Library - Aims & Policies
Collection Development Policy
Collection criteria
- The Library book collections relate to all aspects of the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, from earliest times to the present day: Latin America, the Caribbean, Portugal and Spain, the Hispanic Communities of the United States, the Falkland Islands, and the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Africa and Asia.
- Subject coverage encompasses all disciplines of general and academic interest, in the Humanities and Social Sciences, including: History, Politics, Current Affairs, Economics, Sociology, Ethnography, Geography, Natural History, Archaeology, Religion, Literature, Art and Music, Cinema, Travel, Linguistics, Food and Drink.
- The Library will obtain material in English, Spanish and Portuguese, as well as in Amerindian languages and other languages spoken in Spain (Basque, Catalan, Galician).
Main Book Collection
- The Library aims to obtain copies of all new relevant books in English by requesting review copies from publishers, for review in the British Bulletin of Publications on Latin America, the Caribbean, Portugal and Spain.
- The Library will seek to obtain, through purchase (and, if necessary, seeking special funding), important titles in English that are not received from publishers for review.
- The Library will obtain, through purchase and within the agreed budget, a representative selection of works published in languages other than English, particularly Spanish and Portuguese, both non-fiction and fiction.
- The Library will acquire works of literature (particularly fiction, both classic and contemporary), in the original language and in translation.
Periodicals Collection
- The Library will obtain, through purchase and within the agreed budget, a representative selection of periodicals on Latin America, Spain and Portugal.
- The periodicals will include newsletters and bulletins, newspapers and magazines, academic journals.
- The subject coverage will be general-interest, literature and culture, social sciences, current affairs, economics.
- The Library will subscribe to a Spanish newspaper, for the purposes of indexing for the subject bibliographies. The newspaper will be in both print and electronic format. The print copy will normally be the Sunday edition, owing to budget and storage considerations.
Economic and Business Affairs Collection
The Library will maintain and add to the collection of background economic information and statistics, through selective purchase and donation.
Film Collection
The Library will purchase high-quality and representative Latin American and Iberian feature films, on video or DVD. The preferred format is Region 2, but if a film is not available in this format it may be obtained in Region 1 (NTSC) format for viewing on the multi-format video and DVD players in-house.
Non-Print Media Collection
The Library will purchase non-book media selectively. CD-ROMs are sometimes obtained from publishers for review in the Bulletin (language dictionaries, statistical information, etc.). The Library regularly receives donations of CD-ROMs, audiotapes and CDs. The Library does not normally purchase music on CD and tape.
Special Collections
The Library greatly values its special collections of rare books. The Library will aim to house and preserve these materials in a secure physical environment. The collections are not normally for loan.
Guides to the Collections
The Library will produce, and keep up to date, lists of and guides to the various collections (e.g. audiovisual material, periodicals, special collections) for the benefit of users. These aids to the collections will also be mounted on the Library's web page.
Relegation and Withdrawal
The Library considers its collections to be of permanent research value and will not normally withdraw material. However, a book may be withdrawn, for example, if a new edition of a particular work has been received, if it is in poor physical condition and a replacement copy is to be purchased. The Library reserves the right not to keep certain materials obtained by donation, if it is considered that they do not match the Library's collection criteria. Such material is normally offered to other relevant libraries, for exchange, or in book sales.
Review of collections
The Library will review its collection development policy at least annually.