Policy – Collection Development
Rebecca Crown Library – Update 2022
Statement of Purpose
The Dominican University Rebecca Crown Library Collection Development Policy sets forth the principles and practices which guide the selection, evaluation, and deselection of materials in the Rebecca Crown Library and other collections that are discoverable in the library’s multiple catalogs of resources. The purpose of this policy is to provide a written statement of the library’s objectives in building its collection in order to provide guidance to librarians and cross- campus partners in developing a collection that best furthers the department’s goals and the
mission of Dominican University. While the library’s priority is to build a collection that supports the academic programs and endeavors of students and faculty, the Rebecca Crown Library will also collect materials that enhance student life and activities. The collection should reflect the Sinsinawa Dominican ethos of Caritas et Veritas and the diversity of our institutional
community. By defining the reasons for collecting, not collecting, and deselecting certain types of resources, in relation to the needs of the academic programs on campus, this policy aims to provide the foundational collection development guidelines clearly to all community members of Dominican University and community partners as well as to cultivate an understanding of library best practices that outlines the planning for future development of its resources.
Vision
The Rebecca Crown aspires to be the progressive center of the University’s intellectual endeavors supported by outstanding librarians and staff, services and resources in a welcoming and inclusive space.
History & Description of the Community
Dominican University (DU) is located ten miles from downtown Chicago in Cook County, River Forest, Illinois. In the recent three academic years, DU enrolled an average of 2,127 undergraduate students, 63% Hispanic and 71% from underrepresented minorities. Its high Hispanic undergraduate enrollment has qualified DU as an HSI continuously since 2011.
DU has a long history of educating women since its founding in 1848 as a women’s academy in Sinsinawa, WI, and achieved collegiate status in 1901 as Saint Clara College. Renamed Rosary College in 1922 and moving to River Forest, IL, it continued to serve first-generation students, becoming coeducational in 1970. It was renamed Dominican University in 1997 to reflect its heritage while strategically positioning it as a more comprehensive university for the future. DU
aims to build capacity to enhance academic preparation of minority and women students for in- demand careers in metropolitan Chicago.
The University consists of four colleges and four schools:
• Rosary College of Arts & Sciences
• Brennan School of Business
• Borra College of Health Sciences
• College of Applied Social Sciences
• School of Education
• School of Information Studies
• School of Social Work
• Elizabeth T. MacNeil School of Nursing
Dominican University offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The university also offers certificates and various non-credit courses.
The majority of the Rebecca Crown’s patronage consists of all students actively enrolled in courses, alumni, faculty members, and staff employed by the university. The Dominican University student body is a diverse group comprising people of all different ages, races, genders, and nationalities. The university employs over 200 faculty members, tenured, adjunct, associate, and assistant professors, as well as over 100 staff at the administrative and support levels.
In addition to the local institutional community, the Rebecca Crown Library serves in several larger communities through its affiliations with various consortia, state, and national organizations. The most integral consortium the library is part of is Consortium of Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI).
