GENERAL PURPOSE

For the program in Chemistry, the purposes of the library collection materials are to support both the pedagogical and research goals of the program. Specifically, the collections serve the following purposes.

1. Serve the needs of the students in Chemistry courses by serving as a resource for papers and assignments; student-faculty and student-student discussions of the chemistry literature; and as the foundation for independent student research in chemistry
2. Serve the pedagogical needs of the Chemistry faculty for researching materials to be used in lectures and labs, and as the base for student-faculty and faculty-faculty discussions of the literature.
3. Serve the research needs of the Chemistry faculty in their scholarship within the context of an undergraduate institution. Specifically, collect appropriate materials for keeping up-to-date with the current work in their fields; materials to help write grants to support academic work; and materials that will assist in writing papers and books that will be used to distribute scholarly work. These research needs are addressed as resources allow.
4. Serve the needs of the College community by serving as a resource for people with general interest in chemistry topics.

GENERAL SUBJECT BOUNDARIES

Departmental faculty have research and teaching interests that are very broadly-based, covering topics including: physical chemistry, photo chemistry, inorganic chemistry, environmental chemistry, neurochemistry, biochemistry, carbohydrate chemistry and organic chemistry. The library must keep, maintain, and improve the circulating and reference collections across a wide range of chemistry topics, including subject fields that may not now exist.

TYPES OF MATERIALS COLLECTED

Monographs, serials, and software on chemistry topics. Of these, serials (including on-line journals) and books are likely to be of the most utility to potential users.

When the library owns both print and electronic access to a journal title, the library shall maintain the print subscription, for the current periodical area and bound volumes for ten years. Bound volumes of chemistry journals that are not available online, shall be maintained in the library for twenty-five years.

The database STN is a critical access tool to abstracts of chemical research articles. It provides access to abstracts from vol. 66 (1967) to the present. Kenyon shall retain bound volumes of Chemical Abstracts from vol. 1 (1090) to vol. 65 (1966). Duplicate coverage for Chemical Abstracts and STN shall not be maintained by the library.

Serials in the Kenyon collection include a number of print titles as well as online access through theElectronic Journal Center (EJC) . Print subscriptions were recently reviewed, for relevancy to the Kenyon curriculum and department member's research needs. Subscriptions shall continue to be reviewed every three years.

FORMAT OF MATERIALS COLLECTED

Current holdings are predominantly print journals and books. In the future, online holdings, which provide ease of access, will be favored over print.

LANGUAGES

Materials for the chemistry collection shall be primarily in English. One exception is the German language serial, Chemische Berichte (KEN SCI JOURNALS v.80(1947)-v.129(1996); v.130(1997); ONLINE: )

GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS

Materials shall be predominantly collected from North American and European publishers. Exceptions include selected materials from Australia and Japan.

CHRONOLOGICAL GUIDELINES

Chemistry is a discipline that relies on both new and old research. Therefore, the collection needs to reflect both the current trends in the field and previous research extending back through the early twentieth century. However, where we have several editions of books, in general, it appropriate to keep only the most recent ones.

Older monographs that are not relevant to the needs of the faculty or students will be considered for removal from the collection. The library liaison shall provide print and/or online lists of titles that are candidates for deselection or off site storage. In addition to providing a list of titles, library staff will physically flag the materials, in their existing location in the stacks, to enable interested department members to inspect the item.

The general age of materials in each sub field should be:

Materials in the Reference Collection shall be reviewed for relevance and replacement by new editions in five year increments. When the item is five, ten and fifteen years old, it shall be reviewed. If an item is no longer appropriate for the reference collection, it may be moved to the circulating collection.

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND MANUSCRIPTS

There are no special collections or manuscripts in Chemistry at this time. **Note, It is possible that some leather bound journals with imprint dates in the 1800s may have significance for the Kenyon College archive, based on their status as gifts to the college.**

OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE

Participation by the Kenyon libraries in CONSORT and OhioLINK gives us access to materials not directly in Kenyon's collections. We encourage these and further efforts at increasing access to different information resources for our students, faculty, staff, and community members.

CREATION DATE AND REVISION HISTORY

Jim Baillie and Jasmine Vaughan, Librarian and Technology Consultants drafted this policy in May 2000. Revised by Jasmine Vaughan following meeting with John Lutton, Dudley Thomas and Frank Wojcik. Revised by Jasmine Vaughan following discussion with Dudley Thomas, March 1, 2001.

LC CLASS

Includes, but not limited to: GB, QC, QD, QH, QK, QP, RA, RB, RS, TD, TP.