Our collection development policy details our approach to collecting for the Haddon Library. We welcome enquiries about dontations to the library, so please get in touch with any queries.
Purpose, Scope and Context of the Policy
Acquisition: Library Stock in General
Acquisition: Special Categories of Material
Purpose, Scope and Context of the Policy
The purpose of this Collection Development Policy is to provide a framework of priorities and selection criteria for the maintenance and development of the Haddon Library's collections. It is intended to give guidance, not only to teachers, researchers and Haddon staff engaged in book and journal selection, but also to putative donors and testators. It will enable these valued friends to translate their goodwill into the most effective benefit for future generations of students and researchers.
Predecessors of this document are the Haddon's Statement of Aims and Objectives from 1993, and the Collection Development Policy drawn up in 1999 and revised in 2009. The main drivers of this 2017 revision are the Haddon's affiliation to the central University Library, the advent of Electronic Legal Deposit, and the prospect of offsite storage.
Purpose of the Collection
The Haddon Library is an affiliate of Cambridge University Library (hereafter referred to as the UL). Historically part of the former Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Haddon remains physically located near that Faculty's present incarnations.
The Haddon's purpose is to provide support for international-quality teaching and research. With the many bequests it has received over the years from important figures in the discipline, the Haddon now stands as a leading research collection of published material in this field. As its holdings are listed in the Cambridge Union Catalogue and are available for inter-library loan and for consultation by visitors, the benefit is to the University as a whole and to the wider scholarly community. Registered users during the year 2015-2016 included 804 Cambridge undergraduates, 519 Cambridge graduate students, 286 Cambridge staff, and 137 visitors
Acquisition: Library Stock in General
3.1. Recommendation and selection
The Haddon Library will, as a matter of course, acquire material that is included in reading lists for students in the Department of Archaeology and the Department of Social Anthropology. Preference will be given to material that meets the following criteria:
- (a) Published recently -- within the last five years -- or not yet published.
- (b) Recommended to students for more than one chapter.
- (c) Not present in the Haddon.
- (d) Not available for free download.
The Haddon will, additionally, purchase material that is recommended for teaching by individual UTOs in those Departments.
3.2. Language
Publications in non-European languages will not normally be added to the Haddon's collection. Offers of material in East Asian languages should be forwarded to the relevant specialist at the University Library. If a foreign-language work exists in an English translation, the Haddon will for preference acquire that translation, unless there are serious doubts about its reliability. Translations from English into foreign languages will not generally be acquired.
3.3. Variant versions
The basic rule is that the Haddon will not acquire variant versions of works it already holds. The exceptions are as follows.
The Haddon will acquire new editions where one or more of the following circumstances apply:
- (a) the new edition incorporates substantial revision
- (b) the subject has undergone rapid change
- (c) the Haddon's copy of the previous edition has been heavily used
- (d) more than five years have elapsed since the previous edition
For reprints in general, see 3.4 Multiple copies and replacement copies, below.
The Haddon will acquire modern facsimiles or reprints of exceptionally, if this is necessary to save wear and tear on the originals.
Hardback will in general be preferred to paperback. The Haddon will purchase paperbacks where one or more of the following circumstances apply:
- (a) no hardback is obtainable
- (b) the purchase is specifically of multiple copies and replacement copies (see below,3.4 Multiple copies and replacement copies)
- (c) the paperback contains significant new material not in hardback
- (d) the subject is a fast-moving one (e.g. genetics) in which publications are rapidly superseded
3.4. Multiple copies and replacement copies
Multiple copies of books will be acquired when the observed or anticipated demand from readers is exceptionally high.
3.5. Electronic books
The Haddon is a subscriber to the University's ebooks@cambridge scheme, and recommends titles for purchase by the scheme's co-ordinator in the following circumstances:
- (a) the Haddon has received specific UTO recommendation for their purchase as ebooks
- (b) they have been recommended for placing on Restricted Access in the Haddon
In cases where a stable online address exists for an open-access publication named on a reading list, the publication will be added to the University's online catalogue with link to that address.
3.6. Relationship to holdings of other libraries in Cambridge
3.6.1. Cambridge University Library
The Haddon is an affiliate of Cambridge University Library (hereafter referred to as the UL). The UL's Collection Development Policy emphasizes the role of the affiliate libraries in driving its purchase of research material. Purchase recommendations made by lecturers in the Departments of Archaeology and Social Anthropology in connection with their own research, as distinct from teaching, will ordinarily be referred to the UL. In cases where the UL already holds a copy of the material in question, or is entitled to acquire it under Legal Deposit, the request will not be referred to the UL, and the Haddon may purchase the material if funds are available.
An increasing part of the UL's Legal Deposit holdings is electronic, and may be viewed only on special terminals in designated libraries. In deciding whether to order a title for the Haddon, availability as Non-Print Legal Deposit of that kind will be counted as equivalent to an item's not being held by the UL.
The Haddon Librarian sends monthly updates about book purchases and recommendations to the UL's Collection Development and Academic Liaison Librarian.
3.6.2. Libraries in Cambridge other than the UL
The availability of material in other Cambridge libraries, and evidence regarding level of demand in those libraries, may be used in decisions about the purchase of material for the Haddon.
The Haddon circulates an annual list of book recommendations to college librarians in Cambridge. The list is made up primarily of the titles that have been most borrowed in the Haddon during the year.
For further discussion of this question, see below, 4.3 Audio-visual and electronic media.
Acquisition: Special Categories of Material
4.1. Reference works
This category includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, maps, atlases, and library and museum catalogues.
For the Haddon to acquire such publications, they must meet both of the following criteria:
- (a) they must focus on archaeology and anthropology, or on one or more subfields within the discipline, or be indispensable for the work of staff and students (e.g. style guides, directories of funding bodies)
- (b) they must contain information that is not readily and reliably available online For a fuller discussion of the online-vs-paper question, see below, 4.3 Audio-visual and electronic media.
4.2. Periodicals
Periodical runs are kept as complete as possible. Decisions about new subscriptions are now taken via the University's Journals Co-Ordination Scheme, in which the Haddon participates.
For academic journals, electronic is increasingly the primary mode of publication, with print-on-paper as an optional extra. Factors rendering print-on-paper an attractive option include ease of use, durability, accessibility to users not registered with the subscribing institution, and readiness of access in comparison with the complexity and unreliability of access online.
However, when the question is considered in respect of any title that is published both online and as print on paper, financial pressures militate against the University's willingness to support multiple print copies of titles that are, at least in theory, available across the University online. The presumption will be that the print-on-paper subscription will end, unless one or more of the following conditions are met:
- (a) A print-on-paper subscription is necessary to enable the online subscription.
- (b) No other print-on-paper subscription exists within the University.
- (c) Support for the print-on-paper subscription is expressed by academics in the Departments of Archaeology and Social Anthropology
Economic advantages to any mode of publication must be considered as transient, and should not, by themselves, be used as criteria for choosing one mode over another. However, they should be recognised for their value in opening the discussion. Many of the Haddon's periodicals are received by way of an exchange of publications. See below, 5.1 Exchanges.
4.3. Audio-visual publications
The Haddon will not normally acquire audio-visual publications that would need special facilities, preferably isolated from the reading areas, for their playing.
4.4. Dissertations
Dissertations approved for the award of B.A. and M.Phil. degrees in the Faculty have been for many years deposited in the Haddon, and kept in secure conditions. Theses approved for other degrees were not acquired as a matter of policy, but donations were sometimes accepted.
Pressure on space in the library, and the availability of facilities for electronic storage, together mean that the policy towards theses has to become more selective. They will henceforth be accepted in the Haddon on the specific recommendation of teaching staff in the Departments of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Purchase of dissertations will be considered according to the normal criteria. Library users requesting access to unpublished dissertations (including those available from ProQuest) will normally be referred to the inter-library loan system and the British Library's EThOs service http://ethos.bl.uk .
4.5. Offprints
Offprints are not generally purchased, and donations and bequests of them are discouraged (see below, 5.2 Gift and bequest). Chapters and articles in exceptionally high demand, of which, at one time, the Haddon would have added photocopies to stock, will be posted on the library's Moodle site in accordance with the terms of the University's Copyright Licensing Agency agreement.
4.6. Archive material
The Haddon retains administrative archives relating to its own work. Archives relating to the work of some other bodies within, or associated with, the Faculty, may be stored here. However, the Haddon does not have the resources for proper archive conservation, and will not seek to add such material to its stock.
4.7. Books more than 100 years old
The Haddon is justly proud of its collection of old books, some of which date back to the 16th century. Most of these have come to the library by donation. They are kept in secure, stable conditions, and questions about their treatment are referred to appropriate experts in other Cambridge libraries. The University Library, and the libraries of the older colleges in Cambridge, all of which possess substantial holdings of rare books, are good sources of such expertise.
4.8. Microforms
In terms of preferred medium, microforms are a third choice, after print on paper and electronic storage. They will be acquired only if they convey information that is not readily and reliably available in either of those formats.
4.9. Photographs
The Haddon does not collect photographs. The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology maintains a Photographic Archive.
Acquisition: Special Modes
5.1. Exchange
The Haddon benefits from two modes of exchange: one where this library purchases material for sending to the exchange partner, and one where the material for sending is donated from within the library's natural "constituency" -- by the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, by the Museum, by the McDonald Institute, by one of the journals that are published in the Faculty.
The wishes of the donor-for-sending are strictly honoured in any decision taken in respect of the material received as a result of the exchange. It should be noted that the Haddon's relations with the Cambridge Antiquarian Society are a matter of formal agreement between the Society and the University (Cambridge University Reporter, 23 April 1987). Books and other materials which have come into the Haddon as a result of those relations may not be disposed of without the specific, written consent of the Society's Council.
5.2. Gift and bequest
A large part of the Haddon's stock has been acquired by way of donations and bequests. The value of the library as a working collection for research has been greatly enriched thereby.
Where books by graduates or members of the Faculty are recommended for acquisition by the Haddon, it has become standard practice that the Librarian will, in the first instance, approach the author and solicit a gift copy.
Another much-appreciated source of donated books is the journals published within the Faculty, whose presentations of ex-review copies have had a value readily visible from the level of reader demand.
Prospective donors and testators are strongly recommended to prior discussion of their offers with the Librarian. Rapid lists of the offered material can be made by camera. The Librarian and Library Committee warmly appreciate offers of gifts, and will carefully evaluate each one for its potential worth to the Haddon; but they may in certain circumstances regretfully decline them, or suggest a more suitable recipient, when the offer is not appropriate to this library.
The following list shows some categories of gift that are particularly welcome.
- (a) Financial support (this helps to maintain the library's valuable collection, and enables it to purchase according to the priorities outlined in this policy)
- (b) Prescribed reading
- (c) Publications by members of the Departments of Archaeology and Social Anthropology
- (d) Publications bearing directly on, and further augmenting, existing holdings in the principal subject areas of the library
- (e) Publications in collections, gathered over a lifetime by recognized contributors to the Departments' fields
- (f) Publications embodying research carried out using the library's resources
- (g) Publications produced by recognized research institutions working within the Departments' fields
- (h) Reference tools
The following categories of gift are less welcome.
- (a) ‘Fringe’ publications. There can be no watertight definition of this category. The Librarian will consult with teaching staff when it is necessary to establish how far a work’s idiosyncrasy is outweighed by the value of its contribution to the field.
- (b) Publications in non-European languages
- (c) Publications whose accession, preservation and/or storage might require expenditure beyond the capacity of the library’s budget. In such cases, an accompanying offer of financial support would be very welcome
- (d) Loose offprints
- (e) Short, broken runs of journals (unless these exactly match gaps in the library's existing holdings of the same titles)
- (f) Publications produced by government agencies not directly involved in the library's field
- (g) Gifts in an inappropriate genre or form
Gifts brought to the library without prior discussion will in most circumstances be declined. Haddon Collection Development Policy 2017 – 8
Retention and Disposal
Collection development necessarily includes continuous evaluation of the library's holdings, with a procedure for discarding some. (See above, 5.1 Exchanges, for restrictions on the disposal of material that has been received by exchange.)
When the Librarian and Library Committee have taken a decision to dispose of stock, the following categories may be considered, if they have become surplus to demand:
- (a) multiple copies
- (b) damaged works for which replacements have been acquired
- (c) superseded editions of reference works
- (d) material whose acquisition would have been excluded by provisions in the version of the Collection Development Policy in force at the time of the disposal exercise
The same criteria might, in time, be applied to the question of transfer of material to offsite storage.
Library staff should then draw up a list of material to be considered for disposal, and circulate that list to members of the Library Committee, who must consult with the bodies they represent. When unanimous agreement has been reached as to which stock shall be disposed of, it should be offered as follows:
- (a) to the University Library
- (b) to other libraries of the University
- (c) institutions outside the University, and individuals, within it or not
No remuneration is sought for stock transferred to the University Library. In the other cases, the Haddon may make a charge.