Acquisition policy

First Revision：27 Jan 2015
Second Revision：30 Jan 2019

Shibaura Institute of Technology Library

Acquisition philosophy

SIT was founded under the mission of “nurturing practical engineers who learn from and contribute to society”. Education and research activity is what lies at the core of our mission, and the university library, as a reference and information center, plays an important role to support this mission.

SIT started as an engineering college and expanded its educational and research fields into science and design to meet the need of our increasingly complicated and advanced society. The library is designed to provide resource for education and research, as well as to respond to diversification of information demands and carriers.

The quality of a library is determined by selections of data, its facilities and its librarians.The most important among these is to have an adequate amount of well selected data. We aim to build a collection of both fundamental and unique data that is useful for the education and research activity as SIT and valuable for the society.

Acquisition policy

The library prioritizes collecting materials that match the educational and research purpose of SIT, and effectively maintain a budget to enrich its collection. Acquisition policy should be made in accordance with the acquisition philosophy. The library is obliged to actively monitor and analyze the composition of materials and utility trend so that it can acquire appropriate materials, and keep flexibility to correspond with any changes of situation.

Research and educational materials are generally categorized into books and journals. Selection of the materials must be done to provide a comprehensive, well-branded collection.

Materials must be acquired for (1) providing fundamental materials to support SIT’s education and research, and (2) attracting both users within the university and the users of other libraries with its distinctive collections. For fulfilling these purposes, the library establishes a committee, and sets out concrete plans to keep the library’s collection comprehensive and well-branded. That includes removing inappropriate materials from its collection.

The library strives to effectively allocate its budget, re-examine its collection, and avoid duplication of materials. It also monitors materials provided by different forms of media, such as online databases, CD-ROMs, and microforms. The library is to cooperate with internal and external organizations for sharing materials acquisition roles and for users to have interlibrary access.

(1) Collection of fundamental data

The following materials are fundamental for SIT’s education and research. The library acquires these materials with due consideration to the university’s curriculum, research trends and the composition of the existing collection. Whereas it takes longer to publish books, periodical publications including journals enable the library to carry the most up-to-date research findings and information. Newspapers are also a source of up-to-date information and provide important records that reflect historical background. Therefore, the library tries to proactively and thoroughly acquire these materials.

Books

  1. Materials needed for each research field
  2. Common research materials in science
  3. Curriculum-based materials
  4. Materials which increase general knowledge
  5. Reference materials/secondary source materials

Journals

  1. Basic scientific journals for each research field
  2. Organ papers of fundamental academic societies and associations of each research field
  3. Bulletins of universities/specialized research institutions
  4. General interest journals/specialized journalsthat contribute to improving educational levels

Newspapers

  1. Domestic national newspapers
  2. Major domestic local newspapers
  3. Major international newspapers
  4. Major business papers

Electronic resources

  1. Electronic journals(e-journals)
  2. Online databases
  3. Electronic books(e-books)
  4. CD-ROMs
  5. Microforms

And other materials which are provided in various media

(2) Distinctive materials unique to SIT

The library focuses on creating a unique and distinctive collection, and regularly establishes and revises its rules and standards for content to be included in the library. Items that fall within the scope of our collection include:

Documents on SIT’s history

Books written by SIT’s students, graduates, former and current faculty members

SIT’s bulletin and research reports

SIT’s doctoral theses

Collections

  • Toyosu library: Important cultural properties, Company history, Railway technology
  • Omiya library: School history

(3) Renewal of books

Based on the SIT rules, the library disposes of materials that are purchased as “non-property materials” and materials unnecessary for long-term storage, and replenish the collection with updated materials.

(4) Selection of books

Acquisition policy is examined by the steering committee of the library. Based on the policy, the library sets up acquisition plans such as annual plans for each category, determines criteria for selecting materials, and makes guidelines for its collection including evaluation methods. Decisions made at the committee must be reported and approved by the director of the library. In regard to acquiring collections, the library sets up a special committee if necessary.

(4)-1. Criteria of book material selection (except audiovisual materials)

The library does not treat following as library materials.

  1. Extremely specialized materials
  2. Materials with extremely limited applications
  3. Materials that cover only temporary and/or localized topics
  4. Hobby materials
  5. Materials covered by other sections of SIT’s comprehensive collection
  6. Extremely expensive or cheap materials
  7. Materials that do not match the academic level of use for a university library

Any materials that are approved of by the library director are excluded from this list.

(4)-2. Newspapers and journals

The library makes an annual plan for the collection of newspapers and journals. It discusses and decides the following;

  1. Purchase of new materials
  2. Designed restock of back numbers
  3. Advisability of keeping duplicated materials
  4. Readjustment of existing papers
  5. Readjustment of storage condition
  6. Coordination with all the sections of the library and laboratories
  7. Other E-materials

(4)-3. Donated materials

The library evaluates donated materials pursuant to acquisition policy and rules for other materials. It sets a different standard for large-size donated materials and collections.
For railway related materials, “Library Research Committee of Railway Technology Material” selects materials.

(4)-4 Electronic book

Acquisition policy and rules conform to other paper materials. For each of the following items, Electronic books are selected with priority given to each characteristic (accessibility, storage space, data reference by external links *translation function etc).

  1. Expensive materials (over 30,000 yen)
  2. Duplicates (duplicates with paper materials)
  3. Foreign books