University Library Action Plan

Subject Areas of Improvement

Areas: College of Business; College of Hospitality and Tourism Leadership

Subjects: Hospitality Management, Marketing, Management, Economics

Materials Needed: Journals, Major Texts

Primary Objectives

1. Purchase the textbooks being used for the pillar courses in the College of Hospitality

and Tourism Leadership

2. Based on faculty input, establish subscriptions in specialized journals in the fields of

economics, marketing, management, and hospitality.

Background

Upon completion of the University Library’s needs survey, it was determined that among

students in the College of Business and College of Hospitality and Tourism Leadership, there

was a feeling that the library’s holdings were not meeting their needs. In working with faculty in

these colleges, the library found that the College of Business was lacking key serials and

electronic journals. This was largely stemming from the introduction of more specialized

coursework in their programs that had not been noted by their faculty’s library liaison and was

not currently reflected in the library collection. Based on communication with the department,
the library identified some key subject fields—including economics and management—that

needed to be better represented in the university’s collection of electronic journal subscriptions.

The College of Hospitality and Tourism Leadership houses a new premier program that is

only housed on the smallest University campus and has a small population of students.

Therefore, the subjects it houses—hospitality management, tourism studies—were not

previously well reflected in the library’s holdings. The library has had to start from the ground

up in establishing holdings for these subjects. While at an acceptable level in its earliest years of

inception, the library has reached a point where the program’s research needs now exceed the

library’s collection, and the relative uniqueness of the program limit the available interlibrary

options available to these students. Thus, it is pivotal that the University Library increase its

holdings in not only electronic journals and serial subscriptions in these fields, but also purchase

textbooks for the subjects being taught through the College.

Selection Process

Given our needs survey, which only addressed ways in which the library was lacking

relevant materials by College rather than by field of study, we need to further examine which

subject fields are being least represented in the library’s holdings. Therefore, the first step of the

selection process will be to determine what subject matters most need addressed. This will allow

us to prioritize our acquisitions so that we may meet our objectives within a set timeline, but are

able to address the highest-need subjects first. Given annual budgetary limitations, which are

based departmentally, the most important step to implementing our selection plan is to first

determine what subject fields are not currently reflected in our budgetary allotments, the

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department in which they are held, and the current state of that department’s budget. In the case

that we are in a situation in which there is no department budget available for purchasing new

acquisitions, library staff will need to determine if the need is great enough to justify utilizing

library operation funding. This assessment will also be pivotal to determining the level of

funding for each department during the library’s annual budgetary review—as the introduction of

new subject fields to the collection or recognition of major gaps in literature in a certain subject

may be cause to adjust these figures.

As per the library’s Collection Development Policy, each department has a library liaison

that currently assists each department with the selection of materials for their programs. Based

on the results of the Needs Survey as well as an assessment of the current collection, it has been

determined that a key breakdown in the acquisition process for the subjects housed in the

College of Hospitality and Tourism Leadership is stemming from a lack of clarity and

communication with the department about their role in library collection development. The

programs in this College are in their earliest years of inception, and, given that they are

exclusively housed on the smallest University campus, have not gotten enough attention and

resources. The College of Business already has a library liaison in place and their need for more

substantial journal offerings has been established. However, budgetary limitations, given the

smaller student population in Business programs, has prevented purchases of these materials.

Given the clear need, the library plans to expend a small portion of the operating budget toward

the purchase of electronic journal subscriptions. This is intended to be a single-year expenditure

from the operating fund. Next year, the budget of the College of Business will be increased

accordingly to facilitate these costs. Their library liaison will work with the College to better

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assess their needs and determine if costs can be freed up through deaccessioning to purchase

more recent texts.

The University Library, in line with its Collection Development Policy, will utilize

resources such as the American Book Publishing Record and NewJour to assess the titles and

journal subscriptions suggested by each department. However, given their expertise in their

subject areas, selection decisions will largely be made by faculty. Preference will be based on

budgetary constraints, overlap in suggested literature by subject field, and items available from

publishers with whom the library already has pre-existing contracts with, such as Pearson.

Selections will be based on the current evaluation criteria from the library’s collection

development policy. For books, paperbacks will be purchased when available—with hardbacks

only being purchased in the case that there is no paperback version available or in the rare case

that the hardback option would be less expensive. Any journal or database purchase will be in

electronic format, and length of the subscription will be based on cost-efficiency. Given that the

Needs Survey and faculty input indicated that books and journals were most needed, other non-

print or electronic items such as videos or holdings will be treated as lower priority and the

library’s operating budget will not be used for these purchases.

Necessary Resources

As per the library’s Collection Development Policy, each department has a library liaison

that currently assists each department with the selection of materials for their programs. Based

on the results of the Needs Survey as well as an assessment of the current collection, it has been

determined that a key breakdown in the acquisition process for the subjects housed in the

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College of Hospitality and Tourism Leadership is stemming from a lack of clarity and

communication with the department about their role in library collection development. The

programs in this College are in their earliest years of inception, and, given that they are

exclusively housed on the smallest University campus, have not gotten enough attention and

resources from the main branch of the University Library, which utilizes the large majority of the

library system’s staffing and funding. We plan to rectify this issue by working with the main

branch to establish a library liaison who is housed on the same campus and is more readily

available to work with the College to gauge their needs.

Given that the current departmental budgets for the College of Business and College of

Hospitality and Tourism Leadership are not enough to currently build their subject-based

holdings, the University Library will allot a total of $3500 from the operating budget toward

purchases for these departments. This is intended to be a one-time allotment that will be

mitigated in the future by increasing the budget to account for their developing programs.

Evaluation

As per the University Library’s Collection Development Policy, we will utilize the

Western Library Network Conspectus Model (OCLC Western Conspectus Scale) as a means of

measurement. As seen on the following scale, the range of our subject holding quality can range

from basic to comprehensive. The rating system assesses the breadth and depth of the library’s

holdings by subject. This assessment is based on the number of paper and electronic resources in

the collection, including monographs, periodicals, electronic journals, as well as bibliographic

tools and reference texts. It is also based on the quality of that material—including timeliness of

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acquisition of new texts and removal of outdated materials. Additionally, depth and scope of the

collection are measured against each field’s current standard of literature.

0 Out of Scope

1a Minimal Information Level: uneven coverage

1b Minimal Information: focused coverage

2a Basic Information: introductory

2b Basic Information: advanced

3a Basic Study or Instructional Support Level

3b Intermediate Study or Instructional Support

Level

3c Advanced Study or Instructional Support

Level

4 Research Level

5 Comprehensive

Given our missions as a leading institute of research and learning, it is important that we

endeavor toward a Research Level (4) or Comprehensive Level (5) rating in each subject field.

For subjects in the College of Business—including management and economics—it has

been determined that the library’s current holdings can be considered Advanced Study or

Instructional Support Level (3c). In the case of our current materials of concern—books and

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periodicals—an Instructional Support Level collection is defined as extensive with selected

specialized materials. For subjects in the College of Hospitality and Tourism Leadership, it has

been determined that the library’s holdings are Basic Information: Advanced (2b)—meaning that

there are a limited number of monographs and periodicals. Some introductory texts have been

established but reference materials are not extensive. By increasing our holdings in specialized

periodical subscriptions such as in the fields of management, insurance, risk management,

human resources, and other fields within the College of Business, the library can improve toward

a Research Level. In order to begin improving the College of Hospitality and Tourism

Leadership’s related subject fields, the library must establish a much larger collection of

monographs. A key to improving along this scale is to establish textbook holdings that will

ensure the library is able to at least establish an Instructional Support level collection within the

next budgetary year.

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