A Study of Collection Development Policies of the University Libraries in Korea

한국의 종합대학도서관 장서개발정책에 관한 연구

This study is a survey of collection development policies in the 40 university libraries among 42 in Korea as of 1984. The survey used a questionnaire with 36 questions concerning the basic elements of the collection development policy. The survey results revealed many problems demanding correction. The measures to correct the problems in the university libraries are as follows. 1. It is desirable that the libraries should have a collection development policy statement written and adopted for the systematic collection building. 2. It is advisable that the libraries should include a function of the materials selection among other various functions of the Library Committee for the purpose of informing administrators of the goals of the libraries and the validity of the budgetary allocation. 3. It is desirable that each library should organize the Collection Development Committee for minimizing the possibility of personal bias on the part of the individual selectors. 4. It is advisable that the primary responsibility for materials selection should be delegated as follows: for the materials for faculty research, to the faculty members; for the other collections, to the professional staff of each department; for the final review of whether or not to purchase, to the Collection Development Committee. 5. It is desirable for the purchase priority of materials to be set up in accordance with the order of 6 levels of collection development. 6. It is advisable that the libraries should, as top priority, purchase materials in direct su n.0, pport of the undergraduate and graduate academic programs, and in subject matter areas other than languages and literature, Korean materials should have not only the higher priority than the foreign language materials, but also maintain the comprehensive collection level. 7. It is desirable that the special collections should be purchased by special funds from the authority, and the special collections librarian should have the responsibility of the materials selection under the advice of the faculty members relating to the subject area. 8. It is advisable that duplicate copies should be bought only for high use items, but for reserve books, by the program enrollment, and textbooks should not be bought in general, except as su n.0, pplemental materials for course work in which they are necessary and heavily used. 9. It is reasonable that the material budget should be distributed as follows: by the ratio for distributing funds, about 60-70% for the library and 30-40% for departments; by the type of materials, about 50% for books, 40% for periodicals and 10% for other materials, or when not bought other materials, about 50-60% for books and 40-50% for periodicals. In addition, it is desirable that undergraduate class enrollment, graduate class enrollment, undergraduate majors, graduate majors, average book cost in the discipline, number of faculty, and use rate by subject should be considered as the factors for the allocation of funds by department, and special consideration should be given to newly-founded departments so the library holdings can be adequate to su n.0, pport them.