Security and Access to CD-ROMs Accompanying Books

Abstract

The holdings of the Texas A&M University Libraries contain approximately 1,800 CD-ROMs that accompany books. Most are computer programming manuals or materials about the Internet. Given the increasing publication and acquisition of books with accompanying CD-ROMs, we saw a need to review the libraries’ policy of separating CD-ROMs from their books and securing them behind, a service desk. We believed that CD-ROMs shelved in the open stacks with their books would circulate more than when the CD-ROMs were housed separately. Further, we believed that books and their accompanying CD-ROMs, if lost or stolen, would be easily replaced. Data were gathered on the circulation rates of these materials when they were separated, the loss rates in the open stacks when they were shelved together, and the availability of replacements. Based upon the data gathered as well as other considerations, we recommend that for items with accompanying CD-ROMs, the CD-ROM should reside with its book, with no additional security beyond the book’s sensitized strip.