Library Collection Development Policy
4.2 Selection and Development Mechanisms
Collection development is conducted in collaboration between library administration, the resources department, faculty members, and the library committee, while also welcoming suggestions from the university community and encouraging active participation in acquisition and deselection.
4.3 Policy Review and Updates
The library administration commits to periodically updating the collection development policy in line with international standards for academic libraries and the university's mission.
4.4 Priorities
The library focuses on providing core resources that meet the needs of students, faculty, and staff, while considering future changes in academic programs.
4.5 Research Support
The library aims to provide diverse resources to support research activities, including databases, research data sources, and ongoing academic guidance services.
4.6 Resource Selection Criteria
Resource selection is based on multiple factors such as relevance to the university's mission, expected user demand, content quality, research activity, and publishing trends.
5.2 General Guidelines
A. Material Selection
5.3 Additional Services
Loan services are provided to members of the Fujairah University community who hold a valid university ID (UOF ID), which must be presented in person when borrowing materials.
Library materials cannot be borrowed using someone else's ID.
Each borrower is responsible for all materials borrowed under their ID number until they are returned.
The borrowing process must be completed through the self-service device or at the loan office.
Most printed materials in the library are available for loan, except for the following materials that are allowed to be used only within the library:
The borrower is responsible for returning borrowed materials in good condition and on time.
Loan renewals can be done either through the self-service device or at the loan office.
The library system sends automatic alerts via university email (UOF email) to remind borrowers of the return dates for borrowed materials.
It is the borrower's responsibility to update their contact information in their profile within the system.
Borrowed materials should be returned on the latest date indicated on the return date card located on the back cover of the book or printed on the loan receipt from the self-service device.
In case of repeated delays and accumulated fines:
In the case of exemption or reduction, the justification will be recorded in the student's file within the library system.
The concept of weeding and exclusion:
It is the process of reviewing the library's holdings available in it and evaluating them for the partial disposal of some library materials whose information has become outdated, and whose use has become sparse and occupies space in the library shelves.
The purpose of the cultivation process:
The goal of weeding is to ensure that the books are in good physical condition, contain up-to-date information, are not outdated, are in a state of balance and have no gaps, are used by beneficiaries, and are available in latent numbers of copies.
The percentage of books and publications that must be excluded varies from one library to another, depending on the size and quality of the library, its history, and the quality of its collections. Some believe that the percentage of books excluded from the library should be 2% of its collections annually.
Materials are weed.
*Gifts that you decide not to add to the library or information center collection.
Reasons for weeding and exclusion:
*To save more space on shelves.
*Renewal of the various office materials from which new editions were issued, and the renewal of damaged ones.
*The development of society and considering the cultural level of individuals.
*Keeping pace with scientific development, and the desire of libraries to include everything new.
*Provide intensive efforts to organize and maintain collections.
*Attention to gender and not quantity, so that what does not matter to the community of beneficiaries, and duplicates, are excluded.
*Excluding inappropriate office materials for the sake of internal and external oversight.
*Desire to follow the change in the collection development policy, and in the library's goals according to the change in the goals of the institution that follows it.
*Desire to make the best use of this acquired resource.
Methods of weeding and exclusion:
Weeding and culling can take place in several ways:
*Weeding is carried out through an inventory of library collections, in order to determine which addresses will be excluded.
*Replace old editions with modern ones,
*The pickers sometimes select a new book, to exclude another book on the shelf.
Time for excluding various books
The time for the books is set as follows:
1- Physics, chemistry, and technology books: five years because these books are rapidly changing and developing.
2- Mathematics and Biological Sciences: Fifty years, because it contains old theories and laws, and here you must consult a specialist.
3- Religious books: The holy books can be kept.
4- Social Sciences: It needs constant review because it deals with immediate social problems.
5-Economy Books: Need Revision; this is because economic systems are evolving.
6- Law books: need to be changed, because the laws are constantly changing.
7- Language books: These books are considered one of the important and great basic references, so the old ones are excluded, and the rest of the books are filtered according to use.
8- History books: Librarians will exclude historical books that contain inaccurate information.
9- Geography books: It is excluded from this type of book after eight years.
10- Periodicals: Scientific and literary journals are kept, and the rest of the periodicals that have no importance are disposed of.
Despite the importance of the process of weeding and exclusion, to strengthen the library's collections and find new places to add all new books, publications, and cultural materials, on various topics, However, it is not done for several reasons:
1- The weeding and exclusion process takes time and effort from workers and can be devoted to other office work.
2- This process is financially costly, to cover other shortcomings in the library.
3- In many libraries there is no authority for the librarian to carry out the weeding and exclusion.
4- The librarian makes a mistake while discarding a specific book that he does not have to request, and after a period it becomes important and is requested by the beneficiaries.
5- Library evaluation according to quantity and not type, as many libraries are evaluated according to the size of their holdings and not according to the type of their holdings.
6- Legal factors that prevent exclusion, especially if the warehouse and procurement regulations govern the management of developing the information resource group.
7- Avoidance of responsibility by some exclusionists.
Books and sources are reviewed in the university library every two years to exclude books that have been replaced by recent books and editions, and this takes place at the end of the second semester of each academic year. Each college is represented by a member who represents it in the committee for the disposal of old books, with the possibility of gifting these books or offering them for sale at nominal prices to university members or groups of the local community.
© 2025 University of Fujairah