Acquisition Department

Collection Development Policy

The mission of this policy is to enhance the educational opportunities of students through the implementation of a system of acquisition of all print and non print library materials and through the coordination of selection and control of funds directed towards particular type of library resources and promotion of newly introduced courses on the curriculum for the various faculties and departments. Material will be acquired through the common traditional methods of acquisition, that is purchases, subscriptions, donations, legal deposits and exchanges.

1. Responsibility for Collection Development

• The University of Zimbabwe Librarian has the ultimate say on what is appropriate for the library's collection though the selection is done in consultation with teaching staff in their faculties.
• The Head Bibliographic Services Librarian in conjunction with the Acquisitions librarian keep in touch with faculty librarians as they carry out the guidelines on bibliographic details of requested material and resource allocation through monitoring of departmental book budgets.
• Faculty librarians carry out the guidelines for learning resources in the library while they solicit for the appropriate information on required sources for the courses on offer.
• Faculty and branch librarians play an important role since they know their collections' strengths and weaknesses.
• The lecturer's role an involvement is essential since they are the ones who know what they require for teaching and research activities.
• It is expected that the library multimedia collection will be developed using professional judgment and expertise of faculty librarians to select material appropriate in level and scope

2. The core collection should reflect:

1. present different points of view to promote critical thinking.
2. meet the needs of different learning styles.
3. support the UZ Standards of reading, research and learning.
4. challenging and interesting current titles that exhibit quality in content and appearance.

3. General Guidelines for Selection

Materials selected for inclusion into the UZ library's collection should reflect the mission statement and:

• be in alignment with curriculum needs and standards.
• be accurate, current, authoritative and of authentic quality.
• reflect a diverse culture free of stereotypes.
• be of optimal educational value and provide different points of view.
• be attractive and functional.