Cornell University Library Collection Development Manual: Collection Priorities

Timely access to research and learning content for the Cornell community is the Library’s first priority in the scholarly resources arena. It is a prerequisite for continuing to develop Cornell’s academic distinction, educational verve and community engagement. Since Collection Development continues to be an important tool for the Library to achieve this priority, the following principles have been drafted to inform collection development policy and practice:

• The Cornell University Library (CUL) collections are developed for use by the Cornell community today and in the future.
• Collection development at CUL also supports collection preservation, and the availability of content beyond the Cornell community.
• Collection development at CUL benefits from coordination of effort with other research and learning institutions.
• Collection development at CUL seeks to make the best possible use of limited financial resources and takes into account all the costs of ownership and access (including acquisition, processing, storage, preservation).
• The success of collection development at CUL is measured by regular quantitative and qualitative assessment.
• Attentive to the multiple intersecting ways that the library collection reflects societal histories of bias, exclusion, and oppression, collection development at CUL seeks to redress omissions and to advance research and teaching that critically examines unjust structures, contributing to their dismantlement.
• CUL’s collection development principles are reviewed regularly to align with changing university priorities.

adopted 2019; revised 2022