Authorised Selectors
All academic staff are authorised to place recommendations for non-serial items for the Library. Items requested by academic staff are normally paid from the part of the Library's budget that is allocated to the recommender's school. If the item is to be housed in a reference collection, it is referred to the appropriate Manager of a subject library and will be purchased from that library's allocation.
Some schools prefer all recommendations to be submitted first to their Library Liaison Officer or School Library Committee. For information about the normal practice in your school, please contact your Library Liaison Officer.
Recommendations for new serial subscriptions, or the cancellation of current subscriptions, must be authorised by the Head of School or Library Liaison Officer. This authority is required because of the implications of making an ongoing commitment against limited budget funds.
Students may make suggestions for new items, but they will be referred to the appropriate Manager of a subject library or academic staff member for authorisation.
Selection Principles
When selecting items for the Library, the following principles should be considered:
RelevanceThe item should support the University's teaching and learning or research programmes.
Currency
In most cases recently published items and the latest editions are preferred, although there are some disciplines in which the research and scholarship of earlier times are relevant.
Likely extent of use
Preference should be given to items that are likely to receive a reasonable level of use. All items listed on reading lists should be acquired by the Library, and in cases where large numbers of students are enrolled for a particular course or unit, multiple copies may be recommended for purchase. Such multiple copies will normally be located in the Reserve Collection, at least for the duration of the course or unit for which they are required reading.
Format
The Library acquires resources in any suitable format, as long as equipment and software requirements can be accommodated. Requirements for specific audiovisual and electronic items should be checked with the Library at the time of selection.
Language
Priority is given to publications in the English language, apart from resources required to support departments teaching European and Asian languages. Items in other languages may be acquired when the need is demonstrated and their use is likely.
Cost
Scholarly resources vary widely in cost and the impact on the Library's budget should be considered. Single items costing more than $1,000 may be proposed for purchase from the Expensive Items Fund. Journals and other items that are purchased on a continuing basis require an ongoing budget commitment, and need to be continually reviewed because their cost tends to increase at a greater rate than the budget allocation
Selection Aids
The Library provides a number of services to assist with selection.
Promotional materialUnsolicited publishers' catalogues, fliers and leaflets are received by the Information Resources Access Management section and are distributed to the appropriate subject library. Specialised material is forwarded to academic staff to assist in selection.
New title information forms
These are printed forms, which are received from the Library's major book suppliers, and match a subject selection profile which the Library has established with those suppliers. They are usually sent direct to the appropriate subject library, and like the promotional material many of them are forwarded to academic staff.
Web resources
Library suppliers' databases which, as with the printed forms, may be accessed for profiled searching by registered selectors.
Internet bookshops and other sources of information about new titles. These resources must only be used for obtaining information, and not for the placing of orders.
