Coll. Dev. Policy Table of Contents Copyright Statement Introduction Policies Selection Process Collection Evaluation Adult 000 - Computers Adult 100 - Psychology, Philosophy Adult 200 - Religion Adult 300 - Social Sciences Adult 400 - Language Adult 500 - Pure Sciences Adult 600 - Applied Sciences Adult 700 - Arts, Recreation Adult 800 - Literature Adult 900 - History, Geography Adult - Biography Adult - Fiction Adult - Mysteries Adult - Science Fiction Adult - Young Adult Adult - Videos Adult - Ref. CD-ROMs Adult - Circ CD-ROMs Adult - Popular Recordings Adult - Classical Recordings Adult - Spoken Recordings Adult - Reference Adult - Online Databases Adult - WWW Sites Adult - Large Type Adult - Paperbacks Adult - Govt. Documents Adult - Local History Adult - Periodicals Adult - Literacy Adult - Foreign Lang. Adult - Phone Books Adult - College Catalog Adult - Pamphlets Juv. - Non-Fiction Juv. - Easy Reader Non-Fic. Juv. - Fiction Juv. - Easy Fiction Juv. - Easy Reader Fiction Juv. - Picture Books Juv. - Paperbacks Juv. - Sound Recordings Juv. - Spoken Recordings Juv. - Reference Juv. - Periodicals

Applied Sciences (600-699)

The applied science and technology section serves an extremely wide range of needs: medical information, from personal health to disease coping and recovery; all aspects of home economics and management, including cookbooks, gardening, home and appliance maintenance and repair; electronics and engineering, including automobile maintenance and repair; management, ranging from starting and running a home business through improving one's management style and moving up the corporate ladder; manufacturing and building trades.

Influencing Factors

Public library patrons historically have extensive interests in areas such as business, personal health, cookery, do-it-yourself-projects, etc. Consequently, the demand for relevant, current information on these high profile subjects is always high.

In addition to the standard selection tools, Science Books and Films and publishers' catalogs are used for selection. The standard sources generally provide adequate coverage of medicine, agriculture, home economics and management, while a greater reliance on additional sources may be necessary for other subjects such as electronics, engineering, manufacturing and building. Rarely should more than one copy of a title be purchased.

610-619
With the exception of classic works in such general areas as anatomy, nursing and first aid, most selections in the medical sciences should be aimed at the general consumer. It is important to cover as wide a range of diseases and treatments as possible.

620-629, 660-699
Engineering, Manufacturing, Building: Coverage of the more popular subjects in these areas needs to be broad in terms of level, from beginner to professional. Other subjects, especially some in the 660s, 670s and 680s, are too specialized and technical for a public library this size, in which case only popular works aimed at the non-professional are appropriate. Broad coverage is especially important in car repair books in terms of both year and model.

Weeding is based on the normal criteria of age, condition and usage, with the additional criteria listed below for certain subjects.

610-619
In general, medical books should be aggessively weeded to ensure that all sources are accurate and up-to-date. This is especially true for books on specific diseases. In other areas, such as dieting, smoking cessation, etc., weeding should be based more on usage level. While it is necessary to select a wide range of books in such areas, their popularity often drops quickly after a year or two.

620-629
In all areas, retention should be based on usage level and accuracy of information. In electronics repair, consideration should also be given to the popularity of the device; for example, there is little need to maintain anything more than a very basic collection on repairing black-and-white televisions.

Car Repair Books: Chilton's and Mitchell's multi-year or all-model books should be retained permanently (or as long as their condition permits). Single-model books should be retained as long as the model is popular, or a minimum of 5 years.

640-649
Regular weeding has left the collection in good shape. However, many new titles are added on a regular basis, so weeding must be done on a yearly basis to avoid overcrowding. Withdrawal considerations should be based on the condition of the book, excess material in any given area, or outdated information.

660-699
Manufacturing, Building: Until these sections are built up, and since information on these subjects is not quickly out-dated, weeding should be fairly light so that the collection covers as broad a range of topics as possible.

Overall, the 600s are at an appropriate level. However, within the manufacturing and building subjects that are appropriate for the library, increased purchasing is necessary to expand both the size of the collection and the range of technical levels (beginner to professional).

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First published on the Web: 1/26/98
Last updated: 10/17/2006, 3:07 PM