106 · Representative Documents: Regional Accrediting Agency Reports
Brigham Young University
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). Library and Information Resources 5
Collection patterns in the future will likely place greater emphasis on electronic
resources, including digital books and online journals. There will be some shift
of resources from the purchase of books to journals, particularly in science and technology
disciplines. Increasingly the libraries will rely on licensing access to content rather than
purchasing materials that will be housed at the university. The libraries will collect fewer
microfilms and fewer government documents but plans to continue acquiring manuscript and
Special Collections materials at the same pace as in the past. Acquisition of these materials
comes primarily through gifts and endowment funding.
Scholarly Communication and Institutional Repository
The libraries have partnered with the nationally sponsored Scholarly Publishing and
Resources Coalition (SPARC) to support the development of new modes of scholarly
communication that will improve access while reducing institutional costs for scholarly
publications. As part of this movement, the libraries and OIT have jointly launched an
institutional repository, which is a digital collection of the intellectual output of university
faculty. One department is fully involved and others have expressed interest as a way of
complementing the existing scholarly publishing model. Many faculty members see the
institutional repository as a more permanent solution to the practice of self-posting research to
the Web. Additionally, the Lee Library has become a member of several nationally sponsored
open-access journal projects. Faculty members have expressed appreciation for the library’s
membership since it allows them to support emerging alternative modes of scholarly
communication by publishing in open-access journals at no personal cost.
Library Catalog
The libraries place a high priority on having their collections completely and accurately
cataloged for student and faculty use. Catalog records comply with the highest international
standards for bibliographic description, and the Lee Library is not only a regular contributor but
also a national leader in the national authorities databases for names (NACO), subjects (SACO),
and bibliographic records (BIBCO). With increasing numbers of digital resources coming into
the library collection, it is difficult to balance needs between traditional cataloging and metadata-
related functions. The libraries must investigate alternative staffing and work-flow possibilities
and reassign personnel appropriately. To ensure that needed materials are cataloged quickly, the
Lee Library offers an online “fastcat” request service for students and faculty. This service is
used, on average, 760 times per year.
Summary
Strengths
Over the years, the BYU libraries have benefited from ongoing institutional budget support
for collection development. This support came even in years when many libraries were
forced to dramatically reduce materials acquisitions. As a result, outstanding library
collections support the university’s curricular and research programs.
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