The library endeavors to provide students, faculty, and staff with collections that are current, desirable, and aligned with the academic objectives of CT State Asnuntuck.
Librarians select and acquire material that focuses on academic needs first, then on materials and resources to enhance user self-development and literacy. Staff members use class assignments, reference interviews, suggestions from faculty and students, and current book reviews to thoughtfully choose materials for purchase. Faculty may be consulted if there are deficiencies noted in a particular subject area or to secure proper resources for a particular class. Even when not actively solicited, the library staff welcomes and encourages suggestions from faculty, staff, students, and the community for the purchase of books, periodicals, and electronic materials.
The Library makes these populations a priority when considering acquisitions or deselections:
For budget reasons, the library will only be able to obtain a small fraction of all materials published each year. Due to these constraints, textbooks are not purchased for the library collection. Our textbook reserves are comprised of donations from faculty or instructional design staff. These donations are made on a voluntary, ad hoc basis and the library cannot guarantee timely access to all current textbook titles or editions in support of Asnuntuck classes. Textbooks for courses offered by other CT State Community College campuses are beyond the scope of the Asnuntuck library reserves. We urge our CT State faculty colleagues to consider incorporating open access materials and electronic resources into their courses to provide broader access and support evolving research and learning needs.
Additionally, the library’s collection is not archival in nature. Librarians will periodically deselect (“weed”) and withdraw any materials that are damaged, no longer of use, no longer appropriate, or out of date from the library collection, as well as materials that are rarely used. These deselected materials may be offered to the college community, other libraries, or donated as deemed appropriate by the Director of Campus Library Services.
The library provides a process for challenged materials' reconsideration and possible removal from the CT State Asnuntuck campus collection. This process ensures a thoughtful evaluation of materials while respecting intellectual freedom and diverse perspectives. During the reconsideration process, the material will remain in circulation and available to patrons. The Director of Campus Library Services is responsible for making the final decision regarding the removal or retention of any library material. The CT State Asnuntuck Library Material Reconsideration Form is linked below.
The library will not automatically replace a title due to loss or damage. The lost items will be considered for replacement on a title-by-title basis. Faculty, staff, students, and the community are welcome to recommend the replacement of specific titles for library staff consideration.
The Asnuntuck Library welcomes monetary gifts for the purchase of library materials. Monetary gifts are used to purchase items that supplement existing collections in support of the college’s programs or to provide the library with unique materials of interest to the college community.
The library will only accept physical donations in new or like-new condition of materials that are current, in demand, and aligned with the academic objectives of the college. No parties outside of the Library may accept donations to the Library. The Director of Library Services will make the final decision regarding the acceptance of gift materials. Gifts must be donated with no restrictions regarding disposal. Regarding the legal aspects of gifted materials, please be aware of the following:
“One Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulation relevant to libraries has to do with gifts and donations to a library or not-for-profit information center. Any library, or its parent institution, that receives a gift-in-kind (books, journals, manuscripts, and so forth) with an appraised value of $5,000 or more must report the gift to the IRS. A second regulation forbids the receiving party (in this case the library) from providing an estimated value for the gift-in-kind. ... Typically, with gifts thought to be worth less than $4,999, the library may write a letter of acknowledgement indicating the number and type of items received. For gifts of less than $250, the IRS does not require a letter.” (Evans, 2012).