The Collection Development Policy of the National Agricultural Library is intended to guide recommending officers, selectors and other staff in developing a cohesive collection. It also serves to inform NAL users, the agricultural community, and the public concerning the interests and pursuits of the Library.
The National Agricultural Library's basic collection development policy uses the Library of Congress subject classification schedules and the Research Library Group's Conspectus terms to describe the depth and breadth of the Library's acquisitions.
The Library's collection development policy is augmented by three cooperative collection development policies. These three joint policies all cover subjects in which the other national libraries (the National Library of Medicine and the Library of Congress) have an interest. The policies are statements of the differences and similarities in the collecting activities of the Libraries. The subjects of the policies and the libraries that cooperate in each are listed below.
The National Agricultural Library (NAL) was established to fulfill the mission
given to the U.S. Department of Agriculture "to acquire
and to diffuse among the people of the United States
useful information on subjects connected with agriculture
and rural development, in the most general and comprehensive
sense of those terms.(1)
and the duty "to acquire and preserve...all information
concerning agriculture and rural development...(2)
This collection development policy is intended to provide statements reflecting current information needs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and of the agricultural community, both national and worldwide. It is intended to guide selectors in choosing material for the collection; to assist managers in planning and reviewing development of the collection; to inform NAL and Department staff, users, and other interested persons or institutions of the nature o f the collection and the direction of its development. The policy statements are intended to define the scope of collection and to specify the degree of coverage for each area defined as being within scope.
Coordination
The NAL collection policy takes into account the Library of Congress (LC), the National Library of Medicine (NLM), and other libraries as sources of books, journals, or other material in their prime collecting a reas. Some subjects, however, are prime collecting areas for several libraries, as veterinary medicine for both NAL and NLM and nontechnical agriculture for both NAL and LC. Also, the requirements of Department staff often extend beyond the prime areas of agriculture into subjects covered by other collections necessitating acquisition in those subjects. The goal of the Library is to satisfy the needs of its users in the most effective method. Often needs of users in such an area as medicine (of interest t o veterinary science or rural sociology) cannot satisfactorily be met by interlibrary loan or copying arrangements due to copyright or restrictions of the other libraries, but require some collecting in the subject to provide reasonable document delivery services. Thus, overlap with other collections may occur in providing the most effective and economical use of available information resources.
In some cases, availability of materials elsewhere on a timely basis may reduce the need to acquire them for the collection. For instance, doctoral dissertations are usually available from a commercial firm on demand. Rather than acquiring them routinely for the collection, current practice is to order them only when requested by users. In other case s large sets of reports, such as the documents of the United Nations, are available on microform. Acquisition of the whole set on microform reduces the need to acquire hard copy. Acquisition of large sets in microform is encouraged when the need to cata log many peripheral items is reduced by the availability of printed indexes for the sets, such as UNDEX: United Nations Documents Index, through which U.N. documents can be accessed.
The interests of the Department are subject to change, which must be reflected in the collection policy. The policy is not intended to be an unchanging law, but must adapt to the needs of the Library's clientele. Library staff involved in collection development must remain cognizant of the activities of the Department, reflecting them appropriately in collection development policy(3). The ability of the Library to provide complete coverage in all areas may be limited by budgetary or staff considerations.
Adjusting to changing needs does not mean that the collection development policy should become so fluid that no continuity is maintained. A study of the history of collection development at NAL shows remarkable consistency. The core agricultural subjects and the support subjects, such as chemistry, economics, statistics, have been areas of concentration from the beginning of the Library. The seemingly opposite poles of consistency and change both apply to collection development at NAL.
Core Subjects
NAL specializes in information on agriculture and related subjects as indicated below.
The core subjects of the collection in which the Library has consistently made strenuous efforts to collect comprehensively are summarized as follows:
Agriculture (general)
Economic, historical, technical, commercial, sociological, legal, financial, educational, biographical, and other aspects.
Agricultural societies, organizations, cooperatives, etc.
Animal science
Animal husbandry, entomology, veterinary science, economic zoology, and zoology of domestic animals.
Plant science
Economic and general botany, plant culture, field crops, forest botany and forest crops, horticultural crops (including fruits vegetables, ornamentals), plant pathology, weeds, etc.
To support the research and program needs of the Department, the Library collects substantial materials in subjects such as chemistry, physics, biology, medicine, pharmacology, immunology, reproduction, natural history, wildlife, ecology and pollution, genetics, natural resources, meteorology, fisheries, and economics. The Library also collects selectively books and journals in such subjects as management science and computer technology to assist Department staff.
The annual review of the NAL file on borrowed copyrighted material suggests many of the titles and subjects that need additional coverage in order to meet the needs of the Department. Titles may be collected at various levels for a year or two or for many years depending on the need.
Types of Material
The Library collects substantive information in assorted formats for the advancement of agriculture in the United States. Increasing use of various media for communicating important agricultural information necessitates that NAL acquire and make these forms available to the agricultural community to insure the successful accomplishment of its mission.
Audiovisuals.
Audiovisual materials are acquired for the collection generally in those subjects that are collected at the research and comprehensive levels and generally in the English language.
Bibliographic variants.
When a book is published simultaneously in two or more places from the same plates, but with different imprints, such as in British, Canadian, and American works, the Library will not attempt to acquire more than a single imprint.
Dissertations.
Doctoral dissertations available from University Microfilms are ordered only when requested. All other doctoral dissertations are acquired when in scope. Masters theses are acquired when requested. Any thesis is acquired when written by USDA staff or in cooperation with the USDA.
Environmental Impact Statements.
NAL collects environmental impact statements (EIS's) issued by USDA but not those issued by other governmental bodies. Draft environmental impact statements are not collected, even when issued by USDA.
Government Documents.
Publications issued under the authority of governments whether national, international, state, country or local are collected when they contain information of importance to agriculture. Such material is collected in accordance with the scope and coverage statements outlined in this policy. Additionally, NAL serves as the depository library for USDA and FAO publications and for GPO publications relating to agricultural subjects.
Juvenile materials.
Materials intended for children under the age of 14 will be collected in the field of human ecology, primarily in the English language. Important representative juvenile works may be collected on other agricultural subjects on a selective basis.
Legal materials.
With a few exceptions, the Beltsville Library limits its acquisitions of legal materials to unofficial texts and secondary material on legislation and judicial decision, e.g., History of the Food and Drug Act, Agricultural Legislation in the United States, History of Land Laws in Great Britain, and to compilations of laws devoted to agricultural subjects. Domestic laws (Federal and State), as well as similar domestic legal materials required by the Department's legal officers, are the responsibility of the Law Branch. Briefs, testimonies, petitions, etc., issued by the Department of Agriculture are filed in the Office of the General Counsel. These are not normally duplicated in the Library. Foreign laws and the instruments to implement the law, such as the statutory instruments of Great Britain, official gazettes, etc., are included in the Library of Congress collection and are not duplicated in the Library.
Machine-Readable Materials.
Computer software and databases requiring the use of
electronic systems for processing and access are acquired
for the collection. Selections are generally restricted
to subject areas which the Library collects at the research
or comprehensive levels. For more specific information,
refer to Addendum No.
2, the Electonic Resources Selection Policy.
Manuscripts.
Manuscripts are accepted when of substantial interest and within scope.
Maps.
Only maps published by USDA are collected. Bound atlases that may be needed for reference use are acquired and retained selectively.
Microforms.
Microform materials are acquired particularly for large sets of documents when many of the titles are of interest to Library users, or when acquisition of the whole set is the most practical way to obtain the titles of interest, or when such acquisition assures more complete coverage. Examples of such sets are the documents and official records of the United Nations; selected reports in the Library's areas of interest issued by the National Technical Information Services; and all FAO documents cited in FAO Documentation - Current Bibliography. The Library is also acquiring, through a national program it has sponsored, microfilm copies of some State land-grant agricultural publications. Microforms may be acquired to provide additional copies of much used periodicals, or of important materials which are damaged or deteriorating, to provide issues of journals not available in hard copy, or when it appears practical to acquire only microform copies of a periodical not highly used. Single monographs are obtained in microform when it is the only format in which they are made available.
Newsletters.
Newsletters may be acquired for the collection if they
are of substantial interest and if they are in a subject
collected at the Comprehensive level. For more specific
information on criteria used in the selection of newsletters,
refer to Addendum 1, Newsletter
Selection Guidelines.
Newspapers.
Newspapers are collected if of substantial or historical interest in the areas of agriculture.
Patents.
Patents, except for plant patents (see SB 123.5 in scope statements), are acquired for the user only when requested.
Portraits.
Generally, NAL does not include portraits in its holdings. Collections of portraits, artworks, and other nontraditional materials offered to the Library either directly or through the Associates NAL, Inc., will be considered for acceptance on individual merits and as space and resources permit.
Printouts from computerized data bases.
The Library does not collect printouts produced for individuals or as administrative or working tools, but rather limits collection to those produced for distribution or public use.
Rare books.
Rare or historical books or magazines are acquired when of substantial interest and within scope. Early writings are often essential, such as those on horticulture, plant or insect systematics, and travels of early naturalists.
Reprints.
The Library collects reprints of articles written by USDA authors; other reprints are collected only when representing material not available in the Library in other form. However, reprints issued in their own numbered series are admitted if these series are listed as such in the Union List of Serials or otherwise indexed in their own right. Reprints representing information not in the Library in other form are evaluated with the same criteria that govern selection of all materials. If they are substantive and within scope, they are collected.
Translations.
Translations from a foreign language into English and from an unfamiliar to a familiar language (e.g., Arabic to French) are acquired. Translations from English to a foreign language, or from one foreign language to another of similar difficulty, are admitted to the collection only on the basis of special consideration such as reference use, classic stature of the work, authorship, or special historical significance.
Exclusions.
Generally excluded from the collection are:
Clipping services
County farm bureau newspapers
Fiction and other forms of imaginative literature
Forms, form letters, etc.
Press releases
Radio and television scripts
USDA agency administrative or operating documents and records.(4)
The basic statement of the collection policy is expressed in terms of subject fields as given in the Library of Congress classification schedules and is arranged by the classification numbers from the schedules. For each subject a code is given to indicate the level of collecting intensity, e.g.:
Minimal level (code-Min): Collections that support minimal inquiries about this subject and include a very limited collection of general resources, including monographs and reference works. Periodicals directly dealing with this topic and in-depth electronic information resources are not collected.
The collection should be frequently and systematically reviewed for currency of information. Superseded editions and titles containing outdated information should be withdrawn. Classic or standard retrospective materials may be retained.
Basic level (code-Basic): Collections that introduce and define a subject, indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere, and support the needs of general library users through the first two years of college instruction include:
A limited collection of general monographs and reference tools.
A limited collection of representative general periodicals.
Defined access(5) to a limited collection of owned or remotely-accessed electronic bibliographic tools, texts, data sets, journals, etc.
The collection should be frequently and systematically reviewed for currency of information. Superseded editions and titles containing outdated information should be withdrawn. Classic or standard retrospective materials may be retained.
Study level (code-Study): Collections that provide information about a subject in a systematic way, but at a level of less than research intensity and support the needs of general library users through college and beginning graduate instruction include:
An extensive collection of general monographs and reference works and selected specialized monographs and reference works.
An extensive collection of general periodicals and a representative collection of specialized periodicals.
Limited collections of appropriate materials in languages other than the primary language of the collection and the country,for example, materials to aid in learning a language for non-native speakers o literature in the original language, such as German poetry in German or Spanish history in Spanish.
Extensive collections of the works of well-known authors and selections from the works of lesser-known authors.
Defined access to a broad collection of owned of remotely- accessed electronic resources, including bibliographic tools, texts, data sets, journals, etc.
The collection should be systematically reviewed for currency of information and for assurance that essential and important information is retained, including significant numbers of retrospective materials.
Research level (code-Res): Collections that contain the major published source materials required for doctoral study and independent research include:
A very extensive collection of general and specialized monographs and reference works.
A very extensive collection of general and specialized periodicals
Extensive collections of appropriate materials in languages other than the primary language of the country and collection.
Extensive collections of the works of both well-known and lesser-known authors.
Defined access to a very extensive collection of owned or remotely- accessed electronic resources, including bibliographic tools, texts, data sets, journals, etc.
Older material is retained and systematically preserved to serve the needs of historical research.
Comprehensive level (code-Com): Collections in a specifically defined field of knowledge that strive to be exhaustive as far as is reasonably possible (i.e., "special collections"), in all applicable languages include:
Exhaustive collections of published materials.
Very extensive manuscript collections.
Very extensive collections in all other pertinent formats.
Older material is retained and systematically preserved to serve the needs of historical research. A comprehensive level collection may serve as a national or international resource.
Footnotes: (1) R.S. 520, as amended by Pub. L. 92-419, title VI, sec. 603 (a), Aug. 30, 1972, 86 stat. 675 (7 U.S.C. 2201, 1970 ed. suppl. V). (2) R.S. 526, as amended by Pub. L. 92-419, title VI, sec. 603 (b), Aug. 30, 1972, 86 stat. 675 (7 U.S.C. 2201, 1970 ed. suppl. V). (3) Comments and recommendations on this policy from USDA staff and other interested persons will be welcomed. Address them to : Head, Collection Development Branch, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705. (4) Some archival documents and agency records, such as those of the USDA Graduate School and the Office of Audit, are housed in NAL stacks, but are not considered as part of the NAL collection. (5) The term defined access is used within the collection depth indicators to mean more than simply providing patrons with access to the Internet and one or more Internet browsers. Defined access refers to menu options on the library's or institution's web interface which link the user to owned or remotely-accessed electronic resources selected by the library with the needs of its patrons in mind. The level of defined access changes according to the level of the collection, that is, from limited to extensive to very extensive access to collections of electronic information.
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