PSU Library’s General Collection Values

Portland State University Library’s General Collections Values

Accepted by PSU Library Information Resource Management Council 

September 2024

PSU Library workers dedicate ourselves to welcoming and supporting all learners by providing equitable access to resources, building collections that support a diversity of voices and perspectives, and making data-informed decisions with purchasing in order to be financially sustainable and modeling responsible stewardship of our collections.

We do this by focusing our collection values as a shared responsibility with the various disciplines at Portland State, supporting the curiosity and equitable engagement of our materials, and providing resources that provide longevity in access and interest.

Shared Responsibility

•  Collection decisions for selection are made with thoughtfulness and nuance geared towards each discipline by librarians based on input from campus units, departments, colleges, faculty, and students.

•  Selections by format are consistent with the needs of the discipline and students’ ability to successfully use the resources.

• Disciplinary criteria for selection and retention vary by discipline and are established by librarians in consultation with their respective departments.

• The collection and purchasing of faculty and student publications and edited works are a priority for maintaining the scholarly record of Portland State University.

Equitable Engagement 

•  The resources purchased and supported by the PSU Library collection are from vendors and publishers who prioritize the following attributes to the best extent possible: accessibility, racial equity and inclusion, provide intuitive interfaces, are as free from digital rights management (DRM) as possible, and with the least amount of contractual restrictions.

• Our collections represent the diversity of the PSU community in relevant languages and supporting cross-cultural interaction. We regularly collect resources that represent marginalized communities and strive to highlight these materials on a regular basis.

• We strive to allow our resources to serve the broader community through interlibrary borrowing agreements, consortia participation, and document access programs.

Responsible Stewardship

• We commit to “Letting Knowledge Serve…” the motto of Portland State University with our collection strategies.

• Collection development and management align with the campus commitment to support a balance for teaching/learning materials and research materials.

• A prime goal is to support open access as much as possible; providing ready access to resources for future, current, regional, and past scholars.

• We dedicate ourselves to maintaining sustainable collections which serve long term availability and access to the scholarly endeavors and directions of the PSU community.