1. Legislative
Mandate
The laws of Montana (22-1-101-218 MCA) stipulate, in part, that the State Library Commission has the power to furnish library assistance and information services to state officials, state departments, and residents of those parts of the state inadequately serviced by libraries.
22-1-212 MCA provides for the establishment of a state publications library depository and distribution center, ensuring permanent public access to state agency publications.
95-15-301
MCA provides for MSL to maintain a Natural Resource Information System, a
comprehensive system for the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of data
relating to the natural resources of
95-15-302
MCA provides for the establishment at the state library of a Natural Heritage
Program, a collection of information on the status and distribution of
90-15-305
MCA provides for the state library to operate a Water Information System to
provide access to information relating to
The Collection Development Policy outlines the state library’s responsibilities as the principal library and information source for state government, to provide Montana librarians with access to more specialized reference resources than commonly held in local libraries, and to make government information, including the publications of state government agencies as well as information mined from state agency databases, widely available to agency management and staff and Montana citizens.
The
Policy has been developed in accordance with the American Library Association
standards for the provision of services by state libraries to state government
and to libraries.
2. Purpose
of the Policy
The purpose of the Montana State Library’s Collection Development Policy is to present the criteria and philosophy for developing collection resources in accordance with legal mandate and professional standards. It defines procedures to assist the administrators and staff in State Library management and planning and insures responsible and consistent decision-making.
The
Policy also provides
3. Policy Implementation, Evaluation and
Revision
This Collection Development Policy is to be used in the development of all Montana State Library collections. Since the development process is cyclical and must constantly evolve to meet the needs of MSL patrons, this policy will be reviewed at the beginning of each fiscal year to determine if any revisions are needed. The management of the Digital Library Division and the State Librarian will review the policy. If substantial changes are made the policy will be submitted to the Montana State Library Commission.
4. Community
and user groups defined
It is the intent of the State Library to ensure that state government has a well-informed workforce with the knowledge of critical issues to make timely and well-considered decisions.
It is the intent of
the State Library to ensure that
4. Patron
Needs Defined:
State Government: “Relevant information and recorded knowledge
must be continually brought to bear on the affairs of government.” (
MSL
provides resources useful in formulating policy, developing and evaluating
programs, managing agencies, researching issues, and making decisions relative
to
Current collection
strengths are in management, technology reference and environmental and natural
resource information. The library maintains a definitive collection of state
agency publications, studies and reports, complemented by a highly selective
collection of federal documents. Primary and secondary sources, including
journal literature, are emphasized. The
library is the primary point of access to geospatial databases developed by
state and federal agencies, and routinely extracts related information from
5.
The Montana State Library has six major collection areas in a variety of formats including paper, microfilm and microfiche, CD-ROM’s, DVD’s, on-line databases and Internet resources.
A. Reference Collection
The reference collection provides primary source information
to answer specific questions by state employees. A secondary role is providing
supportive reference services to local libraries and
Currently this collection is primarily monographic and print in nature, but all formats are considered when acquiring resources for this collection. The State Library evaluates electronic resources and makes purchases in the formats that best meet the needs of the Library and its users. This collection includes, but is not limited to, specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries, various professional periodicals, medical and literature indexes, biographical information and online databases.
B. General Collection
The general collection includes a strong collection of library science materials to provide resources for developing library services, managing libraries, automating libraries, and updating librarian knowledge and skills with continuing education materials.
Other strengths of the
general collection include personnel management, organizational change and
planning, botanical, biological and geologic sciences, western Native American
books, and standard
C. Journal Collection
The journal collection primarily addresses the information needs of state employees. The bulk of the collection is represented in electronic scientific and technical journals with a special emphasis on agriculture, commerce, economics, environmental technology, natural resource issues, political science, social services and zoology. This collection also includes a number of library science journals. Preference in subscriptions is given to those peer reviewed journals listed in indexes and abstracting services.
D.
State
Publications Collection
22-1-212 MCA provides for a division of the state library to
serve as the state publications library depository and distribution center. The
State Library supports the basic right of citizens to know about the activities
of state government and to benefit from the information developed at public
expense. It maintains a comprehensive collection of state publications for
circulation to agency employees and citizens. This is also in keeping with ALA
Standards for Library Services to State Government which stipulate, “…the
state shall maintain a complete collection of its own state government…[and]
the full collection for each state will normally be maintained by the state
library…”
The State Library defines a state publication as informational matter produced for public distribution regardless of format, method of reproduction, source or copyright, originating or produced with the imprint of, by the authority of or at the total or partial expense of any state agency or is required to be distributed by law by the agency and is publicly distributed outside the agency by or on behalf of the agency.
MSL actively solicits copies of current publications from all state agencies. It does not actively collect and will not usually accept copies of publications older than ten years. Exceptions are made in areas of special interest requested by patrons. Printed State publications in older than 30 years is offered to the Montana Historical Society for archiving and preservation.
E. Federal documents
collection
The Montana State Library
is a depository library in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP),
established by the U.S. Congress to ensure the American public has access to
government information. Other FDLP libraries in the state include the
MSL has been a depository library since 1966. Under federal law, the State Library must retain all documents received for five years. At the end of this period, documents will remain in the collection or be discarded according to established procedures.
Major collection
strengths are Agriculture, EPA, and the Interior Department. These agency
selections are made to support state employee information needs and to
complement the collection levels in the other collections of the library.
Federal documents not acquired are accessed through the Internet and other
depository libraries, especially the Mansfield Library at the
The collection is maintained in accordance with the requirements defined in the Instructions to Depository Libraries, Guidelines for the Depository Library System, and the Federal Depository Manual.
F: Natural
Resource Information System / Natural Heritage Program
Established in 1985 by the
Montana Legislature, the mission of the Montana Natural Resource Information
System (NRIS) is to make information on
NRIS acquires,
integrates, maintains, and documents natural resource data and information
needed for understanding, managing, and utilizing
The Natural Heritage Program (NHP) is a part of the Natural Resource Information System and provides information on the status and distribution of our native animals and plants, emphasizing species of concern and high quality habitats, such as wetlands. NHP provides this information for a broad range of uses, including mining, timber sales, subdivisions, utility and pipeline corridors, oil and gas developments, weed management, highway construction, growth planning, and habitat conservation.
6. Cooperative
Collection Development
The State Library collection development policy seeks to complement the collections of state agency libraries and resource centers listed below, that provide highly specialized materials or working collections to employees of their respective agencies. Periodic consultations with appropriate staff will guide selections in these areas.
A.
Agency
libraries established by
A.1 State Law Library of
A.2. Historical Society Library and Archives
A.3. State Census and Economic
90-1-109 MCA states,
in part, that the Department of Commerce shall “...establish and maintain a
central depository of information...concerning the significant characteristics
of the state, its people, economy, land and physical characteristics
[and]...analyze and disseminate such information to state, federal, and local
agencies and to the general public.”
The Census and
B. Agency libraries that have established extensive collections and a full range of professional services include:
B.1. Office
of Public Instruction Library
The primary mission of this library is to fulfill the information needs of OPI staff. Collection emphasis is on K-12 education and includes numerous journals, OPI archives on microfiche and selected documents from the U.S. Department of Education.
B.2. Legislative
Library
A unit of the Legislative
Services Division, this library provides reference, research assistance and
interlibrary borrowing services to legislators and legislative staff. The
collection focuses on issues of current concern to the
C. Other agencies that collect materials into a centralized resource center and provide basic services for agency employees currently include:
C.1. Department of Transportation
The MDT Research Library maintains a collection of transportation research materials including American Society for Testing and Materials standards, documents, videos and CD-ROMs from the Transportation Research Board and other federal agencies, and materials from other state departments of transportation and public and private organizations.
C.2. Department of
Environmental Quality
The DEQ Planning Division Library maintains several collections including energy, integrated solid waste management, and air and water quality. Reference materials cover energy policy and planning, conservation, renewable energy, and materials on transportation and agricultural energy.
C.3. Department of Natural
Resources and Conservation
The library collections include a water library, engineering, geology and an archive of department publications.
C.4. Fish, Wildlife and Parks
The Fisheries Division Library consists of reports by FWP biologists on
C.5. Public Service Commission
The PSC Library maintains a collection of journal, text, and video resources on public utility regulation, transportation, telecommunications, energy and related topics.
The university libraries
established by the state and supported by state funding have extension
collections and a full range of professional services. The primary missions of these libraries are
to serve the university population of students, faculty, and staff. The university libraries are open to the
public and residents of the state of
The Montana State Library relies on resource sharing programs as an extension of its collections and as a service to its user groups. Using electronic bibliographic networks, the State Library identifies, locates and requests materials on behalf of state government employees when the appropriate or requested materials are not available locally. Consideration of purchasing items that fall within the scope our collection policy is also part of this process.
The Montana State Library depends on
other
1) public libraries for standard reference works, fiction and other forms of imaginative literature, biographies and general non-fiction, popular, ephemeral or trivial material not of direct interest to government; and large print books;
2) school libraries for standard school reference works and textbooks and curriculum-related fiction and non-fiction materials;
3) academic libraries for comprehensive collections of scholarly reference works, research journals and monographs; and
4) special libraries to collect highly specialized or technical resources in medicine, law, genealogy or other area of special interest.
7. Other
Priorities and Policies:
The Montana State Library maintains current materials in all its collections. Standard or classic texts in various subject areas will be retained. Obsolete or superceded materials in the reference, general, federal documents and periodical collections will be removed according to established standards for deselecting materials. The state publications collection will remain intact according to state law and as part of our mission to state government employees.
A. Archives
After 30 years, printed state records and publications considered historically significant become the responsibility and fall under the care of the Montana Historical Society. State publications are generally transferred to the Historical Society’s non-circulating collection after 30 years, although copies of older selected publications deemed to be of continuing value to State Library patrons are held in the collection. State publications that are retained by the Montana State Library after this time period remain part of the circulating collection and are made available to all interested persons.
Strong emphasis is placed on collecting bibliographies indexes and compendiums as defined within this policy to provide access to all fields of knowledge, and to serve as a foundation for basic and support collection levels.
No attempt is made to acquire more than a single imprint of books published simultaneously in two or more places from the same plates; however, new editions of works in basic and research collection areas are acquired.
As a regional library for the blind and
eligible visually handicapped, the Montana State Library maintains a basic
collection of recorded materials to provide a wide range of informational and
recreational reading. Volunteers record materials of regional interest or those
selected to meet special needs of eligible
Doctoral dissertations are acquired selectively in response to state employee information requests.
Multimedia recordings in digital or video format are acquired selectively in accordance with the collection levels defined in this policy.
The State Library selectively collects
maps by the United States Geological Survey, the Forest Service, the Bureau of
Land Management and other federal and state agencies. Emphasis is given to
The policy is to avoid duplication of materials. Multiple copies will be considered if high patron demand requires it. The major exception to this is our state publications collection in which at least two copies are acquired.
The materials budget is part of the State Library agency budget that is approved and allocated biennially from the general fund by the Montana State Legislature. Other occasional funds, such as Coal Severance Tax monies, Library Services and Technology Act funds, and private donations are used for collection development.
Although the State Library will make a reasonable attempt to acquire information identified as needed by its patrons, the ability to acquire materials is limited by the legislatively authorized materials budget.
9. Collection
Responsibilities and Selection Procedures
Recommendations for purchases are identified through patron requests, interlibrary loan statistics, agency needs assessments, book review journals and by suggestion of any interested person. Materials being considered for purchase or renewal are reviewed at regular intervals.
Decisions will be based on identified need, the collection levels set in this Collection Development Policy for materials in the subject area, the quality of the material, monies available for purchases, and the availability of the material through interlibrary loan.
10. Gifts Policy:
Gifts are evaluated and accepted according to the needs and collection levels of this policy. They may include all forms of print and non-print material suitable to the Montana State Library collections. Gifts will be acknowledged, but the State Library is enjoined from placing a value for tax purposes on gifts received. Gifts become the exclusive property of the Montana State Library. The State Library reserves the right to dispose of any unused gifts through exchange, sale, referral, or discard. If a gift is not added to our collection every effort will made to place the item in an appropriate library.
11. Collection Maintenance:
The Montana State Library continuously evaluates current and potential resources and deselects items not required to fulfill our mission.
A. Withdrawal of materials:
Systematic deselecting of materials in the collections is an integral part of any collection development. The same care, thought, and judgment must be exercised in this process as in the original selection of materials.
B. Replacement:
Replacement is not automatic when materials are lost, damaged or worn out. Need for replacement is weighed against the following factors:
a) Demand for the particular title or subject.
b) Availability of similar material in our collections or through the cooperating sources described in Section 6.
c) Availability and cost of better and more current material.
12. Complaints and Censorship:
The State Library supports intellectual freedom and endorses the following statements: the “Library Bill of Rights” the “Freedom to Read Statement” and the “Electronic Bill of Rights” (American Library Association)
The State Library recognizes the right of individuals to question materials in the Library’s collections. An individual questioning materials is free to discuss such materials with designated members of the library staff. An individual may state his or her opinion in writing on the “Statement of Concern About Library Materials”. The concern will be reviewed by the State Librarian to determine if the item(s) meet the selection criteria as described in this document. The State Librarian will reply to the individual in writing as soon as practical.
Definitions of collection levels
The definitions follow recommendations developed by the American Library Association for collection development policies. Modifications have been made to accommodate the specific client groups and network responsibilities of the State Library.
Minimal:
A subject area which is out of scope for the State Library; few selections are made beyond basic reference works.
Basic:
A selective collection of materials which contributes to immediate understanding of a subject and indicates the variety of information available elsewhere. Such a collection includes major dictionaries and encyclopedias, selected editions of important works, general surveys, important bibliographies and a few major periodicals in the field. A basic information collection is not sufficiently intensive to support government programs or independent study in the subject area involved.
Support:
A collection that supports government interests, services and programs, assigned network responsibilities, or independent study. It includes a wide range of basic monographs and government documents, a selection of representative journals, and the reference tools and fundamental bibliographic resources pertaining to the subject.
Research:
A collection that includes the major source materials required for governmental, professional and independent research, including seminal works, materials containing research reporting, scientific and experimental results, and other information useful for researchers. It includes all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as an extensive collection of journals and major indexing and abstracting services in the field.
Exhaustive:
A collection that the Library endeavors, so far as reasonably possible, to include all significant works of recorded knowledge for a necessarily defined and limited field.
This level of intensity is rare in any library; the aim, if not the achievement, is exhaustive coverage.
The following tables represent the current snapshot of collection levels
identified in the general and reference collections.
NOTE: Target collection
levels are established as state government agency information needs are
assessed and division budget allows.
DEWEY CLASS 000’S GENERALITIES
All 000’s from 000-099 are maintained at a minimal level with the following exceptions:
Division Collection Primary
Level Collection
001.44 Grant
support and basic reference
research
004 Data
processing support general
005 Computers, programming support general
010 Bibliography basic reference
020 Library and information support general
science
030 General
encyclopedias basic reference
050 General serial publications support reference
and
their indexes
061 General organizations in basic reference
070 Journalism
and publishing support reference
Sample
selected materials from this area include:
Encyclopedia of Associations, Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media, Serials Directory, Index of Conference Proceedings, Ulrich’s International Periodical Directory, World Book, Library Literature, Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. Journals: American Libraries, Library Journal, PC Magazine, Wired.
All 100’s from 100-199 are maintained at a minimal level with the following exceptions:
Level Collection
150 Psychology basic reference
Sample selected materials from this collection: Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Encyclopedia of Psychology, Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology, Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics.
All 200’s are maintained at the minimum level of collection.
Sample selected materials from this collection: The Holy Bible, The Noble Qur’an, Handbook of Denominations.
All 300’s from 300-399 are maintained at a minimal level with the following exceptions:
Level Collection
300 Social sciences support gen/ref
320 Political science support gen/ref
330 Economics basic gen/ref
331 Labor economics basic general
333 Land economics basic general
336 Public finance support general
338 Production support general
350-354 Public administration support general
360 Social
problems support general
and services
370 Education basic gen/ref
378 Higher education basic reference
390 Customs,
etiquette, support gen/ref
folklore
Sample selected resources:
All 400’s from 400-499 are maintained at a minimal level with the following exceptions:
Level Collection
422 Dictionaries of standard support reference
English
427 Historical and geographical support reference
variations
of English
428 Standard English usage support reference
430-490
Foreign language
tapes basic general
and dictionaries
Sample selected materials from this collection: Roget’s International Thesaurus, Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations Dictionary, Dictionary of American Slang.
All 500’s from 500-599 are maintained at a minimal level with the following exceptions:
Level Collection
503 Dictionaries and basic reference
encyclopedias
510 Mathematics basic general
519 Statistics basic general
550 Geology support reference
570 Life sciences support reference
580 Botanical sciences support reference
590 Zoological sciences support reference
Selected resources: McGraw-Hill
Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Publications of the United States
Geological Survey, Vascular Plants of the Northwest, Birds of North America,
Water Encyclopedia. Journals: Journal of Animal Ecology, Water Resources
Bulletin, American
Other resource libraries: Water Information System, Montana Natural Heritage Program, United States Geological Survey, Montana State University, University of Montana, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology.
All 600’s from 600-699 will be maintained at a minimal level with the following exceptions:
Level Collection
610 Medical Sciences basic reference
629.83 Maintenance and repair support reference
639.9 Conservation of support gen/ref
biological
resources
658 General
management support general
670.7 Manufacturing
directories support reference
Sample selected materials from this collection: Hazardous Chemicals on File. Journals: Journal of the American Medical Association, State and Local Government Review.
All 700’s from 700-799 are maintained at a minimal level with the following exceptions:
Level Collection
727.8 Library buildings basic general
780 Music support reference
790 Philosophy of recreation basic general
Sample elected resources: Guinness
Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Journals: Parks & Recreation, Library
Journal.
Other resource libraries:
All 800’s from 800-899 are maintained at a minimal level with the following exceptions:
Level Collection
808.88 Literary Criticism support reference
Sample selected resources: Granger’s Index
to Poetry,
All 900’s from 900-999 are maintained at a minimal level with the following exceptions:
Level Collection
910.3 Gazetteers basic reference
920 Biography support reference
928 Persons in literature support reference
970.1-970.5 Indians of North America support general
978
Sample selected resources: Omni Gazetteer
of the
FEDERAL DOCUMENTS COLLECTION
As a federal depository for U.S. Government information, the State Library selects categories of publications from the various agencies for the collection.
Department of Agriculture basic
Department of Commerce support
Department of Energy basic
Department of Education basic
Environmental Protection
Agency support
Federal Emergency Management
Agency basic
Government Printing Office support
Department of Health and
Human Services basic
Department of Homeland
Security basic
Department of Interior support
Department of Justice basic
Department of Labor support
Library of Congress basic
Executive Office of the
President support
Social Security
Administration basic
Smithsonian Institute basic
Department of the Treasury basic
Department of Transportation support