The collection development policy for the UConn Health Sciences Library guides library staff on the selection and purchasing of materials that support our community and enhance the existing collections while both staying within the scope of our collections and adhering to our budget. The policy helps define our commitment to support education, clinical practice, and research at UConn Health.
Parameters of Selection
The subject selection areas for the library include all courses of study in the medical and dental schools as well as supporting clinical and research activities.
Types of materials purchased for the collection include monographs, journals, online databases, serials, electronic subscriptions, and other necessary multi-media products.
Selection Priorities
The priorities for selection are as follows:
- Materials to support accreditation requirements.
- Materials to support the core programs.
- Materials required for faculty research.
- Materials responding to other needs of the library and the academic institution.
- Materials at the established proper collection level for each area.
Selection and Deselection Criteria
Quality of content and fulfillment of academic needs are the first criteria for selection of items to be included in the library’s collection. Specific considerations in choosing individual items include some or all of the following:
- Lasting value of the content;
- Content meets collection level;
- Strengths of present holdings in same or similar subject areas;
- Availability of material in other formats (such as online);
- Authoritativeness of the author or reputation of the publisher;
- Ongoing maintenance fees;
- Projected price increases for ongoing subscriptions;
- Storage requirements for both physical and digital resources;
- Cost
Other guidelines also utilized
- Textbooks are only purchased for reserves.
- Duplicate or multiple copies purchased only when demand for more than one copy is established and determined by usage statistics as analyzed by the purchasing committee with feedback from Information Desk Head.
- The Information Desk Head checks usage statistics and if an item is heavily used it will stay on reserve. If it is not heavily used it will be transferred to the stacks. New editions of these titles will not be purchased unless requested by faculty.
- We will encourage faculty to report to the library when they publish a book and will ask if they are willing to donate a copy to the library. We attempt to add faculty publications depending on our budget.
- Evaluating neglected topics and overrepresented topics. The library will run a list by call number ranges, publication year, and circulation/usage stats for review every year.
- Consideration will be given to a researcher who requires an expensive resource and brings funds to the institution when they are the only one who will use the resource.
Considerations for acquisitions decisions
- Due to budgetary constraints, there is no criteria that activates an automatic purchase. Each purchase request will be reviewed by the Purchasing Committee.
- Purchase requests will be considered by a review committee made up of three people;
Christine is the permanent member/chair of purchasing committee and has final word on
purchasing decisions, along with two librarians. Librarian positions rotate every two years.
- Requests by library staff for purchase of newer editions. When we have an older edition(s) of a book that is requested, requester consults usage statistics to see that they have been well used. They also check to see if that subject area is well represented. If so, justify request.
- For a new title, check our holdings for other texts that cover that topic. Consider how well used those texts have been, how old owned texts are, and if a new text will cover significant changes in the topic covered.
- Patron recommendations will be considered for purchase. A recommendation must be submitted using this
Cancellation of Subscription Resources
The library regularly reviews serials and other online resources to ensure the relevance and value of the collection.
The following factors will be considered where relevant:
- Online usage statistics;
- Cost per measurable use;
- Impact factor or an alternative assessment of impact;
- Subject scope and relevance to our primary users;
- Uniqueness of content;
- Terms of license and subscription.
Print/physical formats vs. electronic formats
- Preference is given to monographic and/or serial collections in electronic format.
- The library will generally continue to acquire the print format when there are demonstrable and substantive differences in content, when canceling the print would negatively affect scholarship and/or stewardship, or when there is a big cost difference between print and electronic.
- Consideration of the constraints of space and financial resources will also be
principal factors in determining which formats to acquire and/or retain from
existing collections over time.
Accessibility
- As our investment in electronic resources grows over time, it is incumbent on the library to ensure that the information and communication technologies it acquires with UConn Health resources are accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.
- The library makes every attempt to ensure that the technology platforms we invest in, and the content provided within them, follow evolving national standards for accessibility.
Ownership vs. access
- The library is cognizant of its dual responsibility to use UConn Health’s funds judiciously and to serve the needs of its users over time. To these ends, the library strives to acquire collections that result in perpetual ownership of those products. In some cases, perpetual ownership is
either not available or not affordable, but leasing options exist. Leased access will be considered when resources are important to scholarship at UConn Health. In all cases, the conditions of access (e.g., read only, ability to make copies of extracts, download of full content) will be weighed carefully by librarians in the context of the users’ needs.
Replacements
- Lost, stolen, or damaged materials will be replaced if they meet current selection criteria. Identical or similar materials may replace lost or stolen materials if the original is no longer available.
Donations of Materials
- We no longer have the capacity to accept donations.
Appendix
As the health sciences library for the UConn Health campus in Farmington, and a resource library for University of Connecticut Libraries Main and Regional campuses, UConn Health Sciences Library serves a diverse population of clinicians, hospital staff, teaching faculty, nursing and allied health staff, hospital pharmacists, staff at Connecticut Poison Control center and clinical medical and dental staff at remote locations, throughout the state of Connecticut.
The collections, journals holdings, and staff at UConn Health Sciences Library are dedicated to supporting the educational requirements of the following professional programs: Medicine, Dental Medicine, Public Health, Biomedical Sciences, Dental Sciences and Clinical & Translational Research. Collection decisions include selection of clinical electronic materials that provide virtual access 24×7 to all affiliates, as well as print resources that support curricular, patient care support and research communities.
UConn Health Sciences Library collections also contribute substantially to faculty, staff, and students engaged in health science programs offered at UConn Storrs campus, including but not limited to: Nursing, Sports Medicine, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy or Kinesiology, Allied Health Sciences, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Nutritional Sciences, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Exercise Science, Diagnostic Genetic Sciences, and Dietetics.
As the sole state-funded medical library open to any public visitor, UConn Health Sciences Library collections and library staff work with members of the general community when these groups need medical, dental, or other clinical information that contributes to their own health or treatment decision-making.
UConn Health Sciences Library collections, instructional outreach by staff, and networked resources provide support of clinical, educational or research questions annually for over 1,200 medical and dental residents and fellows employed by University Hospital and University Dental Clinics on the UConn Health campus or satellite clinical sites, as well as residents and fellows practicing at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, CT and the Center on Aging.
Last updated: September 4, 2025.