Collection Development Policy

Circulating Books

The circulating book collection represents the largest portion of the Libraries’ collections, encompassing all regularly circulating print and eBooks, including monographs, exhibition catalogs, technical manuals, collections of essays, biographies, children’s books, and novels. Books can be borrowed for extended periods by any Pratt community member with borrowing privileges. 

Film and Video

Videos are purchased in DVD, Blu-Ray, and streaming formats. If they are available and the price is not prohibitive, streaming videos are preferred over DVDs or Blu-Rays because they can be accessed by multiple users at one time. (See E-Resources) Streaming videos are purchased either as part of a licensing package or as individual, time-restricted licenses (e.g. Kanopy) or perpetual access (saved on the Libraries’ servers).  If a title is available to purchase with perpetual access, this will be preferred over time-restricted. The Libraries also have a small collection of 16mm films, though the format is not actively collected. More information can be found in the Film and Video Collections guide.

Equipment

The Equipment collection includes cameras and camcorders, lighting equipment, photography accessories, tripods and mounts, projectors and screens, speakers and headphones, microphones and mic stands, computers and adapters, memory cards and card readers. New types of equipment may be added as patron needs change. The Equipment collection has unique circulation policies dictated by the high demand and cost of the materials. More information can be found in the Equipment guide.

Periodicals/Serials

Periodicals include magazines, journals, and newspapers in print and digital format and are selected for their relevance to the curriculum and interest to the Pratt community. The format of periodical subscriptions is determined by academic departmental preference, space constraints, and subscription price. Subscriptions are reviewed regularly to determine if they should be continued and/or retained. Periodicals do not circulate.

Reference

The Reference collection consists of material such as style guides, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and collections of codes or standards that are made readily available to be consulted by researchers and librarians. The collection also includes atlases and specialized map collections as well as a limited number of Pratt-published materials. Reference materials are more actively acquired in electronic format to ensure greater access and currency. Given the nature of many of the formats, currency is of the utmost importance and outdated or superseded editions will be replaced and/or moved to the circulating collection. Materials in the Reference collection do not circulate.

Special Collections

Special Collections encompasses original or unique items that are too rare, fragile, or valuable to be included among the regular circulating collections including: printed books, periodicals, ephemera, folios of prints and photographs, pop-up books, artists books and zines (described below). New acquisitions are generally made in collaboration with library liaisons. Special Collections materials are non-circulating and must be paged and viewed in specially designated areas, with some exceptions. More information can be found in the Special Collections Guide.

Artists Books

The Artist’s Book collection encompasses books and other book-related works that exist as works of art in their own right but individual book arts that are not editioned are generally not purchased. The collection is geared toward teaching and aims to represent a variety of Artist Book practices and formats that can serve as examples and inspiration to students engaged in creating their own book-based works. Selections are often made in consultation with faculty and an effort is made to purchase works produced by Pratt faculty, students, and alumni when funding allows. The majority of this collection does not circulate, though some works classified as artists’ books may be found in the circulating collection. More information can be found in the Artists’ Books guide.

Zines

The Libraries select zines to support classes that include zine study and production, with a focus on locally-produced titles, including student work. Zines are selected for artistic merit as well as literary content. The majority of this collection circulates, though some rare items are for library use only. More information can be found in the Zines guide.

Theses

The Thesis Collection consists of more than 10,000 theses produced by Pratt Institute graduate students going back as far as the early 1950s. Theses are submitted to the library as a graduation requirement for many graduate programs. Before 2020, print theses were collected and library bound. Starting in 2020, theses are collected digitally through ProQuest Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Print theses do not circulate, digital theses are available on the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database. More information about theses can be found in the Thesis Collections Guide.

E-Resources

Pratt Institute Libraries subscribe to electronic resources that support the library’s mission and adheres to its Collection Development policy. Most of these resources are proprietary and only available to Pratt’s current students, faculty, and staff.

Types of electronic resources collected may include indexes to periodical literature and other bibliographic material, Full-text journals and newspaper databases, eBooks, Reference sources, Online archives, Multimedia, Geospatial Data, Image databases, Streaming video, Websites.

Preferred Selection Criteria

Collection Development/Quality Control

• Uniqueness of content
• Significant lack of duplication with other electronic resources
• Relative completeness of content and frequency of updates
• Relevance of subject covered to the library’s intended audience
• Fills a gap in the library’s collection
• Educational purpose with scholarly style and tone
• Resource is requested/suggested by a patron
• Favorable product reviews from review sources and/or other subscribers
• Cost of resource and ability to sustain this continued cost

UX/UI

• Provides personalization features
• Ability to print, save, email results, and cite sources
• Well-designed interface and intuitive functionality
• Interface adheres to responsive-design for smartphones & tablets
• DRM-Free ebooks

Access

• Provides institution-wide access and unlimited simultaneous users
• Remote access via EZProxy/IP Authentication
• OpenURL compliant
• MARC records available
• Can be indexed by our current discovery layer
• Well-designed interface and intuitive functionality
• Interface adheres to responsive-design for smartphones & tablets
• ADA compliance

Admin

• Stable consistent access (includes links that work)
• Provides usage statistics that are COUNTER compliant
• Responsive vendor customer service and technical support, as well as useful

Help guides

• Vendor’s reputation and their ability to keep abreast of industry standards and trends for e-resources

Given the financial, instructional and maintenance implications required to provide
electronic resources, subscriptions are reviewed periodically to ensure they continue
to meet the original selection guidelines and expectations. Criteria for canceling a
subscription electronic resource include:

• Usage statistics are consistently low, and remain low, in spite of efforts to market the resource
• Considerable increase in cost of resources, especially without any corresponding increase in content or improved functionality
• Significant access issues
• Outdated interface and lack of functionality
• Duplicate content is found in other electronic resources
• A better resource becomes available, with a superior interface, more affordable cost, and other key improvements
• Severe and repeated vendor problems