Collection Development Program, Policies, and Guidelines

Collection Development Policy (revised April 13, 2026)

  1. Introduction: Collections at the UConn Library are responsive, relevant, and sustainable. We are committed to supporting the academic and scholarly success of our community. Our goal is to strike a balance between providing relevant resources to meet increasingly diverse research and teaching needs while staying within our budget. We are proud to hold the most comprehensive public research collection in the State of Connecticut and take developing and stewarding our public collection seriously.

    The UConn Library, which includes the Health Sciences Library, is comprised of nine physical locations: four on the Storrs campus, one at each of the four regional campuses, and one at the UConn Health campus. While the UConn Law Library is administratively separate from the UConn Library, we maintain a strong affiliation. The Homer Babbidge Library, our flagship location, is in the center of the Storrs campus. The Storrs campus is also home to the Music & Dramatic Arts Library in the Fine Arts complex, the Pharmacy Library in the Pharmacy/Biology building, and Archives & Special Collections at the Dodd Center for Human Rights. Each regional campus, Avery Point, Hartford, Stamford, and Waterbury, holds undergraduate-focused core collections as well as specialized research collections tailored to the needs of graduate programs: marine sciences at Avery Point; business, public policy, education, and social work at Hartford; business at Stamford; and education, nursing, and engineering at Waterbury. The Storrs and regional campus locations of the UConn Library share a single catalog, and the Health Sciences Library maintains a separate catalog and Health Sciences Library Collection Development Policy.

  2. Scope of the Collection: The library develops and maintains collections that inspire discovery and the creation of new knowledge by providing resources that support and enhance research and scholarship, undergraduate and graduate education, and emerging areas of interdisciplinary interest at UConn. The depth of collection development varies by discipline and is driven by scholarship and teaching priorities. Additionally, the library leverages Connecticut State Library databases and online resources when making acquisitions decisions to avoid duplication.

    The library recognizes that free access to ideas and freedom of expression are fundamental to research and education in a democratic society. We affirm our alignment with the Association of College & Research Libraries’ Diversity Standard 4, to develop collections inclusive of the needs of our community. We will not exclude any materials based on creators’ and/or publishers’ cultures, languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and other diversity factors.

  3. Access versus Ownership: The library is committed to supporting sustainable scholarship by implementing alternative means of accessing scholarly information, providing access at the point of need instead of just in case. Decisions about which materials to purchase, lease, borrow, or rely on open repositories for are based on research strengths, academic priorities, anticipated long-term need, the needs of students, faculty, and staff, and cost. For more information on this approach, visit our Future of Collections page.

    • 3.1 Collective Collections and Resource Sharing: Collective collections and resource sharing partnerships influence local collection building activities and purchase decisions. There are costs involved in maintaining memberships and partnerships and in facilitating resource sharing.

      Collections are developed to meet the needs of our community while also functioning as a node in networks of collective collections developed by libraries partnering at regional, national, and international levels. We recognize the vital importance of these in ensuring the scalable, long-term retention and access to the scholarly record and participate in the Eastern Academic Scholars Trust (EAST), a print retention partnership of over 190 college and university libraries from Maine to Florida and as far west as Ohio. The mission of EAST is to preserve and provide access to the collective scholarly record of print monographs, journals, and serials held by the participating libraries. The library is also a member of HathiTrust, a large-scale digital library and preservation repository that provides full-text search access to millions of digitized books, journals, and government documents, with full read and view access to works in the public domain.

      Resource sharing (that is, interlibrary loan) refers to the transactional practice of libraries borrowing and lending materials across institutions to meet user needs. The library has over 424 reciprocal agreements with libraries worldwide to fulfill user requests in lieu of ownership.

  4. Licensing Online Resources: The library pursues licenses that offer access to all our libraries and refrains from purchasing resources where restrictions would impede research, intellectual freedom, or be impossible to enforce. The library negotiates vendor licenses to comply with UConn’s contract policies and the State of Connecticut Terms and Conditions.

    It is important to note that while the library’s goal is to negotiate and acquire access for all libraries, the health sciences and law libraries have separate budgets and sometimes agree to terms that do not allow for access beyond their local specialized communities.

  5. Collections Budget: Staying within budget while supporting the needs of the UConn community is paramount. The primary use of our collections budget is for books, ejournals, and databases. It also supports interlibrary borrowing and lending activities, discovery tools and systems, the University’s scholarly output (via Digital Commons @ UConn and the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA)), participation in collaborative repositories that safeguard the long-term preservation of both print and digital resources, and professional and collection-related memberships. The library additionally collaborates with schools and departments to co-finance specialized resources that benefit our research community.

  6. Responsibility for Collection Development: The library’s Senior Leadership Team, with efforts led by the Collections Strategist, has administrative oversight for the collections including setting collection development policies, making broad collection budget allocations, and regularly reviewing allocations for strategic adjustment. Led by the Collections Strategist, library professionals with curatorial and subject responsibilities (that is, selectors) work with colleagues in the Acquisition & Discovery unit to review, develop, and recommend collections and information sources relating to their academic disciplines, interdisciplinary collections, and discovery tools.

  7. General Criteria for Collection Development: In the context of ongoing fiscal constraints, the library considers the needs of the UConn community and the availability of external resources in determining what to acquire or retain and applies the following general criteria when evaluating additions to the general collections:

    • Relevance to education and research programs: Applicability to current curricular needs, research interests, and trends in academic disciplines.
      • Course support: We strive to serve the most students and strategically acquire required course materials (for example, books, ebooks, and streaming video) as the collections budget allows. In lieu of a purchase, instructors may submit personal copies of required course texts to be kept as a Course Reserve item.
    • Scope and depth of the existing collection: Breadth and historic retention in the subject area
    • Quality: Level of scholarship and creativity; long-term relevance of content and format; reputation of the author, publisher, contributors, and editorial board; and availability and importance of illustrations and bibliographies
    • Currency and timeliness: Rapidity with which new information significantly advances or supersedes earlier scholarship in the subject area
    • Discoverability, usability, and accessibility: Ability of users to locate materials in scholarly databases, the library catalog, and free search engines, intuitiveness of the interface design, and accessibility of online materials for users with disabilities
    • Cost and renewal rates: Expense of acquiring, processing, cataloging, shelving, and preserving physical materials, both commercially sold and free; the sustainability of online subscriptions and resources with ongoing and/or annually increasing fees
    • Language and country of origin: Optimal language and perspective for specific programmatic research and education needs
    • Contribution to open scholarly communication: The positive impacts to open access research and scholarship; the information is or will soon become readily accessible to the global community
    • Agreeable license language and consensus: For online resources (for example, journal subscriptions, databases, and publisher platforms), providers and the library must agree to contract terms, including the State of Connecticut Terms and Conditions 

  8. Material Type and Format: The library aims to provide easy access to the UConn community and prefers to obtain materials in electronic format. When selecting e-resources, the library favors those that allow unlimited simultaneous use, avoid digital rights management technology (DRM-free), are accessible to all members of the community, are functionally reliable, cost-effective, and user-friendly.

    Following are the primary types of materials acquired for the general collection:

    • Books (physical and ebooks)
    • Ejournals
    • Newspapers (online)
    • Databases, including primary source collections
    • Sound recordings
    • Music scores
    • Streaming media (films)
    • Zines (UConn Library Zines Guide)

    Note on new material types: The library may undertake pilot projects to assess the capacity and value of supporting new types of materials.

    Note on self-published items: The UConn Library recognizes that the general criteria for collection development may not always suit the evaluation of self-published items, like zines, for acquisition. Self-published items are often created by underrepresented voices or minoritized groups and can serve to diversify the collection. Self-published items will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis for inclusion in the general collection.

    The library generally does not acquire the following for the general collection:

    • Single issues or incomplete runs of print journals
    • Outdated formats
    • Multiple copies: The purchase of multiple physical copies is discouraged in lieu of considering multi-user electronic resources to meet demand
    • Replacements: Lost, missing, or damaged materials are not automatically purchased. See section 10.1 Collection Assessment and Maintenance> 10.1 Replacements for more information.
    • Unauthorized copies of books, print-on-demand books, and books authored by artificial intelligence (AI)

  9. Donations: Anyone wishing to donate materials to a Storrs or regional campus library is asked first to submit an inquiry to the Collections Strategist. Anyone wishing to donate materials to the Health Sciences Library, Law Library, or Archives & Special Collections should contact them directly. For information about donating zines, see the Donations/Gifts tab at https://guides.lib.uconn.edu/zines/uconn

    Donations of books and other scholarly materials that are in excellent physical condition and significantly relevant to the community’s research and learning needs are welcome. Prior to acceptance, donors will be asked to provide a list of materials they wish to donate, including authors, titles, ISBNs if applicable, and publication dates. Upon acceptance, materials irrevocably become the property of the University of Connecticut. Disposition of materials is at the sole discretion of the Dean of Library or designees, and donors cannot be informed of disposition decisions. Donated materials not added to the collections are regifted, sold, recycled, or discarded and cannot be returned to donors. We do not accept walk-in donations or unapproved drop-offs at any of our facilities. In accordance with federal tax laws, the library cannot provide monetary appraisals of donated materials.

    The library gratefully welcomes gifts of financial support at any time.

  10. Collection Assessment and Maintenance: The collections, including physical and online materials, are constantly reviewed to ensure that resources are usable, accessible, meet current needs, and remain affordable.

    • 10.1 Replacements: Lost, missing, or damaged physical materials do not automatically trigger the purchase of a replacement. Decisions are influenced by past use, currency of information, immediate need, regional holdings, collective collections retention commitments, and cost. Physical items may be replaced by electronic or online editions.

    • 10.2 Deselection of Physical Items and Cancellation of Subscription Resources: Evaluation of resources is an essential element of collection development that ensures collections remain relevant, usable, and affordable. Disposition of all deselected materials is at the sole discretion of the library. The following criteria are used when evaluating items and resources for removal from the general collections:

      • Research, teaching, and learning value
      • Retention commitments in collective collections partnerships (for example, EAST)
      • Physical condition
      • Completeness of multi-volume sets
      • Discoverability, usability, and accessibility
      • Usage statistics
      • Currency of information
      • Availability of newer editions
      • Duplication
      • Cost per measurable use (for online resources)
      • Increase in cost
      • License language (for example, impasse at contract renegotiation or renewal)
      • Format obsolescence
      • Uniqueness and redundancy among the holdings of other libraries

    • 10.3 Reconsideration of Materials: The library is committed to the principles of intellectual freedom as outlined in the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights. Challenges to collection development decisions are governed by the reconsideration review process. Reconsideration of Library Materials forms are available from the Associate University Librarian for Collections & Discovery.

      The completed and signed form will be reviewed by the Associate University Librarian for Collections & Discovery in consultation with the Collections Strategist, appropriate subject and curatorial experts, and the library’s Senior Leadership Team as applicable, for a recommendation to the Dean of the Library. The complainant shall be notified within three months from the date of receipt of the form, except under unusual circumstances. All decisions are final. Once validated by the process, materials shall not be eligible for further reevaluation. An updated file listing the title, date challenged, date resolved, and disposition will be kept by the library and provided to anyone who requests it.

  11. Archives & Special Collections: Archives & Special Collections is responsible for acquiring, preserving, and providing access to historical, artistic, and literary materials of enduring value. The department builds and stewards distinctive collections that support the teaching, research, and service mission of UConn, strengthen established collecting areas, and document the institutional history of the university. Collecting priorities emphasize unique or rare materials of regional, national, and international significance that complement existing strengths, deepen areas of demonstrated research use, and document communities and experiences historically underrepresented in the archival record.

    Collections are acquired primarily by donation and are evaluated through a collaborative appraisal process in accordance with Archives & Special Collections’ acquisition policy, University of Connecticut Records Retention policies, and the terms of a formal Deed of Gift. Acceptance decisions reflect a long-term commitment to responsible stewardship, including preservation, description, and equitable access. Purchases are made selectively, using library or endowed funds, to secure mission-aligned materials of enduring research value that would not otherwise be available through donation or transfer.

  12. Law Library: The Thomas J. Meskill Law Library in Hartford provides comprehensive, current, and relevant print and digital collections that support the school’s students, faculty, and staff in the advancement of legal scholarship, legal education, and legal research. The Law Library maintains a separate Law Library collection development policy regarding its collection development program.

Approved April 13, 2026.