Collection Policy

As approved by Policy Council, 1st July 1996.

1. To create a resource for the whole College: books, videos, audio tapes, CD-ROMs, periodicals, examination papers, a reference collection (including health and welfare), IT services.
2. To provide for Part I students: textbooks, texts and essential secondary literature in all Tripos subjects studied, selected mainly from reading lists provided by the Faculties; duplicates of these at the discretion of the Librarian/Directors of Studies; a very limited number of academic periodicals, mainly for Law and history, and periodicals of general interest if inexpensive or donated.
3. To provide for Part II / Graduate Students: standard secondary reading material, without attempting to cover all texts for special subjects: (any texts explicitly ordered by DoSs to be purchased); periodicals as above; I.T. services, e.g. access to BIDS.
4. To provide for Fellows: books relevant to teaching but not for their own research.
5. To house bequests directly relevant to the above objectives, with the proviso that collections need not be kept together and that obsolete and unnecessary books may be disposed of. Duplicates from bequests to be added at the discretion of the Librarian/Directors of Studies.
6. To maintain a small collection of antiquarian books in appropriate conditions for their preservation. To keep books and offprints relevant to the history of the College, in particular the publications of alumnae. To preserve books on women's history.
7. The size of the Library should be controlled by a policy for disposal of superseded editions, out-of-date works and unused duplicate copies, and a review of books unused after 2 years in stack. 45,000 books, the average size of a Cambridge College undergraduate library, is an adequate number.
8. The proportion of books regularly used by undergraduates should be at least two-thirds of the open access/stack books, bearing in mind the excellent library provision in Cambridge.