General Collections

The Howard-Tilton Memorial Library's general circulating collections are among the largest in the the Gulf region of the United States.  While its collection development has been tightly focused in support of Tulane's academic programs, the general collections have still grown to include more than 2.7 million volumes housed in the main Howard-Tilton building and an off site storage facility for older volumes—exclusive of the materials also held in the library's Special Collections and other smaller, separate Tulane libraries associated with the university's professional schools.  The library spends about $2.9 million annually on digital resources; students and faculty have access to an uncommon array of published digital facsimile collections of scholarly material and to articles in about 39,500 journal titles, most of them online.  Post Katrina the library is rebuilding collections in music and media, and govenment documents--aiming to make its collections in these areas stronger than ever.

 

Collection Development


The library's collections are managed by some 20 librarians who work in departments throughout the library and are assigned to the academic disciplines that the collections support. Through liaison contacts with Tulane's academic departments, these librarians select books, journals, and other materials. Their work is coordinated by the library's associate dean who is assisted by three chief bibliographers: for the humanities, for science & engineering, and for social sciences & government publications. The chief bibliographers function as a working group for collection projects and provide individual librarians with guidance and mentorship.


Comprehensive Collection Policies


The library has formulated a comprehensive set of collection development guidelines and policies that include detailed policy statements for each discipline supported. The framework for these policies is designed to reflect the academic department and cross-departmental academic program structure of the university.


Book and Journal Selection


Faculty participation in the selection process is welcomed and encouraged. Requests may be sent directly to the librarians or through department book chairs, faculty from academic departments assigned as liaisons to the library. The selection and receipt of many current books is expedited through the use of approval plans for domestic and foreign publications. These plans provide books based on a detailed, pre-determined subject profiles to ensure regular timely receipt of scholarly materials at a discount.

Because subscriptions involve both current and future funds, all journal requests are scrutinized with extra care and online access to new and existing subscriptions is sought routinely.


Standards and Ethical Principles


  • Standards: The Howard-Tilton Memorial Library maintains its collections in accordance with the standards and membership criteria of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL). The library's collections must also meet criteria defined by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and numerous other accrediting agencies to which the university's degree granting programs are subject.
  • Intellectual Freedom and Censorship: The library recognizes that free access to ideas and freedom of expression are fundamental to the educational process. Consequently, the library purchases materials that represent a wide variety of viewpoints and the library subscribes to and complies with the American Library Association (ALA) Library Bill of Rights. The library does not add or withdraw, at the request of any individual or group, material which has been chosen or excluded on the basis of stated selection criteria. An individual or group questioning the appropriateness of material within the collection will be referred to the Library Dean.
  • Confidentiality: The ALA Code of Ethics states that "Librarians must protect each user's right to privacy with respect to information sought, received, and materials consulted, borrowed, or acquired." In addition, the library adheres to the ALA Policy on Confidentiality of Library Records and Confidentiality of Library Users.
  • Copyright: The library complies with the provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 U.S.C.) and its amendments. The library strongly supports the "Fair Use" section of the Copyright Law (17 U.S.C. 107) which permits and protects the rights to reproduce and make other uses of copyrighted works for the purposes of teaching, scholarship, and research.

Gifts


The library welcomes contributions and selected gifts of books and other materials that will enhance the strength of its collections. Of interest are scholarly or rare items with research value that are in good physical condition. More information about making a contribution or donating materials to the Library can be found on our gifts web page.