| Abstract: | Because the mission of smaller academic libraries serving fewer than 10,000 full-time enrolled students is mainly to serve the curriculum-based needs of students and faculty, collection management in these libraries needs to be directly related to changes in the curriculum of the parent institution. A look into applicable collection management literature, combined with one library's experience, offers insights about effective curriculum-based collection building in a smaller academic library setting. To achieve efficiency, collection managers must maintain up-to-date knowledge of changing instructional and research needs at their institutions, the needs new programs have for library materials, appropriate collection assessment tools, and the tasks involved in a focused expansion project. By optimizing consultations with faculty and evaluation procedures scaled to its needs, the library at North Georgia College & State University, a modestly sized academic institution, established a model for becoming an active participant in new course and program planning during the application stage, ensuring appropriate library support for new courses and programs of study. |
