Library Liaisons

	Peter Glenister: Humanities-- English, Cultural Studies, History, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Linguistics. Peter may be reached at 457-6402.
	Stan Orlov: Business Studies --  Business Administration, Information Technology, Public Relations, Tourism & Hospitality, Communication Studies. Stan may be reached at 457-6212.
	Terry Paris: Sciences -- Applied Human Nutrition, Biology, Chemistry & Physics, Mathematics & Computer Studies, Psychology, Statistics. Terry may be reached at 457-6108 effective Nov.1 2011.
	Meg Raven: Social Sciences -- Canadian Studies, Economics, Family Studies & Gerontology, Political Studies, Sociology & Anthropology, Women's Studies, Peace & Conflict Studies, Public Policy Studies. Meg may be reached at 457-6403
	David Ryan: Educational Studies -- Education, Child & Youth Study. David is working in lieu of Denyse Rodrigues who is away on sabbatical. David may be reached at 457-6200.

The role of Liaison Librarians

While the Library has the ultimate responsibility for collection development and expenditure of allotted funds, a partnership between the liaison librarians and departmental faculty in the selection of library materials is highly desirable in order to build a strong and well-balanced collection relevant to the needs of both students and faculty.

A Liaison Librarian provides information to faculty about potential materials to order, accepts suggestions for orders from faculty members, provides gap analysis of the collection in the related disciplines, and orders materials to address any deficiency. A liaison librarian ensures that our resources match the teaching, learning, and research needs of the academic community.

A Departmental Library Coordinator is appointed in each department to communicate departmental needs to the Library, communicate Library initiatives and service enhancements to departmental colleagues, and maintain an ongoing dialogue between the Library and her department.

Please note that important information for Departmental Library Coordinators with respect to the assignment of order priorities is available in the Faculty Handbook on the Intranet.

There is an annual meeting of coordinators with the Senate Library Committee and the Library staff to discuss collections development issues.

General Selection Guidelines

In an effort to ensure that faculty members have reasonable opportunity to guide the expenditure of funds, the Library’s acquisitions policy works as follows:

    * Announcement of Allocations: Using the established formula as a basis for the calculation, the University Librarian will announce the allocation of the library materials budget.

    * When to Order:  We encourage you to submit most requests during the first ten months of the fiscal year (April to January). Items ordered after mid-February may not be received and credited before the end of the fiscal year, March 31st.

   * Reports:  Selectors can view the status of an order on Novanet at any time.  Orders which are still outstanding on April 1st will be recommitted for the next year.

    * Discuss Needs:  Throughout the collection development process, faculty are encouraged to discuss their resource needs, including special needs or projects, with Terry Paris, Collections Librarian or their liaison librarian, and to direct questions concerning order status to Helen Blanchard, Collections Assistant (x 6410).

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Selection Guidelines for Print Books & Audiovisuals

   1. Establish a system for ordering each academic year to prevent gaps in coverage. You may wish to meet with your liaison librarian.

   2. Strive for geographical, chronological, and/or topical balance within your subject area.  Try not to allow individual interests to dominate selections.

   3. Balance elements such as importance of the material to the field with its likely use by students.  In undergraduate areas particularly, general works are more likely to be used than specialized monographs.  Also, balance cost of the item (if known) against its importance and likely use.

   4. Choose trade paperback editions, if available, when the work will likely not be heavily used.  (Amazon.com or WorldCat can help you determine what is available.)

   5. If you discover that the library does not have major works published in the past, order them if they are still available.  Gaps in the collection need to be filled, if possible.  (WorldCat and Amazon.com may be used to determine if the books are still in print. Amazon.com, abebooks.com, bookfinder.com may be used to determine if out of print books are available.  DO NOT order from these sources yourself.  Refer the Collections Assistant (x 6410) to these sources.)

   6. Priority for ordering from a disciplinary fund group is given to faculty in the member departments using the guidelines provided in the Faculty Handbook.  The liaison librarian can assist you in making appropriate selections.  

   7. If your department is introducing new courses or if an item is needed for your Reserve Reading List, plan to order materials by March for September or September for January to ensure their acquisition and cataloguing in time for fall or winter terms.
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Procedures for All Faculty
How to Submit Orders for Print Books & Audiovisuals

   1. Check with your Departmental Library Coordinator to learn special procedures unique to your department.

   2. You or your Departmental Library Coordinator should send requests to the Collections Librarian or your assigned liaison librarian who authorizes them for purchase.  You may wish to fill in our online form which is sent directly to the Collections Librarian's mailbox.  Copies of Choice reviews, marked catalogs from academic publishers, or copies of academic journal reviews are all acceptable in lieu of the form.  Please mark items clearly. Your orders should include the date, your name and department, and pertinent ordering information such as author, title, publisher, price, and ISBN.  After the Collections Librarian or assigned liaison librarian reviews the requests, they are sent to the Collections Assistant, and entered in the Library Catalog (Novanet). The paper request is discarded.  If your request cannot be processed for any reason, you will be notified.

   3. Mark RUSH on those orders which are needed immediately for use by a class.  The Library will interpret this to mean: order this immediately using the quickest possible method, regardless of added cost, which further debits the departmental allocation.  Because of the higher cost involved and because Library staff can only handle a limited number of such requests, we ask that this method be used only when needed.  Cataloguing backlogs have been eliminated in recent years and the RUSH designation is usually not necessary now and makes very little difference in processing time.

   4. You will be notified by e-mail when an item has been received by the Library unless you advise the Collections Assistant.

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Special Audio-Visual Procedures

 DVDs are purchased from the same budget as books.  All video requests are to be channeled through your liaison librarian or the Collections Librarian who will send the request to the Collections Assistant for duplicate checking and ordering.  In general, the Library purchases audio-visual material with a copyright date within the last five years.  Please include as much information as possible–such as the phone number and address of the video producer/distributor.

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At any time you may look in the Library Catalog (Novanet) to determine the status of any item you have requested. Status will be indicated by one of these statements:

    * ON ORDER Item has been ordered.
    * IN PROCESS Item has arrived but is being processed. If the item is urgently needed, contact the Collections Assistant and the process will be expedited.
    * NEW BOOKS Item has been processed and is on the New Books Shelf near the Circulation desk. The status changes to available when the book is taken from the New Books Shelf and place on the circulating shelves.  Books can be borrowed from the New Books Shelf.
    * NOTIFICATION will be by e-mail when the requested material has been received unless you advise the Collections Assistant otherwise.

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Periodicals and E-Journals

A periodical subscription whether print or electronic is a long-term commitment which includes not only ordering and cataloging, but also the preparation and cost of binding (when appropriate), and the claiming or replacing of lost print issues.   Due to budget constraints, the high inflation rate for periodicals, the finite amount of available shelving, and the increase in periodical titles available electronically, we reserve the right to limit the initiation of new subscriptions.  Therefore, all print and electronic periodical requests are reviewed by the Collections Librarian.  Academic and professional journals indexed in available sources are given highest priority. Materials such as software or audio-visuals, the use of which you intend to restrict to members of your department, need to be purchased from your departmental budget, not Library funds.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Terry Paris, Collections Librarian at 457-6108 or msvu.ca
Helen Blanchard, Collections Assistant at 457-6410 or msvu.ca

revised December 15, 2011

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