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B. D. Owens Library is a service-oriented library designed to meet the varied learning and research needs of Northwest students, faculty, and staff. The library collection and services support scholarly research and provide current information that promotes student competencies concerning lifelong learning, critical thinking, communication, and research.
The library’s website provides access to materials for currently enrolled students, faculty and staff through the library’s robust catalog and databases. The library provides books, eBooks, documents, and electronic periodicals. Through the EBSCOhost platform, eBooks are available with additional access to more items through the statewide catalog maintained by the MOBIUS consortium of libraries. Interlibrary loan service is available for additional materials.
The librarians deliver assistance with research and citations through broad array of delivery methods, including chat, walk-in, e-mail, phone, guides and instructional sessions. To make a special appointment for getting personalized research assistance on a specific topic, request one here.
B.D. Owens Library will inspire intellectual and personal growth.
B.D. Owens Library aspires to provide quality resources, expert services, and inclusive spaces to cultivate intellectual growth and lifelong learning for the diverse communities we serve.
Connection: engage with students, faculty, staff, and community members
Diversity: be inclusive and respectful, value individual and cultural differences, ideas, and perspectives
Education: provide services, resources, and conditions to foster lifelong learning, intellectual curiosity, and innovation
Intellectual Freedom: foster exchange of controversial or unconventional ideas and provide an environment and collection that does not censor information
Privacy: provide confidentiality for users
Professionalism: act with integrity, be competent, and communicate in a timely and open manner
Sustainability: manage economic, environmental, and social risks, obligations, and opportunities to ensure ongoing success
Disrupting the living/learning environment or misusing property (including electronic resources) will not be tolerated, will be reported immediately to University Police, and may result in the guest being banned from the library.
Those using the Library’s public access computers are additionally expected to comply with all laws, Northwest Missouri State University computing policies, and any policies specific to a resource.
Viewing of pornographic material in a public computer lab is a state offense according to Missouri Statute §573.060 and will be reported to the University Police. Click the link to view the Appropriate Use of Licensed Electronic Resources Policy.
Minors in the library:
Northwest students, faculty, and staff have priority usage of library resources.
Minors between the ages of 14-17 without a valid Northwest Missouri State University Identification card must submit a signed Parental Permission Consent Consent Form, which outlines general behavioral expectations and internet access guidelines. Forms are available from and should be returned to the Library Services Desk. The form must be signed by the parent and the child and be on file in the library before access to computers will be permitted. Minors under the age of 14 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian at all times.
Guests may be asked to show proof of age upon request by Northwest Missouri State University personnel. If proof cannot be presented at the time of the request, the guest will be asked to leave the facility until s/he can present proof of age.
OBJECTIVE: To provide guidelines for both the selection of materials to be added to the collection and for assessing resources to ensure the development and maintenance of a complete, current, easily accessible collection.
Criteria for selection: Additions to collections will be based on: support of curriculum and accreditation; patron interest, need, or demand; contemporary significance; popular interest; permanent value; timeliness of material with emphasis on items published within five years or less; accessible for multiple concurrent users; e.g. eBooks and databases; accessibility compliant with ADA standards. Items weeded from other library collections will not be considered for addition to the collection.
Date of Publication Guidelines: Emphasis of acquisitions is on current publications, specifically copyrights of three years or newer or five years when no other option is available. Older publications are acquired selectively as needed and as requested by facultylder copyrights require justification, and the final decision will be made by the library staff. Faculty requests with older copyrights need justification that includes the course that will be assigned to use the resource.
Editions: Order newest available. Look to see if a newer edition is going to be released soon. Look at publication cycles for predicting new releases of editions. If there is an older edition in the current collection without recent use, the newer edition will not be ordered. If there are paperback and hardcover, check the copyright for reprints and use the date of publication guidelines, selecting the newest publication date available.
Federal Depository Library Program: As a member of the FDLP, B.D. Owens Library maintains access to the collection of freely available federal depository collections. Anyone can visit federal depository libraries and use these collections which contain information on careers, business opportunities, consumer information, health and nutrition, legal and regulatory information, demographics, and numerous other subjects. A full list of these resources is available here http://libguides.nwmissouri.edu/c.php?g=659241.
Geographical: Missouri, Nodaway County, Maryville, and Northwest Missouri State University related items will be assessed for inclusion in the collection or to the archives when appropriate.
Faculty/Staff Authored or edited: Books or chapters of books either authored, co-authored, or edited by faculty or staff will be added to the main collection as appropriate based on relevance to the current curriculum. Entire books authored or edited by faculty or staff will be added to the Archive collection using its own funding stream. Books with only partial sections written by faculty or staff but relate to Northwest Missouri, University History, or the Missouriana collection will also be added to the Archive collection using its own funding stream.
Gifts: Donations will be accepted at the Library Services Desk with a signed gift slip acknowledging that the item becomes the property of B.D. Owens Library. Retiring/outgoing faculty/staff’s small donations may be left with the Library Services Desk. Donors with larger collections, twenty or more items, to donate should contact the library director. Large on campus donations from faculty or staff will need to be boxed and then transported to the library by Facility Services. Large donations from off campus will need to be assessed before the library will accept the donation.
ALL donations will be assessed and considered for addition to the collection based on copyright date, comparison for replacement of current copy based on condition, need of the collection: Does the item support current programs or needs? Is the item a type or format the library collects? ALL donations become the property of B.D. Owens Library and will be utilized in a way that best supports the needs of the collection which may include being sent for resale or recycling.
Linguistic: Most resources are English language, with the exception of those foreign language materials purchased for the Department of Language, Literature and Writing and select materials for the popular reading collection.
New Books Shelving vs Display: The New Book location will be referred to as new book shelving which includes the front two ranges on first floor. Books with copyright dates from the current year plus one year will go to new book shelving. Older copyright dates will go directly to third or start on book display based on space available. Book display is the two-sided display that may contain new books as well as featured books for various holidays and events, and items will have the temporary display location in folio.
Ordering plan/schedule: Each selection area is given an annual budget amount for ordering books and audio-visual materials. Order placement occurs each month for the months of July through April. The area budget allocation amount will be divided by ten to determine the dollar amount to be ordered each month keeping in mind to set a portion aside for faculty ordering. The faculty amount should be based on the previous year’s requested amount. This will ensure that acquisitions, processing, and cataloging can maintain a steady pace and workflow; that there is constant movement of new items for all areas during the main academic year; and that funds are available for new spring publications and faculty requests throughout the entire year.
Replacements: When replacing high use items, hardback is preferred. Use, copyright, and availability will determine replacement versus withdraw for missing, lost, and damaged items.
Series: Selection of items to complete a collection, refrain from selecting one of a series. Do not weed part of a series. There is a difference between a series that has a set end and a series that is ongoing when choosing to add to the collection.
Transfer of Locations: Items on new book shelving will be transferred to third floor after six months. Student workers in cataloging will do this with supervision from the cataloger. If shelves start to fill up, usage of older books will be reviewed for books to transfer sooner.
Types/Formats collected: Books in both print and electronic formats, music scores, databases, academic journals in electronic format, DVD, Blue-ray, and streaming video. Spiral bound will be purchased only if no other format is available or if use dictates spiral is preferred.
Types/Formats NOT collected: Textbooks, encyclopedia sets, pamphlets, maps, flashcards, spoken audio, cassette tapes, Compact discs, CD–ROMS, video cassettes, other outdated media formats, CreateSpace publications, self-published, and items requiring an online access code.
Volumes: Numbered volumes need to stay in a set, but unnumbered volumes may be separated to different catalog records and collected individually.
Assessing process: All Dewey areas are assigned to a librarian for assessing. The areas are tracked in a Google Spreadsheet; the librarian completing the assessing is responsible to update the spreadsheet as each area is completed. Rationale for deselecting an item includes: erroneous information; content is no longer relevant to current curricular or future research needs; lack of circulation or in-house use; very poor physical condition, if high use, give to Library Director to consider for replacement; multiple copies, superseded edition of the title; or narrowly focused title that can be obtained for future research needs through MOBIUS or ILL. Rationale for keeping an item include: high circulation or in-house use, the title is considered a primary source material for historical research, or the resource is by a local author, illustrator, or producer. Faculty authored and/or signed resources are considered on a case-by-case basis by the library staff for archives or withdrawing.
