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Special Collections

Special collections which are currently maintained by the Library are as follows:

Details of acquisition, access and review of each collection can be found by clicking on the links above.

Exclusive collections of teaching materials for teaching staff will not be maintained in the library.

New special collections will only be initiated with the agreement of the University Librarian.

Rare and vulnerable materials

The Library will not accept material for preservation as distinct from use. Collections will only be accepted if they meet the selection criteria and can be made accessible to users.

Special arrangements will be made to safeguard materials which are judged to be especially vulnerable to loss or damage. For instance, material may be permanently transferred to the Short Loan Collection, Rare Books Room or other secure area.

University Archives

The Library is not equipped, in terms of space or resources, to accommodate or preserve significant amounts of archival (unpublished) material.

The archive consists mainly of documents, printed or written, from the University's constituent institutions. Prospectuses, official publications, student publications and ephemera are included. The archive catalogue lists the contents.

Items in the collection are for reference only.

Rare Books

The Rare Books collection contains a small number of items which are kept in a secure area because they are viewed as valuable and/or vulnerable. Examples include very old items (published before 1800), signed copies, some limited editions and significant first editions.

General and Subject Reference Collections

The Library aims to provide up-to-date factual information, in print, electronically or both, covering the broad areas of 'general' (encyclopaedic) knowledge and 'current affairs'.

Subject reference collections include specialised subject-specific reference materials, purchased from Library allocations to departments.

Review

In most cases, annual directories (etc.) will be automatically withdrawn when a new edition becomes available. Exceptions may be made, e.g. where the accumulation of volumes represents an aggregation of information of continuing usefulness.

Statistics Collection

Acquisition

Sources of statistical information, in printed or electronic formats, including one-off publications and serials, may be acquired if they support courses and research within the University.

Appropriate guides to the use of statistical sources will be acquired and may be retained even when dated, as research tools for historians and others.

'General' (multidisciplinary) source materials will be selected by the member of library staff responsible for the collection, in association with colleagues. They will usually be purchased from the Library's central funds. Subject-specific sources will be purchased from the Library's allocations to departments on the initiative of Faculty Librarians.

Statistical source materials will normally be reference only and located in the Statistics Collection.

Review

Statistical sources published as serials will normally be retained for 15 years, although shorter or longer retention periods may be adopted in certain instances.

Single, non-serial, publications will be reviewed regularly by Faculty Librarians to determine whether they can be updated.

Where serial publications are collated into an annual volume, the part-year issues will be withdrawn.

European Documentation Centre

The Library forms part of a Europe-wide network of information points providing access to information about the European Union.

As an EDC the Library is entitled to receive a copy of many free publications of the EU?s official publications office. In practice, receipt of printed material has decreased as more information has become available online.

All of the printed material in the EDC is listed in the Library catalogue and can be searched as a separate sub-set of the catalogue.

The Library also offers expert advice and guidance on use of the EU?s electronic information sources, many of which can be accessed from the EDC section of the Library Website.

Law Reference Collection

Please refer to the Law Collection Development Policy.

Parliamentary Papers

The collection consists of both historical (imperfect) and current materials of the following publications: Nineteenth Century Parliamentary Papers, House of Lords Papers and Bills, House of Commons Papers and Bills, Command Papers, Competition Commission reports, and Hansard (Lords and Commons) documents. Current items are not catalogued.

Company Reports

This paper-based collection aims to include the top 100 UK companies, the top 50 EU companies and some significant local companies to which students are referred for their research. The majority are kept for 5 years, although some may be kept for 10 years or longer, where they reflect areas of teaching and research.

Annual Reports

This collection specifically refers to the Annual Reports of NAPO and the Police Authorities. Items will be retained for 5 or 10 years as required, reflecting areas of teaching and research.

Institutional Repository (previously known as E-prints)

The Library has a collection of academic papers organised by author and department at: http://eprints.port.ac.uk/

This collection was subject to a policy making process involving the University's Research Committee and IT Committee. The content is limited to papers authored by University staff and accepted for publication in a journal, edited work or conference publication. In every case, the publisher's guidance on the permissibility of using a local institutional repository is followed.

Extensions to this policy and the inclusion of other papers are considered as the legal context changes.

Map Library

The Map Library aims to provide both current and historic information, in the form of paper maps, atlases or electronically.

Acquisition

Mapping of the local area will be acquired following the publication of each new revision (for OS medium scale products) or to fill gaps in coverage. Other material will be selected by the Map Librarian in association with colleagues and in support of teaching, learning and research.

Appropriate indexes and reference tools will be acquired.

Maps and atlases will normally be reference only. Selected folded versions of reference maps will be made available for loan.

Mapping for fieldwork will be procured by the Map Librarian in consultation with departments and funded by departmental budgets.

Material appropriate to our acquisition policy will be obtained from disposal sources, including other academic map collections and the regular disposal from the Defence Geographic Centre.

Review

Mapping and air photography of the local area will generally be retained permanently because of its historical interest. Superseded overseas mapping will generally be withdrawn. The decision to withdraw maps and atlases will be at the discretion of the Map Librarian.

Theses and Dissertations

University of Portsmouth doctoral theses and masters by research will be added to stock, held in a closed access collection and retained in perpetuity. Many of our doctoral theses, as well as those from other participating British universities, are available freely online by logging into the EThOS Service.

Undergraduate dissertations and taught masters attaining 60% or above will normally be retained electronically, on the Dissertations@Portsmouth website, or on open access by the Library for five years. After such time, printed copies will be offered back to the department. Departments are responsible for checking that quality and content is suitable when submitting dissertations for open access in the library or on the web.

Policy variations for individual Faculties

Undergraduate dissertations fulfil different assessment requirements in University departments and the Library's collection reflects this. The following policies were drawn up in consultation with the Faculties concerned.

Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries will aim to provide electronic copies, but will submit printed copies where content dictates, for example, with highly graphical subjects such as architecture.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences will aim to provide electronic copies of dissertations which attain 65% or above. Some printed copies previously submitted to the library will be retained where the subject content is particularly valued and high marks were obtained.

Faculty of Science. Dissertations are submitted by a limited number of departments within the Faculty; Nursing and Radiography will provide printed copies and Geography electronic.

Faculty of Technology will provide a mixture of printed and electronic copies.

Portsmouth Business School will provide some exemplars in electronic format.

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