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Library Policies

Collection Development

Stephen B. Luce Library’s primary collection development objective is to obtain material that supports the curriculum taught at SUNY Maritime College and the research needs of the students, faculty, and staff. Therefore, selection and acquisition of material are focused on providing access to items that are relevant to the instructional and research programs of the college. Input from library users is an important aid in building the collection and all users are invited to make purchase recommendations. Factors influencing the selection of items include:

  • Relevance to the educational programs of the college.
  • Balance of resources in the collection.
  • Representation of all viewpoints for controversial issues.
  • Professional reviews.
  • Representation of a diversity of religious, ethnic, and cultural groups.
  • Duplication of resources.
  • Available format.
  • Availability of funds.

Identifying appropriate research materials is a cooperative venture of the library staff and faculty members. When an assessment is being conducted of a specific academic area, the faculty of that area will be asked to work with librarians to assess and enhance the resources in that subject specialty.

In addition to supporting the curriculum taught at SUNY Maritime College, the Library also has a secondary objective to obtain some materials that support the leisure activities of students, faculty and staff. Therefore, the selection and acquisition of popular fiction, best sellers, and movies is a continuous process. Input from library users is an important aid in building a carefully-selected leisure collection, and library users are invited to make purchase recommendations. Factors influencing the selection of leisure items include:

  • Professional reviews.
  • Popularity of items as evidenced by polls, best seller lists, awards/prizes, or sales.
  • Duplication of resources.
  • Available format.
  • Availability of funds.

Maritime Heritage Collection Development

The Maritime Heritage Collection refers to the special collections of the Stephen B. Luce Library. This collection contains over 8,000 items deemed rare or otherwise eligible for separation from the circulating collection. These collections aim to enhance the college's curriculum while serving researchers, scholars, and students from the Maritime College community and the public. Along with these values, the Maritime Heritage Collection aims to support the mission of the library and improve diversity in our special collections to reflect the maritime heritage of New York State and Maritime College more accurately. 

Please refer to the full collection policy, here:

Recommend a Purchase

Stephen B. Luce Library welcomes recommendations for new purchases from the campus community. The library purchases books and materials in fulfillment of its mission to support the curriculum, and seeks to fulfill requests in the spirit of this mission and within budgetary constraints. A submission of a recommendation does not guarantee purchase. If you are in a rush and do not want to wait for a decision, you can request it through Interlilbrary Loan and we will do our best to borrow it for you from another library.

Recommend a purchase by filling out this form. Please check the library catalog to verify that the library does not already own the item(s) before submitting a recommendation for purchase form.

Withdrawals/Weeding

It is the policy of the Stephen B. Luce Library to keep an up-to-date and useful collection through a continuous withdrawal and replacement process. Criteria for determining which items need to be weeded include:

  • Duplication of material.
  • Age of material/availability of newer editions.
  • Physical condition.
  • Usefulness.
  • Current demand.
  • Relevancy of content, style, or theme.

Gifts and Donations

Stephen B. Luce Library accepts donations of materials that support the curriculum taught at SUNY Maritime College. Donations will be accepted at the discretion of the Library Director. For donations of 25 items or more, please send an itemized list to library@sunymaritime.edu, and you will be contacted in regards to the proposed donation. The library does not provide letters of acknowledgement for tax purposes. The library reserves the right to discard/donate any materials donated that are deemed to be in poor condition, or outside of our collection development policy.

The Library accepts gifts and donations in the form of monetary contributions. The Library will use monetary gifts and donations to purchase materials that either support the college curriculum or that contributes toward leisure reading or viewing. Please contact the library director for more information.


Stephen B. Luce Library || SUNY Maritime College || 6 Pennyfield Avenue, Bronx, NY 10465 || Phone: (718) 409-7231 || Email: library@sunymaritime.edu

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