Digital Library SunSITE Collection and Preservation Policy

Introduction

A collection policy is a standard library practice for publicly declaring a library's intent for breadth and depth of the material it will collect within certain subject areas, genres, or physical formats. Such declarations are useful tools that scholars can use to determine the relative utility of a collection for their purposes, as well as to assist in cooperative collection development with other libraries.

A preservation policy states criteria by which materials in danger of loss through physical decay, orphaned formats, etc. are selected for preservation. In the case of the Digital Library SunSITE, materials can be selected for preservation at any point; once selected, The Library of the University of California, Berkeley, commits to making certain that the information is preserved in some form by a reputable institution on a permanent basis. For more information on digital preservation issues, see Preserving Digital Information: Report of the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information, commissioned by the Commission on Preservation and Access and the Research Libraries Group, May 1, 1996.

Print-Based Collecting Levels¹

Typical collection development categories for print collections include such categories as:

• Comprehensive - A collection in which a library endeavors, so far as is reasonably possible, to include all significant works of recorded knowledge (publications, manuscripts, other forms), in all applicable languages, for a necessarily defined and limited field.
• Research - A collection which includes the major published source materials required for dissertations and independent research, including materials containing research reporting, new findings, scientific experimental results, and other information useful to researchers. It also aims to include all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as a very extensive collection of journals and major indexing and abstracting services in the field.
• Study - A collection which is adequate to support undergraduate and most graduate course work; that is, which is adequate to maintain knowledge of a subject required for limited or generalized purposes, of less than research intensity.
• Basic - A highly selective collection which serves to introduce and define the subject and to indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere.
• Minimal - A subject in which few selections are made beyond very specific works.

These designations place the collecting activities of a particular library within a continuum of collection upon which other libraries can also be placed. In so doing one can determine which library is attempting to be the library of last resort in a particular field and which is supporting only a minimal level of use.

The Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE collects (see below for the different levels of digital collection) at the research level in the areas of digital library development and information technology. In other subject areas, the resources and projects we select are reviewed by the appropriate selector for that discipline and gauged against our existing collecting levels for print publications in that area.

Additional Digital Collecting Levels

Print-based collecting level designations are still useful within the digital realm, but for digital collections even more information is required. The very idea of "collecting" is, for example, an issue. What comprises "collecting"? At the Digital Library SunSITE we propose four levels of collecting, which may also include designation of preservation commitment. For more information on each collecting level, follow the link for each level. Each collection level is preceded by the image that is used throughout the SunSITE to show to which level a particular item is assigned.

Archived

The material is hosted here, and The Library intends to keep the intellectual content of the material available on a permanent basis.

Served

The material resides here, but The Library has not (yet) made the level of commitment to keeping it available that it has for "archived" materials.

Mirrored

A copy of material residing elsewhere is hosted here, and The Library makes no commitment to archiving. Also, an institution other than The Library has primary responsibility for the content and its maintenance.

Linked

The material is hosted elsewhere and The Library points to it at that location. Therefore the Library has no control over the information.

Material in any category except Archived may be re-designated from one level to another as required to meet changing information needs, remote server accessibility or responsiveness, local resource demands, etc. Material that receives the Archived designation cannot be downgraded to a lower status.

Preservation Review Procedure

Collections or collection items will be reviewed by the appropriate library selector and others as necessary before receiving the Archived designation. Any collection or collection item that has achieved archived status will be so designated with this graphic: . Questions about specific collections or collection items should be directed to the SunSITE Project Manager at manager@sunsite.berkeley.edu.

¹ Based upon Collection Development Policy Statement Preliminary edition, January 1980. Prepared by Dorothy Koenig and Sheila Dowd. The General Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Copyright © 1996 UC Regents. All rights reserved.
Document maintained at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Admin/collection.html by the SunSITE Manager.
Last update 6/7/96. SunSITE Manager: manager@sunsite.berkeley.edu