RIT Libraries Strategic Plan
Satellite Collections
The Library proposes to provide some level of organizational and access services for satellite collections. We are aware that in many departments, there exist in-house, informal collections of books, journals, learning objects, data sets, syllabi, theses, faculty post prints and other material outside the budget and jurisdiction of the Library (satellite collections). They are often not cataloged or easily accessed by their intended users. They are collections of convenience amassed by specific colleges or programs. Faculty and graduate students would benefit from increased organization and bibliographic control of satellite collections.
The Library proposes to partner with colleges to determine opportunities for collaboration such as:
- Catalog all the material in these collections, or catalog some or none at all.
- Create separate finding aids for each collection, or integrate bibliographic information from satellite collections into Einstein.
- Work more closely with faculty on collection development decisions and make faculty more aware of the process, or offer acquisitions services for materials for satellite collections (materials would be paid for by departments).
- Provide access services to these collections by giving satellite library users the means to circulate them on-site, access them through the RIT Digital Media Library or allow them to continue to be circulated in whatever fashion the faculty users see fit.
- Provide ongoing support for incorporating newly acquired materials.
Some of the elements of the RIT Strategic Plan addressed by this goal include:
Objective C4.1: Resources allocated to support scholarship will reflect the increased levels of scholarly activity… A reexamination of how university resources are allocated is required in light of our increased emphasis on scholarship.Goal E3: RIT will continue to improve communications campus-wide via multiple forms of media and channels.
