Duplication of Materials

The mission of the Library is to support the teaching and research needs of Oberlin's students and faculty. Implicit in this mission is a need to provide adequate numbers of copies of essential titles supporting specific classroom or research needs.

The Library will normally add more than one copy of a title to the collection under the following circumstances:

For use on reserve, the Library will normally add one copy for each 10-20 students in the course. The exact number of copies will be determined through consultation between reserve staff and faculty members. Added copies of titles needed for reserve will be acquired as needed.
To satisfy current demand for popular titles - Circulation staff request purchase of added copies to satisfy current patron demand.
To satisfy anticipated demand - a selector may order more than one copy of a title which in his/her judgment will be in high demand.
To replace copies of titles missing or lost - added copies of titles declared missing or lost will be ordered as necessary.
To provide circulating copies of titles in reference - added copies of reference titles will be acquired selectively to permit these titles to circulate.
To add autographed copies of titles already in the collection - autographed/inscribed copies, received as gifts, of titles already held will be added selectively for either Special Collections or stack collections.

Other circumstances may also arise which will justify adding a duplicate volume to the collection. The Collection Development Librarian, consulting with liaison librarians, will evaluate these selection decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Draft, 5-6-94