Methods of Collection Development
The majority of the Libraries’ collections are selected at the individual title level by library liaisons and other librarian selectors with input from classroom faculty and with additional guidance provided by the Collection Development Committee. Additionally, the Libraries actively encourage the Pratt community to suggest purchases via the Suggest a Purchase form. Collections are also developed through approval plans and evidence-based acquisition. Gifts are considered under limited circumstances using the same criteria applied to purchase. The complete gift policy can be read here: Gift Policy.
An approval plan is a method used by libraries to automate the purchase of newly published books. The library creates a profile that specifies the characteristics, or parameters, of new books the library is interested in purchasing. These parameters may include publisher, subject, call number range, price, and many more. A company functioning as an intermediary reviews newly published books and evaluates how well they fit the library’s profile. Judicious use of approval plans can be a valuable asset to a collection development program. With careful profiling and review of materials, approval plans have proven to be especially useful for building core collections, as well as for ensuring collection breadth. For approval plans to work well, however, incoming materials have to be carefully reviewed
Pratt Libraries has also incorporated Evidence-Based Acquisition (EBA) strategies into collection development. EBA is a hybrid subscription and purchasing model for ebooks, enabling access to large, multi-disciplinary ebook collections at a low cost per title. The Libraries can use usage data to help inform decisions about which books to add to the library's permanent collection, creating a more direct link between use of the collection and our purchasing decisions.
Brooklyn Campus Library
Pratt's Brooklyn Campus Library is located in the neighborhood of Clinton Hill. Collections are focused on the visual arts, architecture, design, creative writing, and allied fields. Additional materials of general interest support the general education curriculum.
Items unique to the Brooklyn Campus Library collections include:
Manhattan Campus Library
Pratt’s Manhattan Campus Library is located on the border of Chelsea and Greenwich Village. The collections support the academic programs unique to the Manhattan campus including:
- Arts & Cultural Management
- Associate Degree program (Game Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interactive Media, Painting & Drawing)
- Construction Management
- Design Management
- Facilities Management
- Real Estate Practice
- School of Information
The library also houses a reference collection, periodicals, and leisure reading materials including fiction and poetry. Print and digital resources are shared between both Pratt Institute Library locations through services such as intercampus loan. More information about intercampus loan can be found on the Services page.