RCL is a highly selective core list of about 50,000 titles in all subjects. It includes both books (monographs, series, reference works, in some cases textbooks) and electronic resources (CD-ROM and subscription databases, web sites and other internet-based resources). RCL describes an ideal core collection for the library of a hypothetical college or small university that concentrates on the traditional liberal arts and sciences curriculum but also offers undergraduate-level courses (although not necessarily majors) in business, computer science, education, engineering, and the health sciences. Even small liberal arts colleges will have at least twice the number of titles in the RCL database, the additional ones chosen to support their individual curricula and student and faculty interest. The titles suggested by RCL should be the ones all academic libraries must have; almost all these should be titles which can be profitably read and used by undergraduates, at least by the more advanced students. In most fields, this means works in the English language only. Some works for faculty use and some historically important works that libraries should keep even if they are used only rarely may be recommended. RCL titles ideally should be those about which it has been said at the end of CHOICE (or other) reviews, "Essential for all academic libraries."

It may also be helpful to consider the matter as a collection-development librarian might. The following is excerpted from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) "The Mission of a University Undergraduate Library: Model Statement" (available at http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/missionuniversity.htm):

Collection

The subject scope of the undergraduate library will primarily support the teaching curriculum....

The undergraduate library will provide not only the best materials of historical or research value (which might be duplicated in other libraries on campus) but also overviews of a subject, jargon-free explanations of a field, and introductory materials. Research reports and other items restricted to a very narrow subject area are less frequently of interest to undergraduates and will be purchased very selectively. The undergraduate library's collection of periodical reference material will concentrate on the more standard and interdisciplinary periodical indexes, since these are most heavily used by undergraduates; the periodical collections should emphasize the titles covered by these indexes..

Undergraduates select from a wide variety of courses and are therefore looking for library materials on a wide variety of subjects in order to meet course requirements. The subject range of the undergraduate library will be of sufficient comprehensiveness and depth so that, in general, the undergraduate will have a single starting point from which to find the basic information needed for papers, speeches, projects, etc. More advanced needs of undergraduates will be met by specific referral to graduate collections.

The information needs of undergraduates extend beyond the requirements of the curriculum. Undergraduate students are vitally interested in current events and in the current state of the world. The development of cultural, career, and health and recreational interests is also an important part of the life of an individual, and the undergraduate years are a time for exploring the wide range of activities and opportunities available. The library experience of undergraduates should encourage them to seek materials in these areas. The collections of the undergraduate library will therefore be developed to meet these needs, since this is as important to undergraduate education and to the mission of the university as is the support of formal classroom instruction.

RCL, unlike its predecessors, will also suggest electronic resources. This entails additional consideration, since some resources, especially websites, must be evaluated not only for their content but also their reliability, stability, and longevity. These qualities can rarely be determined with great precision, and consequently contributors and subject editors will have to make the best judgment they can, based on the information available to them (in this, they will be in the same situation selectors often inhabit). We suggest that, in such cases, subject editors and contributors seek consensus on the resource under consideration.

Some considerations for selection:

1. Individual criteria for selection will vary from one discipline to another, taking account of the specifics of publication within each discipline, the relative emphasis upon monographs vs. that on serials, the availability and strength of electronic resources, and other factors. Subject editors and contributors will be the ones best situated to judge how these factors affect selection within a given field.



2. Because RCL describes a collection specific to the undergraduate curriculum, the level at which a given resource is pitched is a legitimate consideration. Is the work appropriate for undergraduate students? If it is an advanced work, could it be profitably read by an advanced student in a seminar or one engaged in thesis research? Would a faculty member consult it when composing a lecture or assignment?



3. Some evaluations will be particularly difficult, if they involve a canon or discipline-specific core which is being revaluated by scholars: What relationship does the work have to the field as it is widely understood within the academy? Is it a classic? Was it considered marginal at one point but has received renewed interest? Was it once considered essential but has been dismissed by more recent scholarship? While RCL strives for currency, subject editors and contributors should also be judicious in treating disciplines in the midst of contentious change which may or may not be permanent or long-lasting. The bibliography should register changes in disciplinary focus, but should also resist fads.



4. While it is not essential that all works in the bibliography be currently in print, in each instance bibliographers should verify whether the work in question is currently available, and if it is not should consider whether another, in-print edition could be substituted, or whether the work's merit justifies keeping it on the bibliography despite the difficulty a library might have in acquiring it.