Collection management and access policy

Executive Summary

The University Library aims to provide access to a wide range of information, with a preference for the electronic format, to support the current and future academic programme of the University in a flexible and cost-effective fashion. Collection management activity is managed by the Faculty Librarian working in conjunction with academic staff within each Faculty and is supported by the Collection Management Team and the Procurement & Metadata team within the Library. Decisions around collection management are evidence based with usage data being a key, but not the sole, element of this evidence.

Through an extensive interlibrary loan service, national access agreements and the increasing availability of open access repositories the University Library is able to provide access to resources that are not held in the University Library and through the Faculty Librarians and the Enquiry services we facilitate access to these wider collections.

The collection strategy is supported by a collection management plan and KPIs associated with both documents are monitored on an annual basis within the University Library and the strategy is reviewed on a 3 year cycle.