Collection Development Policy

The collection development policy serves as a blueprint for expanding the library's collection. as It outlines the guiding principles and procedures that will govern New Giza University libraries' collection development activities, such as collection selection, acquisition, organization, evaluation, maintenance, weeding & disposal.

Whereas Library Collections refer to information resources that are acquired and collected by the library, whether in printed formats (such as books, periodicals, scientific reports, university theses, conference documents, etc...) or non-printed formats (such as online databases, online Journals, audio-visual materials, etc ...) to be organized and made accessible in the best possible way to provide specific information or a specific service to library patrons.

This policy will be reviewed and revised on a regular basis to accommodate change.

Vision:

NGU Libraries' vision is to strengthen NGU's research and academic community through deep expertise, innovative services, and outstanding collections based on strategic partnerships.

Mission:

NGU Libraries' mission is to provide comprehensive research materials and library services to meet the current and anticipated academic and research needs of New Giza University, advocating author rights, fair use, and open access to information and publications.

Values:

NGU libraries inherit its values from New Giza University and the International Federation of Library Associations. hence, it carries out all its activities, including the development and management of collections, in accordance with these effective values, which are as follows:

• Access to information
• Responsibilities towards individuals and society
• Privacy, secrecy, and transparency
• Open access and intellectual property
• Neutrality, personal integrity, and professional skills
• Fairness and respect

NGU Libraries' priority in collection development is to provide access to information resources that meet the instructional and work needs of the New Giza University library's primary users group, which includes NGU students, faculty (Academic Staff), and administrative staff.

• NGU Students: All students may request scholarly and general resources in accordance with this policy; even so, these requests will be reviewed by NGU librarians, and the relevant Faculty as well.

• NGU Academic Staff: Faculty members may request scholarly resources for teaching, learning and research to be acquired according to this policy; even so, these requests will be reviewed by NGU librarians.

• NGU Administrative Staff: Staff at NGU can also request resources; even so, these requests will be reviewed by NGU librarians.

• NGU Alumni: Alumni requisitions will not be acquired unless they are supported by a current faculty member, meet the collection's scope, and are approved by the subject specialist.

• Non-NGU Users: Purchase requests are not accepted.

1- Subject: NGU libraries are primarily concerned with the university's current academic fields, which include medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, business, finance, economics, politics, information technology, and engineering, as well as future disciplines that may emerge. Additionally, general topics are also acquired to the collection on a regular basis to enrich our users' overall knowledge.

2- Geographic Area: Egypt, North Africa, and the Middle East are the priority regions in which the Library will collect materials relevant to study materials and research.

3- Language: English and Arabic are the primary languages in which the resources are collected. Other languages' works, such as novels, dramas, histories, and other literary works, are also considered, particularly those acquired through donations.

4- Copyright: NGU Libraries is committed to complying with Egyptian copyright laws and will not knowingly violate any of them under any circumstances. The library anticipates that its users will do the same. Accordingly, only legal resources will be acquired and used.

5- Up-To-Date: The publication date and edition of the resource are determinants of material purchase. Priority is given to the latest edition with the latest publication date. Except for historical information resources.

6- Formats: The Library holds information resources in all formats as long as they are consistent with the scope of the collection. Nevertheless, the library gives priority to electronic resources.

The selection process is collaborative and can be done in consultation with the faculty and departments. This contribution to collection development is valuable not only to curriculum and research needs but also to the in-depth knowledge of faculty members on specific subject areas and a wide range of fields. Therefore, Instructors have the academic freedom to select the best course materials for their teaching needs.

The library also accepts suggestions, through the “Request a Purchase form”, from all its users in the NGU community. suggestions are made for purchasing information resources in various subject areas, whether relevant to studies or general knowledge.

The Library purchases two to three (2-3) copies of each requested Academic resource and one (1) copy of the General resource.

  Academic book Types :

1. Basic Texts (2-3 copies).
2. Manuals (2-3 copies).
3. Workbooks (2-3 copies).
4. References (1 copy).
5. Exercise books (2-3 copies).

The library's goal is to acquire study-related resources available as soon as possible before the start of the academic semester. Therefore, the library and all other departments involved strictly adhere to the following procedures.

1. Except for Textbooks and Reading Books, the library accept requests for other Information resources throughout the year, through the “Request a Purchase form”.

Hence, The Acquisition Team sends an email to School Coordinators twice a year, in June and November, requesting their requirements for textbooks and reading books that will be needed during the academic year. This will occur at least three months before the start of each semester.

These dates have been set to avoid delays in the availability of information resources, which may take 8 to 12 weeks to be available at the library.

2. The library starts receiving Book Purchase Requests (PR), that is signed by the Dean / Head of the Department.
3. Resources in the received PRs are subject to important bibliographic verification by the library, to ensure alignment with the scope of collections.
4. Once the Library bibliographic verification is finished, it will be sent to the coordinators to be signed by the Dean / Head of the Department.
5. In a tender, book suppliers/vendors compete to meet technical specifications at the lowest possible price.
6. All Purchasing Order Cases, with justified comparison analysis amongst tendered publishers, must be sent to the purchasing department to continue the procedures.

NGU Libraries is committed to providing electronic information resources, such as e-journals and online databases, that cover a wide range of subjects, in various formats, and with different access methods, as follows:

Egyptian Knowledge Bank

The Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB) is the primary source of our online information resources as it is considered the world's largest digital library granting limitless resources, exclusively created for Egyptian citizens.

To be able to use the EKB portal, users are required to register by their national identification number. While registration, there are four sub-portals that users must opt for one of them according to their appropriate affiliation. As a result, NGU faculty and students would choose the Academic sub-portal that grants them access to all academic resources as well as the other sub-portals. Undoubtedly, the university email, along with the national ID is required for complete registration.

Open Access

NGU libraries subject librarians work with our users to explore alternative open access resources, such as Open educational resources (OER).

Open access information is a subset of born-digital information that is accessible online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions to varying degrees. Open access resources typically allow users to download, copy, print, display, distribute, search, index, and link to the information; it also remains the intellectual property of their creators, who retain attribution rights and control over the integrity of their work.

Subscriptions

Subscribed electronic resources are acquired selectively based on content relevancy to School programs, access, full text, price, and usability.

The library endeavors to provide digital content that is free from digital rights management restrictions. Hence, it is preferable to access the full-text database via the NGU-IP addresses. Despite this, the library might acquire, limited access, or password access, because of its unique content value.

Additionally, value for price, cooperative purchase prices, savings from print budgets, subscription vs. per use pricing, and net cost are considerations.

The library, as well as all other departments involved, strictly adhere to the following subscription procedures.

1. The library accepts requests for online resources throughout the year.
2. The library obtains a trial period, for these resources, in the range of one to three months.
3. At the end of the trial period, the library creates a report, showing usage statistics and user feedback.
4. Based on that report, the Dean makes the decision whether to subscribe or not.
5. If a trial period for the required resource is not available, the library -directly- refers to the dean of the school for initial approval before obtaining final approval from the university president.
6. All documents related to the subscription must be sent to the purchasing department to continue the following procedures.

NGU libraries accept donated resources such as books, journals, CDs, etc... as long as they are consistent with the Scope of Collection’s parameters and do not match any of the weeding criteria.

Once accepted, the material becomes the property of the library and, in principle, cannot be returned to the donor. The library retains the right to select, distribute and process any material it considers appropriate.

Donations can be easily submitted by users and donors using the "Donate Resources Form." Being aware that the NGU Libraries are not responsible for the gift's actual delivery to the Library.

The contributions will be used for the benefit of the library, e.g. they can be kept in the library or given as gifts to other libraries in need.

The Inventory is an annual process that compares the item’s information, available in the Integrated Library System (ILS), with the physical resources on library shelves.

Step 1:The process begins by scanning all the resources in a collection by items barcodes.

Step 2: Generating Two types of reports using the ILS (Koha):

• Missing Items Report: lists items in the collection that weren’t scanned.
• Exceptions Report: lists items with technical errors such as wrong location, obsolete barcodes, bibliographic mistakes, poor physical conditions, etc…

Step 3: Cleaning up the unresolved reports:

• Missing Items Reports:

This report remains pending for a period of three months from the end date of the inventory.

• Following this period, the status of the missing items, in the ILS database, is updated from "Missing" to "Lost". accordingly, the "Lost Items Report" is going to be generated.

• Based on the "Lost item report", the "usage statistics report" is generated.

• Using the "usage statistics report" an evaluation will take place to determine which items will be acquired again.

• Exception Reports:

In accordance with the scope of the collection, these reports are mainly used for, maintenance operations, reviewing and updating bibliographic records, reordering and shelving items, as well as weeding and disposal of resources.

Weeding the library's collection regularly is an important aspect of any library's collection development and maintenance. It helps with:

• Maintenance of a current, accurate and useful collection.
• Determining which materials require repair or replacement.
• Getting comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the collection.
• Making the most use of available space.

Usage: circulation usage statistics is a factor in weeding decisions.

Format Obsolescence: Resources in obsolete formats may be weeded if the content is available elsewhere or if the resource is in poor condition. This also applies to printed resources that have an alternative electronic version.

Content Obsolescence: Resources with annually updated content and published regularly, such as Annual Books, Bibliographies, Indexes, Abstracts, Magazines, journals, … etc

• Bookfair with a sale for students and employees (academic & Administration).

• Selling to a company that buys and sells used books.

• Donated to another library.