Library & Information Hub Policies

• Under the direction of the Dean, Academic Information Services, the Library provides instructional support services to faculty, staff, and students. Library materials and electronic services and access are provided in support of the instructional program.
• The library does not purchase textbooks, workbooks, or study guides. If an instructor wishes to place on reserve a copy of materials being used as a text, the instructor is responsible for acquiring said material.
• Except for reference materials and those with heavy and continued use, materials will not be duplicated at both campuses.
• Electronic resources, including databases and e-books, provide valuable information that supports the MiraCosta College curriculum and complements the materials currently collected by the college library. Remote access to all electronic resources will be made available to current students, faculty, and staff of the college with a valid SURF identification number and password. This attribute supports and enhances MiraCosta's goals to provide distance education and to blend technology with learning. Selection of all electronic resources will be made in accordance with MiraCosta College's Guidelines for Selecting and Discarding Materials.
• Interlibrary loan transactions will be analyzed for future purchases.
• The librarian on the Courses and Programs Committee will work directly with the faculty developing new courses and programs, ensuring that at the inception of the new curricula, sufficient materials for student success will be in place in the collection.

Reference: MiraCosta Community College District
Manual of Administrative Procedures
Article VII: Academic Affairs VIIA-07

• The selection and evaluation of materials is based on curricular demands, the recommendations of current professionals’ review of media, standard selection devices, and the suggestions and requests of members of the college community. Maintenance of high quality in the libraries’ collection requires that materials considered for purchase be appraised by such criteria as factional accuracy and objectivity, authority, excellence of expression, lasting literary, historical or other value, suitability of format and subject matter, timeliness, and maturity level.
• Materials that may be appropriate for discard include those that are in poor condition, beyond economic repair, superfluous, or obsolete.
• Library faculty and discipline faculty have a joint responsibility for collection development and maintenance. The librarians are responsible for the selection of reference materials, general materials not related to specific curricular areas, and for maintaining a balance among the various subject areas and among materials in various formats. The final decision to order the purchase of materials is the responsibility of the Dean, Academic Information Services.
• The librarians recognize that members of instructional departments have special expertise to evaluate the suitability of the library holdings in their respective disciplines, and the faculty acknowledges that an aspect of their instructional responsibilities is to help ensure the availability of pertinent and current learning resources. The procedure for annual program review includes an option in which instructional department members are highly encouraged to survey the materials in their disciplines and make recommendations to the library staff for retiring outdated or unusable resources, and for purchasing new materials for the collection.

The college does accept donations. After review the materials will either be added to the collection or given away to students. For more information please contact the Collection Development Librarian: Glorian Sipman.

• Materials representing various sides of controversial subjects are included in the library collection as a matter of routine. No material that is otherwise appropriate will be excluded in order to keep its ideas from students. None will be excluded solely because its ideas will be considered by some distasteful or harmful. Attempts by individuals of groups to influence what students read, listen to, or view are considered legitimate only if they are advanced in a way that does not violate the liberties of students and does not interfere with the professional responsibilities of the faculty, the administration, and the Governing Board.
• If the suitability of particular material is questioned, the specific objections should be submitted in writing to the Dean, Academic Information Services. The Dean will refer the matter to the Academic Affairs Committee for consideration and action. The Senate Council will ratify the Committee’s decision and advise the Superintendent/President of the disposition of the complaint. The complainant shall be advised in writing of the Committee’s disposition of the complaint.

Library Bill of Rights

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that basic policies should guide their services.