Collections Development Policy -- Mount Allison University Libraries

THE FRAMEWORK (for purposes of assessment, building and allocation)

Subject Divisions of the Library of Congress Classification

The subject divisions of the Library of Congress Classification scheme will be used by the Mount Allison Libraries for the purposes of collection analysis and collection building.

The LC system has been in use in academic libraries for almost 100 years, and in this Library for more than 50 years.  The subject divisions of this classification system will be the structure upon which all development and the allocation of funds is based and upon which all statistics with regard to purchasing, shelving and circulation are gathered.

Building and monitoring the collections within this subject framework focuses attention on the subject content of the collection and its ability to meet the needs placed upon it.  It reflects the interdisciplinary nature of teaching and research rather than departmental divisions and acknowledges the growing overlap in intellectual subject matter in courses taught at the University.

Please see section Subject Profiles for detailed description of subject areas in the Library of Congress classification.

The following collections are treated separately:

1. The Government Documents Collection

Mount Allison has a depository arrangement with the Federal Government to house and maintain collections of material deposited here, and the collection is catalogued using the CODOC system.  Since not all needed material is received on deposit, an allocation is made from the operating fund for purchases (see Government Documents Collections Policy, Appendix A).

2. The Mary Mellish Archibald Memorial Library

A special collection of material on folklore and folkmusic which is supported through the MMAML Endowment fund (see Mary Mellish Archibald Memorial Library Collections Policy, Appendix B).

3. The Winthrop Pickard Bell Collection of Acadiana

A special collection of material on the land area once known as Acadia, which is supported through funds allocated from the Winthrop Pickard Bell Chair in Maritime Studies (see Winthrop Pickard Bell Collection of Acadiana Collections Policy, Appendix C).

4. Newspapers

Newspapers are selected to meet the reference and research needs of students as well as to satisfy requirements for current information and interest in current events.  A representative selection of international, national, and local papers  will be maintained (see further description under Special Categories of Material).

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