I. Purpose and Scope of Collection:

MSU Libraries' African Studies collection supports the research and teaching needs of faculty with interests associated with Africa and provides resources for students at undergraduate and graduate levels. With over 120 faculty with an interest in Africa spread across diverse departments, including agriculture and agricultural economics, medicine, business, history, literature and the arts, communications, anthropology and sociology, environmental studies, geography, political science, and with the existing Africana collection one of the largest in the country, collection is maintained at a high level. The library collect across a broad range of materials, including books, serials, maps, government documents, audio-visual and archival materials. The collection is integrated into the general collection, but there are also valuable Africana resources in Special Collections and Maps, and there are some departmental collections : for example, a wide range of Africana videos are held in the African Media Program at the African Studies Center and also in the CASID-WID Video Library and the English Department.

II. Factors Influencing Collection Policy:

MSU continues to maintain an interest in areas of established involvement such as Nigeria, Mali and Senegal in West Africa, the Horn of Africa, Kenya and East Africa, and Southern Africa. Emerging areas of greater involvement include Rwanda and Mozambique.

III. Analysis of the Subject Field:

Geographic guidelines: Resources are acquired about all African countries and outlying areas. Geographic emphases reflect MSU faculty and research interests, as discussed in section I above. Areas of special strength [in comparison to other Africana collections] include: Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Eastern Nigeria, Senegal and the Sahel region of West Africa, but extensive collections are also held on most other countries, including for example Nigeria as a whole, Ghana, South Africa, etc. De-emphasized areas are North Africa and Egypt, and Indian Ocean islands are covered less comprehensively than the mainland.

Disciplinary guidelines: Emphasis is on the social sciences, including history. Special strengths: unpublished literature in agricultural economics and development. Microforms of historical materials from colonial repositories and other archival sources. Collections in some literatures, and in art and music are not as strong. Collecting on African cinema studies (films and books) has increased in recent years.

Chronological guidelines: None, except works on the Greco-Roman period of Mediterranean Africa are left to Classics selectors.

Languages of resources collected: All relevant languages are collected. English language materials are collected at a research level, with most current North American and British books acquired through trade and university approval plans with appropriate profiles or firm orders, and French materials to a high, but slightly lower level, except that French-language materials about North Africa focus more on primary works and important monographs on history or development. Portuguese resources are required at a moderate level for the Lusophone countries, especially where some MSU faculty and graduate students are working. Arabic-language materials are not routinely collected except for works from the Sudan and Mauritania. Materials in German and Italian are more sparingly acquired, usually limited to monographs based on field research, and especially on countries of historic involvement by Germany or Italy, for example, Italian on Ethiopian studies, or German on Togo, Namibia, Cameroon, Tanzania. Occasional scholarly titles in other European languages such as Russian are acquired. African language materials are routinely acquired on approval or blanket plans, supplemented by special arrangements for materials from some countries, such as Ethiopia, Eritrea and Zimbabwe. Major collections in Amharic, Shona, Ndebele, Swahili, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Zulu.

IV. Current Levels of Collecting Intensity:

Generally, MSU Libraries collect Africana at either level 4 (research level: "the major published source materials required for doctoral study and independent research") or level 3 according to the Conspectus standard, except for North Africa and the Indian Ocean islands, which are between levels 2-3. This is reflected in the very high number of dissertations on Africa completed at MSU over the last ten years--more than any other American university. This general pattern may vary slightly with individual countries.

V. Collection Management Issues:

The Africana Librarian and Africana Bibliographer manage the collection. They regularly fill serial gaps, select new serials, and replace missing materials as required. They also regularly solicit gifts of appropriate materials from donors.

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Contact:

Africana, MSU Libraries,
100 Library, East Lansing 48824
phone: 432-6123 ext 239 or ext. 237 Fax: (517) 432-3532

Librarians
Joseph Lauer Africana Librarian 432-6123 ext237 lauer@msu.edu
Peter Limb Bibliographer 432-6123 ext239 limb@msu.edu

 

Page editor: Peter Limb limb@msu.edu Last updated: 27 March 2006