HAM-TMC Library
Collection Development
Mission
We identify, review, select, acquire, process, and maintain all of the materials, print and digital, provided by the Library.
Statistics| What We Do | Contacts
Statistics for 2007
| Items | Totals |
|---|---|
| Electronic Journals | 9,101 |
| Bound Journals | 220,458 |
| Electronic books | 5,167 |
| Print Books | 137,199 |
| Databases | 172 |
| Audiovisuals | 3,922 |
| Total Print Collections | 357,657 |
| Total Electronic Collections | 14,440 |
What We Do
Using reliable and up-to-date sources of information about available new titles, we determine what new items, in what formats, best answer our users' needs and our mission in general. We respond to purchase requests and suggestions from our faculty, students and colleagues. The library is also guided by a collection development policy document, which we revise regularly.
Collections Development staff order, receive, pay for, catalog, process and present (physically or electronically) materials that support our users' changing education and research programs. A great deal of behind-the-scenes activity is carried out before you see the product, including the creation and maintenance of the Library's website.
Working with the Information Technology division, we present and maintain electronic resources, many of which we acquire through shared, or consortial, agreements between a group of libraries and a publishing body. Libraries in the Texas Medical Center work together to license collections of databases and journals for TMC users; we also participate with other consortia of educational or medical libraries to bring resources we could not otherwise afford to our customers.
We must remain within our annual budgetary constraints. Since our most costly and frequently-used resources are those which must be renewed yearly, in large part our funds are committed in advance. Periodically, we must reconsider resources that are not proving to be cost-effective, in order to free up funds to acquire better or more urgently needed items.
Deciding which older materials are no longer useful or are less frequently used and can be moved to off-site storage or discarded is also a part of Collection Development's responsibility. Our division is responsible for maintaining, housing and preserving the existing book and journal collections. We attempt to keep print materials in good repair; we replace lost books or journals when feasible and appropriate; and we send complete journal volumes to be bound and reshelved.
| Items | Person | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| AV Materials | ||
| Barcodes | ||
| Bindery Materials | ||
| Book Sale | ||
| Cataloging (books) | ||
| Cataloging (serials) | ||
| Collection Development | ||
| Damaged Materials | ||
| Electronic Resources | ||
| Gift Materials | ||
| Lost / Missing books | ||
| Marking / Labeling | ||
| Missing Issues (serials) | ||
| OCLC / AMIGOS | ||
| Order Status / Claiming (books) | ||
| Payments / Invoices | ||
| Purchase Requests | ||
| Replacement issues | ||
| Rush Cataloging | ||
| Serials Check In | ||
| Voyager Library Catalog | ||
| Statistics | ||
| Web Development | ||
| Weeding |
page updated on 10/29/2009
