Collection Development Policy   --   Asian Studies    --   Revised  December 2004

 

 

I.                     Purpose or scope of the collection

 

The context of any collection development policy or program in Asian Studies is 1) the ever-increasing saliency of Asia in world, national, local, and academic affairs; 2) the present commitment of MSU to further internationalize all programs; 3) an ever more ambitious MSU program of teaching and research in the area (see below).

 

A.      A growing number of scholars and programs at MSU now use and need library materials related to all aspects of East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific region, and MSU Libraries’ collection of Asian-related materials needs to develop on an ongoing and, if resources are available, an increasing basis.

The History Department has a particularly significant concentration of scholars (two in Chinese history, one in Japanese). Since history is a key element in even contemporary Asian affairs, is a key field for all Asian Studies programs, and tends to be interdisciplinary, the mandate for library collections is strong across the board. History has had Ph.D. programs with Asian specialization in place for many years.

Undergraduate programs in Chinese and Japanese language, literature, and linguistics are well established and have a secure enrollment base. The university is now adding programs in Korean, Vietnamese, Hindi, and perhaps other Asian languages. MSUL should acquire basic language learning materials and dictionaries in many Asian languages for research purposes, but not attempt to provide more than a few instructional texts.

In the social sciences faculty research is carried on in most disciplines, and graduate specialization is available in anthropology and sociology, with important undergraduate needs also in geography, political science, economics, James Madison College, international development, urban planning, and other interdisciplinary social science programs. In the humanities, similar needs are felt by art, music, philosophy and religion, theater, and interdisciplinary programs. Faculty and graduate student researchers in education, communications, and other interdisciplinary programs also require Asian-related materials.

The Asian Studies Center continually grows and seeks ways to become more active. There are now more than sixty core faculty members. The Center routinely applies for and receives Title VI funding, and has consistently raised its standards, accomplishments, and support for the library.  Other organizations with an international character (CASID, WID , etc.) also are active in Asian matters and require library support; CASID/WID routinely uses Title VI funds to support library acquisitions.

 

B.       In the past, Asian-related material has been collected by MSUL in both systematic and idiosyncratic ways. A  basic fact of life is that MSUL lives in the shadow of one of the country’s great Asian collections at the University of Michigan; no attempt to compete with  this center has been made, nor will be. The chief guideline for our collection(s) is not size, but suitability for supporting MSU programs of teaching, research, and public service and whatever cooperative programs we have commitments to.

A respectable core of English-language monographs on all areas of Asia, obtained from approval plans and firm ordering, has been developed and maintained since the 1950s. Other aspects of collection development have varied in intensity with changing policies and personalities. A program to collect massive amounts of material from India and South Asia through a national Library of Congress PL 480 program beginning in the 1960s at first responded to faculty needs in that area, but by the mid-1980s there were fewer faculty interested in using this research-level collection, and MSUL dropped out of the program in 1987. Firm-order collection of Indian and South Asian materials (in English) continues at a respectable level, however, both for specific area study needs and for the field of international development, which is a major university and library emphasis. In the 1990s MSU Asian Studies efforts were more concentrated on East Asia, and MSUL vastly increased acquisitions in that area, while maintaining a sufficient intake in other areas. The two most recent Title VI grants from the Asian Studies Center  have officially specified a “pan-Asian” approach; i.e., legitimate concern with and work on every Asian region, and MSUL should make this the basis of collection development whether future grants come to the Center or not.

 

The Asian region poses a particular problem of collecting in the vernaculars. Unlike in Europe, the languages of the various nations are almost entirely unrelated to each other, despite the shared use of Chinese characters in China, Japan, and Korea. It was decided in the early 1990s to collect only Chinese and Japanese materials in the vernacular, but at one point International Studies and Programs was moving sharply in the direction of a Korean emphasis, and a small amount of Korean material entered the collection; that is no longer the case. Occasionally special materials in other Asian languages may be sought; e.g., an art exhibition catalog in Thai.

 

Historically, MSUL has built sizable collections of English-language materials on Vietnam (during the period of the Indochina War) and the Philippines, in addition to India. Some further emphasis should be placed on Australia , other Southeast Asian areas, and Korea. Collecting materials concerning international development is a heavy emphasis, with good sources in English from Singapore, India, and the Philippines. Some new MSU teaching and research programs now focus on Nepal, and some acquisitions should be made on a continuing basis. Certain sub-national areas with which MSU has had past or present special relationships (e.g., Okinawa, Sichuan) should receive some attention.

 

Until the 1990s, area studies collections followed the traditional emphasis on the humanities (history, literature, religion). In keeping with national developments in scholarship and new opportunities (e.g.,  research in China), far more emphasis needed to be placed on the social sciences. The quantity and quality of such material dealing with Asia has increased tremendously (including material from Asian  sources) and now forms the bulk of what we need and acquire. (See III below).

 

II. Factors influencing collection policy

 

  1. In the above statement I have not included materials from and about Asia suitable for the Business Library. The Asian Studies selector should cooperate closely with the head of the Business Library in implementing collection responsibilities. The Business Library has a sizable commitment to cope with the national and state interest in understanding international and Asian business and providing information relevant to the Michigan economy’s external relationships. Material dealing specifically with the conduct of business and the techniques and materials of management is the responsibility of the Business Library; theoretical and general economic studies are the responsibility of the economics selector; material dealing with international development is the responsibility of that field’s selector, unless the material is specific to Asia. In general, material focusing on Asian economies, or the history or political context of Asian economics, is the responsibility of the Asian Studies selector. Analogous divisions of responsibility with other selectors and branch libraries (Fine Arts, Ag Econ, etc.) have been established.

 

  1. The emphases described here should serve as guidelines also for Government Documents in collecting international documents from and about Asia (e.g., Asian Development Bank).

 

II.                   Analysis of the subject field

 

A.      Asian Studies is an interdisciplinary field which brings together studies of the societies, civilizations,  and interrelationships of the Asian nations, focusing on history, the humanities, and the social sciences, as mentioned above. This broad mandate for our collections thus involves many disciplines: history, languages, geography, economics, literature, sociology, politics, international relations, etc. As mentioned above, after periods when MSU programs focused on South Asia and East Asia, all of Asia is now to be the center of university efforts. It is worth noting that three of the Asian nations (China, Japan, and India) are perennially among the top ten publishing nations in the world every year, and our modest collecting effort can only bring a fraction of this material to us. Again, the criterion for selection is the specific needs of MSU faculty and students, with some consideration for the Michigan public. One point to mention: while there are unifying factors (e.g., geography as seen from the U.S.) which make the entire continent of Asia a single unit for scholarly purposes, there are profound differences between regions, nations, and even localities. Most of the generalizations below refer to the China-Japan-Korea nexus or to the Indian-South Asian.

 

History is a salient factor in every aspect of life in Asia, even more so than in other parts of the world, because of the long course of civilization(s) in the area. The work of two of the MSU historians of East Asia is oriented to the 20th century, while the third historian ranges freely through history for her work. Vernacular materials in Chinese and Japanese are essentially timeless and can be used as permanent research resources for history, language, literature, linguistics, and social science studies of all kinds, but collection should focus chiefly on the recent and contemporary periods. For South Asia, the colonial period (1750-1950) is of some interest, but collecting should focus on current affairs, with a heavy bias toward material useful for international development. There is no need for extensive resources enabling a wide range of dissertation research, but there should be enough primary material from the major Asian areas to give graduate students proper opportunities for identifying dissertation research, as well as for supporting faculty research in specified areas. Our approval plans can bring us some of the needed secondary material in English, but the plans bring in little or no material published in Asia, and so must be supplemented by extensive firm ordering from local dealers and publishers, and by buying trips.

    

Materials in Chinese and Japanese need to be collected because 1) vernacular works form the primary sources for researchers at all levels; 2) they may represent or invite research and teaching avenues not available in Western languages; 3) translations may not exist, even for important works. (Note: cataloging in Chinese and Japanese characters grows more imperative every year, since eventually transliterations into romanized script will not be used by bibliographic utilities). Some material from the Chinese heritage appears as multivolume collectanea. Approval plans for these materials are not available or useful, and firm ordering requires extensive “mining” of catalogs, development of dealer and publisher contacts, and periodic buying trips.

 

B.       Geography

 

The area(s) included in the study of Asia described here are East Asia (including Mongolia), South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australasia and the Pacific Islands (excluding Hawaii). Parts of Asia west of Pakistan are excluded. See the appended list of collection levels.

 

C.       Format

 

Most collecting will be done in the traditional paper formats and newer electronic formats, preferably Web-based. Some recourse may be made to microforms. Feature films may be collected as needed.

 

D.      Dates

 

As noted above, while most collecting will focus on modern and contemporary materials, some material from past eras is desirable. Retrospective selection of “fill-in” material for serials and collectanea should be undertaken. 

 

III.                 Levels of collection intensity

 

As noted above, the aim is to build a modest collection, but one which can support a wide range of master’s level or preliminary dissertation level research topics in the history, civilization, and society of East Asia, China, Japan, and perhaps India or Southeast Asia, using both Western and vernacular sources as needed; teaching resources follow as a matter of course.  This formulation seems to be equivalent to Level 3c of the WLN Conspectus, which includes support for master’s programs and “more advanced independent study needs of the patrons of public and special libraries.” (Level 4, described as “the major published source materials required for dissertation and independent research,” is probably out of reach for our program at current funding levels). Other Asian areas and topics should be collected at levels below 3c, as described in the appendix. In general, the aim should be to assure building good interdisciplinary collections in which material on geography, society, economics, education, politics, etc. is added to core material on history and literature.

 

Appendix   --  Areas part of “Asian Studies” with collection intensities

 

Regions                                                 Highest intensity level

 

East Asia                                                               3c

South Asia                                                            3b

Southeast Asia                                                     3b

Pacific Islands                                                      2c

Australia & New Zealand                                   3a

 

Nations

 

Afghanistan                                                          2c

China (PRC)                                                          3c

Tibet                                                                       3a

Taiwan (ROC)                                                       3b

Hong Kong                                                           3b

Macao                                                                    2c

Mongolia                                                               2c

Japan                                                                      3c

South Korea (ROK)                                             3b

North Korea  (DPRK)                                          3a

India                                                                       3c

Pakistan                                                                 3a

Sri Lanka                                                                3a

Bangladesh                                                           3a

Nepal                                                                      3a

Bhutan                                                                   2c

Maldives                                                               2c

Brunei                                                                    2c

Burma/Myanmar                                                  3a

Thailand                                                                3a

Cambodia                                                              3a

Laos                                                                       2c

Vietnam                                                                  3a

Malaysia                                                                3a

Singapore                                                              3a

Indonesia                                                              3a

Philippines                                                            3a

East Timor                                                             3a

 

Pacific Island nations (Nauru, Fiji, Solomons, Kiribati, W. Samoa, Cook Is. Niue, Vanuatu, Federated States of Micronesia, Belau, Guam (US), Tonga, Tuvalu)          2

 

T.W. Huey