Library Collection and Resources

The Lemieux Library provides access to an array of both physical and digital resources in support of  teaching, learning, and scholarship. From early discovery through advanced specialized resources, the library investment in digital collections offers access to an ever-broadening information rich landscape of databases, electronic books, electronic journals, streaming media, and primary resources.  

While digital format is preferred, the library acquires and maintains print resources in disciplines where digital collections are still developing.  

Library collection development and management activities  include : selection, acquisition and cataloging multiple formats, effective and responsible management of the collection budget, harvesting user data and collection statistics for a variety of reports, and preserving scholarly and historic collections for present and future generations.

Criteria differs from one subject area to another, but in general the following factors should be considered in the decision to purchase a library resource:

• Relevance to curriculum.
• Cost of the resource, including the possibility of maintenance fees and inflation.
• Degree of specialization; e.g. is the resource likely to serve multiple disciplines or a more narrow range of users.
• Intended audience (scholarly vs. popular; graduate vs. undergraduate, etc.).
• Projected need based on use patterns of similar material already in the collection.
• Projected need based on curriculum trends or new areas of scholarship.
• Reputation and authority of publisher and/or author.
• Increase diversity across collections to enhance voice, representation of authors and content. 

Undergraduate assignments increasingly seek access to primary source materials which the library is actively acquiring. Access to a secondary collection of materials for both undergradute and graduate programs is provided through membership in the Orbis Cascade Alliance Consortium supplemented by traditional interlibrary loans and document delivery, and by forming cooperative relationships with other libraries in the region.