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- Music, Theatre, & Dance: Faculty Guide to the Library
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Music, Theatre, & Dance: Faculty Guide to the Library: Request new library materials & OER
General guidelines for Library Purchases
- Criteria for purchase:
- materials should support the course assignments and the research needs of students;
- materials should be used at least twice in the first 2 years after purchase
- consider the quality of the scholarship, uniqueness, authoritativeness, or creativity.
- Check to see if we own the item.
- Use Document Delivery for obtaining items to support your research; encourage students to do the same.
- Email requests to librarian Kim Ranger (rangerk@gvsu.edu).
- Collections Strategy 2022-2025We're taking several steps to accommodate a shrinking budget while limiting the impact on our users.
- Statement on Textbooks in the Library CollectionLibrary faculty and staff are dedicated to reducing costs for students. We acquire course textbooks when we're able, to ensure that students have access.
Textbook alternatives
- Open Access ButtonHitting a paywall when trying to read an article? Get articles instantly or automatically requested from authors, for free.
- metaScoreCreate or adapt open access music listening guides with a shared library of graphic elements
There are many alternatives to expensive textbooks. GVSU Libraries' Open Educational Resources guide may be useful.
Use our new subscription to PressBooks to adapt or author an open access textbook for your course/s.
Email me with open educational resources you are using!
- Accelerating Open Educational Resources at GVSUThe University Libraries are leading the Accelerating OER Initiative to expand Grand Valley's support for the use and creation of Open Educational Resources through new programs, funding opportunities for faculty, and building capacity for library publishing. Email the Curator and the Accelerating OER team
- Music Theory vaultWVU theory/composition professor Matthew Heap created 2 open resources to support theory students. The Theory Vault is 4 hours (4 semesters’ worth) of videos. He uses these along with self-quizzes in a CMS in a flipped classroom format.
He’s also built a game app, Theory Game: Curse of the Lost Rules, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Library storage costs
The University Libraries are very aware of the costs of storing materials. Below are some figures, and following, a form to request materials. In addition to the purchase price, there are the following costs and considerations:
Estimated Annual Storage Costs:
- $4.26/ volume annually in stacks
- $1.53/volume annually in high-density storage system [1]
For every 10,000 monographs added (net):
- 2,000 square feet of space is required; 2007 construction cost/square foot: $300 = $600,000
- For every 10,000 monographs retained in stacks, lifetime maintenance cost: $1,195,600 [2]
Circulation probability (1979):
- If a book did not circulate within the first 2 years of ownership, its chances of ever being borrowed were reduced to 25%
- If a book did not circulate within the first 6 years of ownership, its chances of ever being borrowed were reduced to 2%.[3]
2010: On average for 4-year colleges, 53% of books published 2006 or earlier never circulate. If a minimum of 2 uses were established as a criterion for a cost-effective acquisitions program, 71% of the titles would not have been purchased. Book circulations per enrolled student have decreased from an average of 15 in 1997 to 6 in 2007. [4]
[1] Courant, Paul and Matthew “Buzzy” Nielsen. “On the Cost of Keeping a Book.” CLIR pub 147: The Idea of Order: Transforming Research Collections for 21st Century Scholarship. 2010.
[2] R2 Consulting LLC. 2010.
[3] Kent, Allen. “Use of Library Materials: The
[4] R2 Consulting LLC. 2010.
