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  Collection Development
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Click here for print version of complete general collection development policy statement.

Collection Development Policy - Nursing 2011

Goal for Nursing Collection Development and Maintenance

The goal of collection development for the Nursing program is to support the education and research needs of the School of Nursing. This Nursing Collection Development policy works within the Perry Library Collection Development Policy.

The Old Dominion University School of Nursing offers the following degrees: Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), and the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP). Degree programs are offered both onsite and via several distance learning options.
The School of Nursing offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. According to the School’s website:
“The bachelor's program prepares highly competent nurses with strong theoretical foundations and excellent clinical practice skills, ready for entry-level professional careers in acute care, ambulatory care, rehabilitation, home, and community settings.”
For the traditional program, freshman year courses emphasize education requirements and the sciences--biology, chemistry, anatomy and physiology.

The School of Nursing offers a Master of Science degree. According to the School’s website, the MSN is:

“…designed to prepare graduate students with expertise in theory, research, and advanced nursing practice with a curriculum that is multidisciplinary. Through our academic courses and clinical experiences, graduate students are prepared to meet the nationwide demand for nurses in advanced practice as well as to pursue doctoral study.”
Specialties within the MSN are: nurse administrator, nurse educator, nurse anesthesia, family nurse practitioner, women’s health nurse practitioner, nurse midwifery and certified registered nurse anesthesia.

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program began January, 2009, and has been developed to advance the clinical and practice skills of advanced practice nurses. Areas of emphasis are: emerging healthcare technologies, advanced diagnostic and client care skills, care of vulnerable populations, and assurance of quality outcomes in clinical research.

Nursing Faculty Research and Clinical Interest Areas*

• Urologic Nursing
• Teaching process; nursing instruction and evaluation methods; instruction in simulated clinical environments; education technologies
• Infectious disease; infectious disease management; hematology and oncology; genetics
• Health of families and adopted children; mental health and families; school-based pediatric care
• Pediatric nursing; health issues of women and adolescents; adolescent mothers; HIV; interventions targeted at preventing STD’s and HIV in adolescents
• Global health; public policy
• Critical care nursing; critical care and diabetes, renal and vascular processes; infection control in critical care
• Cardiac nursing and cardiothoracic surgical intensive care
• Rehabilitation nursing
• Culturally competent care

*As of 2010

General  Nursing Collection Guidelines

Materials collected include: serials, monographs, government publications, databases, media and resources in various formats--print, electronic and online. Where possible, digital materials are preferred over print or hard copy.

Language: English is the primary language of the collection. Materials in other languages will he purchased by faculty request only.

Chronological Guidelines: While some historical materials may be purchased or retained, the emphasis is on current coverage of nursing subjects.

Geographical Guidelines: The United States is the primary country of origin for this collection, with materials pertaining to Canada and Great Britain sometimes included. Materials covering nursing in other geographic areas may be considered to support curricular areas which cover comparative or cross cultural nursing.

Treatment of Subject: Main subject areas are nursing and relevant areas of general medicine and preclinical and clinical sciences. Materials that support the School of Nursing curricula and faculty research and clinical areas will be collected. Areas of special interest such as: nursing in Virginia, Norfolk or the Tidewater region; nursing and the military; minorities in nursing; and materials written or edited by School of Nursing faculty will also be collected.

Materials on techniques, nursing theory, education, research, practice and standards will be collected. Manuals, research guides, some textbooks, bibliographies, dictionaries, laboratory manuals, atlases, statistics, core reference works and relevant government documents will be collected. Some histories and biographies may be included.

Items will be collected at a level appropriate for higher education and research. Popular works generally will not be collected. Multiple copies of items are generally not collected, only when an unusually high demand necessitates additional copies.

Methods for Acquiring Nursing Resources

Materials are obtained via the Perry Library Approval Plan, user request, the Library nursing bibliographer, the School of Nursing faculty liaison, and the Virtual library of Virginia. The approval plan, periodical and standing order collections should be periodically reviewed to make sure they are supporting the School of Nursing programs. Selection tools used to identify and select items for the collection include: CHOICE cards, Doody’s Core Titles, professional literature, and distributor and publisher catalogs and websites.

The ODU Libraries are members of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA), a consortium consisting of non-profit academic libraries in Virginia. VIVA’s mission is to enhance access to information resources, such as databases and electronic journals, for its members. Participating in VIVA supports collection development for Nursing by enabling access to resources including CINAHL, Dissertation and Theses Full-Text, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, the Wiley Online Library and other resources within the sciences.

Nursing Collection Development Maintenance

The Nursing Collection Development policy will be reviewed every 5 years, at least, to accommodate potential changes in curriculum and faculty research/clinical interest areas. Library health sciences materials will be evaluated regularly for weeding and updating. An assessment of the nursing collection will be conducted every 5 years at a minimum. Items under consideration for withdrawal will be evaluated according the criteria established by Perry Library. These criteria include:

• Collection level
• Intrinsic value
• Format. Given the importance of current information in health-related fields like nursing, and the extent of distance education in the Nursing program, special attention should be given to format. Damaged and superseded formats should be discarded.
• Duplication. Only duplicate materials with consistently heavy use should be kept.
• Physical condition
• Research value
• Edition Superseded diagnostic manuals will not be kept; only current editions. For other works, a general rule is the current edition plus the next previous edition. Exceptions will be made on a case by case basis.
• Textbooks. Is the work current and relevant the field of nursing? Are current editions available? A general rule is the current edition, plus the next previous edition only if necessary.
• Usage. For nursing, items older than 5 years that have never been checked out or have not circulated in the past 5 years will be considered for withdrawal.

Subjects and Collecting Level

The Library of Congress Classification for Medicine is R; Nursing RT, Nursing specialties RT 120. Collections that support Nursing are not just strictly “nursing” titles, but items in the basic sciences, broader health sciences, psychology, administration and management, education, etc. Subject areas such as anatomy, anesthesiology, biology, physiology, pharmacology, and radiology, are included as well. The LC class and subject descriptor list below lists some of the subject areas collected but is not inclusive:

§For explanation of Collecting Codes, please see Appendix.

Nursing Collection Development Policy Date: February 11, 2011
Nursing Bibliographer: Charity Karcher

Appendix I

Collection Levels are from the April 2010 Collection Development Policy

Levels of Collection Density and Collecting Intensity

The code levels defined below are designed for use in identifying both the extent of existing collections in given subject fields (collection density) and the extent of current collection activity in the field (collection intensity.)

1.  Minimal Level

A subject area in which few selections are made beyond very basic works.

1a. Minimal Level, Uneven Coverage: Few selections are made; there is unsystematic representation of the subject.

1b. Minimal Level, Even Coverage: Few selections are made; basic authors, some core works, and a spectrum of ideological views are presented. Can support fundamental inquiries.

2.  Basic Level

A highly selective collection which serves to introduce and define the subject and to indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere. It includes major dictionaries and encyclopedias, selected editions of important works, historical surveys, important bibliographies, and a few major periodicals in the field.

2a. Basic Level, Introductory: The emphasis at this level is on providing resources that introduce and define a subject. A collection at this level includes basic reference tools and explanatory works, historical descriptions of the subject's development, general works devoted to major topics and figures in the field, and selective major periodicals. This level is only sufficient to support patrons attempting to locate general information about a subject or students enrolled in introductory level classes.

2b. Basic Level, Advanced: At the advanced level, basic information about a subject is provided on a wider range of topics and with more depth. There is a broader selection of basic explanatory works, historical descriptions, reference tools, and periodicals and indexes that serve to introduce and define a subject. Access to appropriate electronic bibliographic databases, a selection of editions of important works, and a greater quantity and variety of materials is typical.

3. Study Level

A collection that is adequate to impart and maintain knowledge about a subject in a systematic way but at a level of less than research intensity. The collection includes a wide range of basic works in appropriate formats, a significant number of classic retrospective materials, complete collections of the works of more important writers, selections from works of secondary writers, a selection of representative journals, access to appropriate electronic resources, and the reference tools and fundamental bibliographic apparatus pertaining to the subject. At this level, the collection is adequate to support independent study and most learning needs of undergraduate and some graduate instruction.

3a. Basic Study Level: A collection at this level provides resources adequate for imparting and maintaining knowledge about the basic or primary topics of a subject area. The collection includes the most important primary and secondary literature, a selection of basic representative journals/periodicals, and subject-based indexes, which are the fundamental reference and bibliographical tools pertaining to the subject. Collections at the basic study level support lower division undergraduate classes, as well as some of the basic independent study needs of the lifelong learner.

3b. Intermediate Study Level: A collection at this level provides resources adequate for imparting and maintaining knowledge about the basic or primary topics of a subject area. The collection includes a broad range of basic works in appropriate formats, classic retrospective materials, all key journals on primary topics, selected journals and seminal works on secondary topics, access to appropriate machine-readable data files, and the reference tools and fundamental bibliographic apparatus pertaining to the subject. These materials are adequate to support advanced undergraduate course work. It is not adequate to support master's degree programs.

3c. Advanced Study Level: The advanced subdivision of level 3 provides resources adequate for imparting and maintaining knowledge about the primary and secondary topics of a subject area. The collection includes a significant number of seminal works and journals on the primary and secondary topics in the field, a significant number of retrospective materials, a substantial collection of works by secondary figures, and works that provide more in-depth discussions of research, techniques, and evaluation. This collection level can support master's degree programs.

4. Research Level

A collection that includes the major published source materials required for dissertation and independent research, including materials containing research reporting, new findings, scientific experimental results, and other information important to researchers. It is intended to include all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as a very extensive collection of journals and major indexing and abstracting services in the field. Pertinent foreign language materials are included. Older material is usually retained for historical research and actively preserved. A collection at this level supports doctoral and other original research.

5. Comprehensive Level

A collection in which the library endeavors, so far as is reasonably possible, to include all significant works of recorded knowledge (publications, manuscripts, and other forms), in all applicable languages, for a necessarily defined and limited field. This level of collection intensity is one that maintains a "special collection"; the aim, if not the achievement, is exhaustiveness. Older material is retained for historical research with active preservation efforts.

This appendix is based on the "WLN Collection Assessment Manual, 4th ed." by Nancy Powell, published by WLN in 1992.