Reference Collection Development Guideline

1. Purpose

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This Guideline supports the Collection Development Policy. It provides a framework for the selection and acquisition of published materials for Libraries Tasmania’s Reference Collection as part of its State Library function.

2.1 Reference Collection description

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A library reference collection provides clients with a current, authoritative collection of non-circulating materials in one convenient location, to provide immediate answers to a range of questions.  Libraries Tasmania’s Reference Collection prioritises books that support Tasmanian research and study, while offering a range of current resources to answer more general questions.  Standard resources include dictionaries, encyclopaedias, almanacs, biographical sources, directories, atlases and bibliographies.

2.2 State Reference Collection

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The Reading Room at 91 Murray Street, Hobart is the entry point to the State Library of Tasmania Reference and Heritage Collections and provides access to more than 300,000 items held on site.  The collection highlights Tasmania’s global history, including connections with the Pacific, Indian and Southern Oceans.

The Reading Room provides a browsable collection of items containing local, national and international perspectives that are current, authoritative, well-written and of enduring value, with a particular focus on Tasmanian and Australian content.

In addition to books, Libraries Tasmania’s reference collection includes the following formats:

• Electronic resources
• Formats unsuitable for the lending collection such as spiral bound, pamphlets and elephant size (more than 38cm in height)
• Newspapers and serials
• Maps
• Government publications
• Microfilm / microfiche

2.3 State reference collection areas and subject strengths

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Tasmania

The main focus of the State Reference Collection is on material that is about Tasmania, written by Tasmanians and published in Tasmania. Items are also acquired relating to Tasmania’s relevance to the British Empire and within the regions of the Indian, Pacific, and Southern Oceans. Other areas of focus are the historiography of indigenous rights, penal policy, imperial humanitarianism, white settler colonialism, and environmental histories. The general nature of this collection is primarily non-fiction. The collection also duplicates items that have a Tasmanian focus and are held in the Heritage Collection to make them accessible for browsing in the Reading Room and for document delivery.

The State Reference Collection also offers a collection of resources containing local, national and international perspectives that are current, authoritative, well-written and of enduring value focusing on Australian, regional and international content.

Macquarie Island and Antarctica

Macquarie Island and the Australian Antarctic Territory make up part of the collection scope of the Heritage Collection. Items relating to Australians in Antarctica, and to polar expeditions departing from or transiting through Tasmania, are collected. Other Antarctic and sub-Antarctic material is collected more selectively, with the aim of maintaining authoritative general information about the activities of all countries in Antarctica.

Family history

The Reading Room has a dedicated family history collection for clients wanting to trace their ancestry in Tasmania as well as nationally and internationally. Content ranges from beginner genealogy guides through to resources such as convict, immigration, births, deaths and marriages records.

Newspapers and serials

Local, national and international titles covering topics of cultural, practical, political, recreational and intellectual interest. Access to many historic newspapers is available via microfilm and electronic databases. Foreign language newspapers and serials are available via electronic databases.

Service manuals

Service manuals for cars, motorcycles, trucks, outboard motors and more are held in the Reading Room, covering early and late model vehicles. The Reading Room holds the most comprehensive service manual collection in Libraries Tasmania, including pre1970 models not included in online electronic resources.  Service manuals are also available online and via the lending collection holds system.

Street directories, atlases and travel guides

The latest street directories from all Australian states and territories are held, as well as international road maps and directories from Europe, Asia and America. The latest editions of Lonely Planet travel guides that are in high demand in the lending collection can always be found on shelf in the Reading Room.

Maps

Folded and flat maps and charts are held in the Reading Room. These include Tasmanian walking maps, topographical, bathymetric and hydrologic maps, historic maps, aerial photographs of Tasmania and maps of Antarctica.

The collection focuses on subject areas of particular interest to the Tasmanian community including, but not limited to:

2.4 Reference stacks

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The reference stacks act as an overflow for the Reading Room, with items retrieved for clients half hourly on request.  The reference stacks hold the following:

• reference items of enduring value, which are older and with lower usage statistics than similar items in the Reading Room
• pamphlets
• back issues of newspapers and serials
• government publications – Tasmanian and Commonwealth Hansards, Acts and Parliamentary Papers
• fragile items
• bookcase – items that have been deemed rare, valuable, vulnerable or significant.

2.5 General reference collection

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All 45 public libraries in the Libraries Tasmania network hold a reference collection. The purpose of a public library reference collection is to provide core information that is always available on shelf for all library visitors. Items in the collections are therefore not available for loan.

The size, range and breadth of individual library collections vary according to the size and needs of the community.

All titles in the public library reference collection are also held in the State Reference Collection or in the Tasmanian Heritage Collection. Inter and intra library loan requests for titles are filled from the State Reference Collection.

All libraries, with the exception of Hobart, have a Tasmanian reference collection comprising material of direct relevance to their local or immediate geographic region. Some libraries, in addition to a Tasmanian reference collection, house an existing collection of manuscripts and other original materials relating to the history of Tasmania.

Original materials such as manuscripts, photographs or artworks are not held in libraries, with the exception of Launceston. One-off copies of original materials are not placed in individual libraries; but digital copies are made universally accessible through the Libraries Tasmania website.

In addition to books, the reference collection includes the following formats:

• Electronic resources
• Formats unsuitable for the lending collection such as spiral bound, pamphlets and elephant size
• Newspapers and serials.

Additionally, larger libraries may also include:

• Maps
• Government publications
• Microfilm / microfiche.

2.6 Reference Collection areas and subject strengths

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Ready Reference

Every library holds a core collection of up to date ready reference titles which include:

General Reference

Larger libraries hold a wider range of general reference titles which may include:

Local Studies   

Each library holds a diverse range of items of relevance to the local community.  These may include:

Larger libraries hold a wider range of local studies items which pertain to the broader regional area, including the relevant library catchment.

3. Exclusions

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The Reference collection does not include the following items:

• Textbooks
• Stand-alone fiction and poetry, with the exception of notable Tasmanian fiction held in the reference stack
• Hard-copies of non-Tasmanian and/or government publications that are otherwise freely available electronically, for example government department research reports or guidelines
• Items in languages other than English (LOTE), with the exception of some newspapers, serials and items of historical significance to Tasmania
• Exhibition catalogues, with the exception of major exhibitions in major galleries such as Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) or National Library of Australia (NLA) which have produced books in their own right with informative text
• Unpublished material including manuscripts, photographs and ephemera which are part of the Tasmanian heritage collection.

4. Donations

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Donations of Tasmanian materials to Libraries Tasmania are always welcome and may be utilised within Libraries Tasmania reference collections.  The Library reserves the right to dispose of any items if they are not needed, at any time and by any means, including the right to offer them to any other body deemed appropriate, or to recycle them. 

5. Retention

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Tasmanian reference items fall into two broad categories:

• Items for long-term retention, mainly on historical, genealogical, economic, local government and environmental subjects
• Items that meet a short term need, such as government reports circulated ‘for public comment’.

6. Deselection

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The following criteria are used for deselecting reference collection items:

• Items where information is out-of-date, misleading, inaccurate, or obsolete (e.g. Out-dated health or legal resources, superseded travel guides)
• Items in poor physical condition due to normal wear and tear, damaged or dirty. (e.g. Worn plastic jackets, exposed boards, torn, stained or yellowed pages, mouldy, defaced, or smelly)
• Items are no longer relevant to the needs and demands of the community
• Insufficient usage
• Where an updated edition is available.

Items identified for deselection are to be disposed of according to the Libraries Tasmania Disposal Policy.

7. Disposal

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Libraries Tasmania may dispose of withdrawn library items and unwanted donations by any combination of the following methods:

• Resale via book sales or direct to booksellers
• Transfer to non-profit organisations for re-use by the community
• Transfer to charities for resale in their retail outlets
• Use in community outreach
• Offer to other libraries or institutions.

Where items have been identified as having no alternative use, environmentally sustainable practices such as recycling will be used for disposal.

8. Definitions

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eResource (Electronic resource)

Refers to either a collection of items contained within a subscription or online database, or to items that have been digitised. Electronic resources are often presented as collections of resources around a single theme or format eg eBooks and eAudio, newspapers, family history resources, car manuals etc.   

Format

The physical or digital makeup of an item. Formats may include books, serials, maps, pictures, microform, computer file, DVD and CD.

Holds 

The process where a client places a reserve on an item through the library management system.  The item is then sent to the requesting client’s library for collection once it is available. 

Item

Any title, regardless of format

Inter-library loan

A service whereby a member of one library can borrow books and/or receive photocopies of documents that are owned by another library.

Intra-library loan

A service whereby a member of any library within the Libraries Tasmania Network can borrow reference items owned by another Libraries Tasmania library.

Local Studies

Local Studies collection provide access for the community to materials of local interest and relevance.  They collect and preserve historical and contemporary material related to the local area or region served by the particular library.

LOTE

Languages Other Than English.

Materials

Any works or items.

Monograph

A book, pamphlet or document that is complete in itself, on a particular subject, that is not serialised.

Pamphlets

Books that are less than fifty pages and not spiral bound.

Reference item

A published work, database or online resource which is consulted for authoritative information. Reference items, including books are designed to be consulted for quick facts, learned opinion and cultural information.

Resources

Library resources can be in many formats, physical or digital, including books, databases, maps, microform and newspapers, and are used for accessing and sharing information.

Serial

A serial is a publication which is produced in parts at regular or irregular intervals. A serial usually has sequential numbering and regular features or themes.  Serials include magazines, newsletters, newspapers, annuals (such as reports, yearbooks, and directories), journals, memoirs, proceedings, transactions of societies and numbered series.

Stack Collection

A book stack is a book storage area as opposed to a book browsing area.  Collections of less popular items can be stored off site and made accessible to clients via staff retrieival or the holds service.

Works

A ‘work’ may be a monograph, pamphlet, newspaper, map or ephemera. It may refer to a single book or resource or it may be used to describe the total output of an individual for example ‘the works of Richard Flanagan’.