ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


167

Draft: Access Policy Guidelines

The following set of guidelines was prepared 
by the A C R L Committee on C omm unity Use 
of Academic Libraries. I t will be considered for 
approval by the A C R L  Board of Directors at 
the 1975 Annual Conference in San Francisco. 
All comments and suggestions for revision 
should be sent to the chairman of the com mit­
tee, David K. Oyler, director, Steenbock Me­
morial Library, College o f Agricultural and L ife 
Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 
Madison, W I 53706.

Members o f the committee are: Jovana J. 
Brown, Evergreen State College; James C. E l­
ler, W ichita State University; Darrell H. L em ­
ke, Consortium of Universities; Mary Lou 
Lucy, Columbia University; Rita L. Paddock, 
Harvard University; Hans E. Panofsky, N orth­
western University; Theodore P. Peck, Univer­
sity of Minnesota; and Giles B. Robertson, Uni­
versity of Illinois at Chicago Circle.

I n t r o d u c t io n

The committee has developed the following 
guidelines to assist academic libraries, w hether 
public or private, urban or rural, in codifying 
their policies w ith respect to access by persons 
other than their respective primary clientele. 
The guidelines are intended to deal primarily 
w ith on-site access, but they may be used as the 
basis to cover other means of community access 
such as w ritten and telecommunications in­
quiries.

The goal of total access to information is a 
major concern of librarians as articulated by the 
ALA Goal and Objectives statement, th e  first 
objective of which is as follows:

Provision of library and information ser­
vices and resources for all th e people of 
the United States of America in order to 
increase their opportunity to participate 
in society, to learn, to achieve self-ful­
fillment, to pursue careers, and to obtain 
information needed for research.1

In addition, the National Commission on Li­
braries and Information Science has stated in 
its report, “A National Program for Library and 
Information Services,”

…  the total library and information 
resource in the United States is a national 
resource which should be developed, 
strengthened, organized, and made avail­
able to the maximum degree possible in 
the public interest. This national resource 
represents the cumulated and growing rec­
ord of much of our nation’s, and indeed, 
much of the world’s, total cultural experi­

ence— intellectual, social, technological, 
and spiritual.2

While these two statements do not necessari­
ly imply on-site access, or the other forms dis­
cussed, many academic libraries are mindful of 
the need to articulate clearly their policies re­
lating to collections and services.

Institutional goals and circumstances are 
highly variable, making it both unworkable and 
undesirable to be prescriptive in approaching 
the question of community access to library col­
lections and services. Public and private aca­
demic libraries have an obligation to examine 
their particular institutional goals as well as 
specific educational and legal responsibilities 
preparatory to articulating a policy on commu­
nity access. The purpose of sharing library re­
sources consistent with such a policy is to en­
sure that appropriate use is made of all collec­
tions and services. The reader must be assisted 
in terms of where to go first for material and 
what steps are necessary to obtain the informa­
tion on material needed.

For the purposes of this document, “commu­
nity” is considered to include those individuals 
outside the library’s primary clientele who may 
have occasion to make personal use of its col­
lections an d /o r services.

Frequently libraries w ithin the community 
have developed cooperative use agreements on 
the basis of the types of material collected and 
general, consequent strengths associated with 
the respective libraries. This development pro­
vides a reasonable basis for instructing a variety 
of users in the appropriateness of using various 
collections.

W hether or not formal cooperative agree­
ments exist, librarians are obligated to be well- 
informed about the policies and resources of 
other libraries in the area in order to make ap­
propriate referrals. All libraries, regardless of 
size or prestige, have something to contribute 
to total information resources, and informal co­
operation can help to alleviate the problems as­
sociated with community access to academic 
libraries.

It is recommended that the policy statement 
be made available to all users in an attractive 
format.

O u t l in e

Consideration of the following outline may 
be helpful in arriving at and stating an access 
policy.
1.0 PURPOSE OF LIBRARY
2.0 COLLEG E OR UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 

CHARACTERISTICS



168

2.1 Location of library—urban, rural.
2.2 Source of library funding—public, pri­

vate.
2.3 Strength of library collections.
2.4 Number of persons constituting primary

clientele.
2.3 Space/seats available for users.
2.6 Service personnel available by function,

location, day and time.
2.7 Administrative services—where policy in­

quiries are to be directed.
2.8 Legal obligations and restrictions.
3.0 COMMUNITY FACTORS
3.1 Other libraries in the community.
3.1.1 Location.
3.1.2 Size.
3.1.3 Nature of collections.
3.1.4 Services.
3.1.5 Clientele.
3.1.6 Regulations for use.
3.1.7 Networking and cooperative arrange­

ments.
3.2 Social and political factors.
4.0 CHARACTERISTICS OF POTENTIAL 

USERS
4.1 Size of groups.
4.2 Age and educational level.
4.3 Nature and purpose of use.
4.4 Types of material to be used.
4.5 Hours of use.
4.6 Services required.
4.6.1 Informational and directional assistance.
4.6.2 Reference assistance.
4.6.3 Rorrowing: registration, notices, billing,

etc.
4.6.4 AV systems and equipment use.
4.6.5 Copying service.
4.6.6 Use of meeting space, display space.
4.6.7 Interlibrary loan.
4.6.8 Special fee-based services.

Note: Specific institutional policy statements 
should incorporate relevant factors from the 
foregoing outline. It is not intended that the 
outline itself prescribe the form and character 
of the resulting policy statement.

Sa m p l e  O u t l in e  
f o r  a P o licy  St a t e m e n t

1 Definition of library purpose.
Statements of mission and goals im­
mediately establish the basis for public 
expectations. For example, if non-aca­
demic users and those otherwise not 
immediately associated with the par­
ticular institution are told they do not 
constitute part of the primary clientele, 
they have modified expectations. This 
statement ought to be presented in 
positive language, briefly stating the 
nature of the library mission.
An example of such language follows:

The library constitutes a vital in­

structional and research arm of the 
University o f _____  and exists pri­
marily to contribute to the univer­
sity’s teaching and research func­
tions. In addition, the library seeks 
to serve the citizens of the State of
___ , consistent with its primary
function and within the limits of its 
resources.

If liberal access and service are the 
norm, this can be reflected in the mis­
sion statement. A statement of how the 
library fits into a general plan of li­
brary services among libraries in the 
state or other organized service groups 
might also be included, if available.

2 Rasis for community service.
2.1 Definition of community.
2.2 Categories of eligible users.
3 Specification of identification and types

of access.
3.1 I.D. cards, or introductory letters from

home institutions, consortia cards, or 
cooperative library cards, etc., re­
quired.

3.2 Non-fee access.
3.3 Fee access.
3.3.1 Identification of fee categories and

amounts.
3.3.2 Rasis of valid fee period (i.e., semester,

quarter, fiscal or calendar year, e tc .).
3.3.3 Payment details (when and where).
4 Services.
4.1 Circulation regulations.
4.1.1 Identification required of user.
4.1.2 Loan periods if applicable (specify gen­

eral-use materials not subject to loan 
and loan periods by type if applica­
ble).

4.1.3 Access to special collections or library
branches if not covered above.

4.1.4 Special distinctions among non-campus
users if applicable (e.g., students from 
other colleges, schools, teachers, other 
professionals).

4.1.5 Sanctions (including fines and replace­
ment of lost or damaged material).

4.2 Security measures— exit control.
4.3 Information services.
4.3.1 Description of available services by broad

subject or type (e.g., humanities, doc­
uments, archives, maps, etc.) and lo­
cation.

4.3.2 Rasis of access (in-person, phone, letter,
e tc .).

4.3.3 Hours of service (noting special limita­
tions for community users).

4.4 Other services.
4.4.1 Reproduction services and costs.
4.4.2 AV equipment and personnel available.
4.4.3 Conference rooms/auditoriums (availabil­

ity and process for reserving).



169

4.4.4 Display space.
4.4.5 Special fee-based services (e.g., access

to computerized bibliographic data 
bases).

R e f e r e n c e s

1. Coal and Objectives of the American Library
Association, as adopted by the Council of 
the American Library Association. January 
24, 1975.

2. “A National Program for Library and Infor­
mation Services.” 2d D raft (Rev.) Pre­
pared by the National Commission on L i­
braries and Information Science. September 
15, 1974. Washington, D.C.

Guidelines
Continued from page 139

have will request that they be bor­
rowed from another library.

T4. The student can make effective use of the 
library resources available to him.
a. He knows how to use institutional hold­

ings records (such as the card catalog 
and serials holdings lists) to locate ma­
terials in the library system.

E L  Given a map of the library, the 
student can correctly identify the 
location of the library’s catalog 
(e.g., card catalog, book catalog, 
public shelf list) and other hold­
ings lists in 3* minutes.

E2. The student will correctly identi­
fy and explain the purpose of se­
lected elements on a sample cata­
log entry in 5* minutes. The se­
lected elements will include: the 
author, title, place of publication, 
publisher, date of publication, 
series title,* bibliographic notes, 
tracings, and call number.

E3. Given a topic or list of topics, the 
student will accurately list the 
items found in the catalog on 
those topics in a specified period 
of time. The topics will include 
items which require the student 
to use the U.S. Library of Con­
gress Subject Headings Used in 
the Dictionary Catalog of the Li­
brary of Congress. The student 
will also have to demonstrate his 
knowledge of form subdivisions, 
and subject filing rules such as

* An asterisk beside an item indicates that 
the task force does not recommend it; it is only 
suggestive.

historical subdivisions are filed in 
chronological order.

E4. Given a list of materials, the stu­
dent, in a specified time, can cor­
rectly identify and locate those 
materials which the library owns. 
The list shall include incomplete 
citations, citations which are listed 
under entries other than the “main 
entry.” It will also include:

Book ( individual author)
Book (corporate or institutional

author)
Journal ( recent issue)
Journal (older or discontinued

title )
Newspaper 
U.S. Document 
Pamphlet
Non-book materials 
Microform
Other, as appropriate to the 

institution
This list will include items which 
require the student to demon­
strate his knowledge of selected 
filing rules such as: initial articles 
are ignored in filing, abbreviations 
are filed as if spelled out, Me is 
filed as if spelled Mac, numerals 
are filed as if spelled out.

b. He knows how to use reference tools 
basic to all subject areas.

E L  Given a map of the library, the 
student can correctly identify the 
location of the reference depart­
m ent (and its catalog) in a spe­
cified time period.

E2. In a specified time period, the stu­
dent can identify major reference 
tools ( encyclopedia, dictionary, 
index) in an unfamiliar field using 
a guide to the literature such as 
W inchell’s Guide to Reference 
Books.

E3. In a specified time period, the 
student can list five periodical 
titles (and the indexes which cov­
er them) in an unfamiliar subject 
field using a directory such as 
Ulrich’s International Periodical 
Directory.

E4. In a specified time period, the stu­
dent will list five titles available 
on an unfamiliar topic using a 
bibliography such as Subject 
Guide to Books in Print, Biblio­
graphic Index, Library of Con­
gress, Books: Subjects.

E5. Given a topic with which the stu­
dent is unfamiliar, in a specified 
time period, he will locate a gen-