Collection Development Policy Making: Research, Design, and Implementation at Texas A&M University

The magnitude of Texas A&M's revision of its collection policy is evident in the doubling of the student population to 36,000 over ten years and a 69 percent collection growth to 1.44 million volumes. The intensity of the change in demands on the collection, whether in titles purchased, variety of formats, or depth of subject representation, required a major effort on the part of collection development staff. Collection development staff surveyed the University's teaching as well as research arms involving the capabilities of all university librarians. The net result was an updated collection development policy, the development of a self‐teaching guide for future collection development undertaking, and an increased awareness on the part of the librarians about the university as well as on the part of the academic faculty about the university librarians' capabilities.