor orders and watch as they unbox and check in newly received items for signs of questionable quality. Indications will generally include certain publishers and keywords or phrases, and whether a provisional record was created for the title.
Metadata & Cataloging staff and student employees will be trained to watch for signs of questionable quality when physically processing new materials for cataloging. Indications will generally include certain keywords, phrases, overall unscholarly appearance of an item, and whether the item needs original cataloging.
The following types of materials should be flagged for additional review by the Librarian who requested the purchase. Determinations on whether to keep or return items will be made on a case-by-case basis:
Chambers Library
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Edmond, OK
405-974-3361
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