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E-Resources & Serials Collection Development Policy

Intellectual Freedom

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette Libraries adhere to the guidelines and principles of the American Library Association Bill of Rights and its accompanying statements of interpretation. Principles of intellectual freedom and access guide the University Libraries’ policies; as such, Dupré Library's collections contain a wide variety of opinions and viewpoints.

Purpose

It is the purpose of this policy to establish the principles by which the University Libraries will assess, procure, provide, and maintain electronic resources and serials. As reflected in Dupré Library's mission statement, it is the goal of the library to support fully the instructional and research programs of the University by providing access to information through the teaching, acquisition, organization, and preservation of information resources in all formats to the University’s academic community, the region, and the state. The E-Resources and Serials collections will support this mission by adherence to the following guidelines.

Collection Development Principles

The E-Resources and Serials collections will follow the general collection development policies of the University Libraries as a whole. In brief, the following criteria will influence all collection development decisions for new resources and subscriptions:

  1. College curriculum
  2. Faculty research interests
  3. General university goals
  4. Use of library materials
  5. Content value of library materials

Under the general collection development guidelines, it is Dupré Library's mission that the E-Resources and Serials collection should meet the following goals:

  1. Provide materials in useful, accessible formats that support the programs of the University
  2. Provide access to materials and resources that fulfill the research requirements of faculty and graduate students
  3. Provide materials and resources that foster the personal qualities encouraged by the University, including personal growth and maturity, tolerance and understanding of various cultures, ability to adjust to changing times, as well as recreational reading

Resources & Access

Dupré Library provides access to a variety of materials, including journals, databases, and eBooks. The library's journal subscriptions are and will be mostly available electronically. A small selection of publications maintained will be in print.

The library will strive to provide access to databases and other non-book or journal materials relevant and useful to faculty and students. These may include streaming content, databases, online book collections, and more. The same principles of selection and assessment will apply to these materials as to all other library collection materials.

Access to online databases provided by Edith Garland Dupré Library is limited to current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Users both on and off-campus will be required to log in with their ULID and password. Users must follow 'Fair Use' as outlined in U.S. Copyright Law and provisions of license agreements with database providers. Online database material obtained must be used for personal, non-commercial purposes. Improper use generally includes, but is not limited to, excessive use, utilizing robots/auto crawlers, downloading entire journals, printing numerous copies of a single article, or publishing articles made available through the databases. Users visiting several databases or viewing or downloading a substantial amount of material from within databases in a short period of time may receive a browser warning and, as a security precaution, their access will be suspended for two (2) hours. Unauthorized and improper use of online databases and other online resources provided by Edith Garland Dupré Library can result in access revocation.

If any student, employee, or retiree does not have access, they should contact the University IT Service Desk for assistance.

For questions about online resource use or issues, contact the E-Resources and Serials department at dupreresources@louisiana.edu or (337) 482-6037.

Acquisitions

Under Dupré Library's general collection development policy, the E-Resources and Serials department will make selection and deselection decisions based on curriculum and research needs; budgetary restrictions and maintenance costs; resource overlap; content value; accessibility and ease of use; and any other criteria deemed impactful to a resource’s use.

Each academic department is allocated a portion of the Materials Budget for the purchase of library materials that will support classroom instruction and research. As with all other library collections, the University Librarians actively seek suggestions for additions to the E-Resources and Serials collections from members of the University community. The library will seek recommendations from students, faculty, and staff. However, the overall responsibility for acquisition and deselection decisions rests in the hands of the Head of E-Resources and Serials, approved by the E-Resources Committee, Collection Development Committee, and the Dean of Libraries.

As part of its ongoing efforts to procure the best resources, the library will undertake trials of new electronic resources in order to evaluate them before purchase. During such trials, the library will make efforts to gather feedback from faculty and students on the resource’s worth to researchers. The library will consider this feedback as part of the resource’s evaluation for purchase. The library will not undertake a trial for a resource unless there is an intention to consider it for purchase. Responsibility for decisions of which trials to undertake will rest on the Head of E-Resources and Serials, approved by the E-Resources Committee and the Dean of Libraries.

Security

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s E-Resources and Serials are compliant with the University’s policies on Computing and Networks, including the limitations for access and restrictions for computer, network, and wireless use. More information is under the University IT Service Desk Policies.

Contact

Zachary Stein | Ed.D., Assistant Professor, and Interim Assistant Dean of Technical Services
(337) 482-6427 | zachary.stein@louisiana.edu

[ Last Revised on December 4, 2023 ]