Collection Development Guidelines for the UWM Authors Collection

The UWM Authors Collection is composed of monographs written, edited, compiled, translated, or illustrated by UWM staff during the time when they were employed at UWM. A large number of volumes in the collection have been donated by UWM authors. The collection was established in 1973 to assemble, "as complete a collection as possible of the writings of UWM faculty." Due to the fact that some materials are better served in the stacks or other locations in the library, the UWM Authors Collection is not comprehensive. The collection is housed in Special Collections.

1. The UWM Authors Collection is composed of monographs that were either authored, co-authored, compiled, edited/co-edited, translated, or illustrated by a UWM staff member while he or she was employed at this university. The Library attempts to obtain one copy of all such works to add to this collection.
2. The UWM Authors Collection normally contains one copy of monographs that qualify as in #1 above. Acquiring additional copies of the same title for the stacks or other locations is at the discretion of the library acquisitions staff.
3. Only monographs of current faculty or staff are added to the UWM Authors Collection. An exception to this rule may be made by the Library Director to permit adding works by faculty and staff who have retired from UWM but who have maintained their affiliation with the institution.
4. Retrospective collecting of monographs published by UWM authors in the past while they were employed here will be done whenever possible.
5. Articles, scholarly papers, and similar publications are not included within the UWM Authors Collection. Such materials are included in a "Faculty Publications Collection" that is housed in the Archives area. Items included in the Faculty Publications Collection are not catalogued individually.
6. The Library solicits gifts to the UWM Authors Collection by sending letters inviting faculty to donate copies of their works. The monthly UWM Report and the quarterly UW-System publications provide initial lists of new publications generated by UWM staff.
7. If a donation is not forthcoming the Library will purchase one copy of the monograph for placement in the UWM Authors Collection. If there is an anticipated need for a circulating copy, the Library will purchase a second copy for the stacks.
8. The UWM Authors Collection is a non-circulating collection. Monographs from the UWM Authors Collection are not available for inter-library loan. Exceptions may be made for campus reserve requests.
9. Special Collections maintains a list of new additions to the UWM Authors Collection to facilitate organizing periodic book signings as well as occasional bibliographies of UWM Authors Collection holdings.