Noreen McGuire
Head of Library Collections
nmcguire@pace.edu
David Almodóvar
Head of Research and Circulation Services
Mortola Library, Pleasantville
malmodovar@pace.edu
Greg Murphy
Head of Research and Circulation Services
Beekman Library, NYC
gmurphy@pace.edu
The Pace Library has established several Collections housed in the Mortola and Beekman Libraries.
List of current collections:
Materials Authored by Pace Academic Community
The library makes an effort to collect and preserve publications written by current faculty and associated scholars. These materials include monographs as well as selective theses, dissertations, reports, data sets, and creative works highlighting the scholarship happening at the university. These materials may be eligible for deposit into the university’s institutional repository, the Digital Commons, which aims to showcase the diverse scholarship produced by our academic community.
Publications authored by alumni are also considered for inclusion if the work aligns with the collection development priorities outlined in this policy. The focus is on acquiring alumni-published resources that directly complement the research interests and course offerings of the university’s academic departments and programs.
Faculty Author Collection
There are faculty author collections on each campus. The titles are interfiled with the general collection at Beekman. At the Mortola Library, they are a unique collection with distinct non-LC call numbers shelved separately. The Faculty Author collection at Beekman was recently expanded and formalized due to a Dyson student president’s survey.
Work is underway to add an “Added Author” field to each title in both Faculty Author collections so they can be searched in the catalog with an author search. This added field will increase their discoverability.
Juvenile and Curriculum Center Collections
The Curriculum Center housed in the NYC Beekman Library collects juvenile literature to support students’ coursework and research needs in the College of Education. Materials are selected to effectively prepare future educators to teach preschool through high school (Pre-K to 12) students.
The collection includes books in all genres that are developmentally appropriate for children from preschool through young adulthood, focusing on award winners, honor books, and notable books. Other examples include read-along books, folk literature, mythology, graphic novels, realistic fiction, historical fiction, biographies, and autobiographies. Books that support academic purposes should be prioritized over leisure reading.
Materials are evaluated for inclusion based on the following:
Relevance to teacher preparation and Pre-K to 12 education
Favorable reviews in professional publications
Literary and educational merit
Accuracy and objectivity of content
Developmental appropriateness
Potential for current and long-term use
Format and accessibility
Materials that support interdisciplinary needs and have potential use at several grade levels are prioritized. Those with highly specialized or narrow content are collected selectively. Given that these books are resources for the School of Education, leisure reading in the young adult category should be acquired judiciously and limited to titles supporting curriculum goals and student learning outcomes. Our development guidelines aim to build a focused collection to best serve our patrons’ academic needs.
Popular Paperback Collection (Beekman Library, New York City)
The Popular Paperback collection at the Beekman Library encourages reading books for pleasure, fun, and personal and intellectual growth. Titles are selected based on bestseller lists and book reviews in prominent and independent magazines and newspapers. Other selection criteria include Pace student, staff, faculty recommendation, publisher reputation (including independent publishers), prize-winning status, and bookstore or bookseller promotion. The collection includes literary fiction, genre fiction, graphic novels, and popular Young Adult fiction. Nonfiction for the general reader about history, science, memoir, current events, music, and other subjects is also part of the collection.
Books in the collection will be mainly contemporary, but selected editions of classic or canonical titles are also included. A particular edition may be chosen due to its appealing graphic design, shape, and size. The collection is limited to English language titles, including translated works. Titles for this collection will be purchased in paperback only.
The Rene Dubos Collection (Mortola Library, Pleasantville)
The collection consists of works by Dubos as well as those of other leading environmental scholars, some of which have been annotated by Dubos himself. Donated in 1998 by the René Dubos Center for Human Environments, the collection includes a large portion of its environmental library and archives.
Isabelle M. Dell St. Joan of Arc Collection (Mortola Library, Pleasantville)
The Joan of Arc Collection was created in memory of Isabelle Dell, who loved Joan of Arc and was the daughter-in-law of Drs. Frances and Robert Dell, Professors of English for Pace University.
Handmade Homemade Collection (Mortola Library, Pleasantville)
The Handmade Homemade Collection is a collection of handmade, homemade, and letterpress chapbooks, one-of-a-kind editions, and broadsides. The special collection began in 2011 and includes books by artists and writers working in the twenty-first century.