MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY STATEMENT

Department: Collections Management

Subject: Library Science

Written by: Agnes Widder

Date Drafted: January, 1990

Subject: History of the Book and the Book Trade

Written by: Barbara Sagraves

Date Drafted: December, 1989

Subject: Museum Studies

Written by: Mary Ann S. Tyrrell, and the other two policies revised

Date: 19 January 2005

I PURPOSE OR SCOPE OF COLLECTION

A. Curricular/Research/Programmatic Needs

The Library Science collection in the Main Library serves two purposes: it supports the University=s programs by providing materials the Libraries staff needs to complete successfully their mission of providing quality library services to the community; and it supports the College of Education=s needs for materials about teaching, literacy, and books and reading for children in grades K-12. The collection also supports the Libraries staff requirements for professional literature and research materials on the several curricular areas for which an individual bibliographer acquires materials for the Main Library and the various branch libraries.

The collection also meets the needs of patrons requiring general information, instructional and/or research materials in the fields of the history of books and printing, paleography, typography, book industries (book trade and publishing), book evaluation, copyright, and censorship.

Museum studies encompasses materials that support the curriculum in the areas of museum education and exhibition, administration, diversity of collections, curatorial methods and practices, and the museum internship. It also includes research materials on the preservation and/or conservation of both books and the many types of objects that make up a museum collection.

B. History of the Collection/ Existing Strengths and Emphases

For many years, the College of Education offered a major in school library media, and during that time more materials were collected about school libraries and school media centers than currently. Although the College of Education teaches courses on children=s and young adults= literature, and reading, the Main Library never collected fiction or non-fiction at the K-12 level. The collection of such school library materials, formerly housed in Erickson Hall, has been dispersed, with the fiction collection added to that of the East Lansing Public Library. The existing strengths and emphases of the Main Libraries= collection are on current materials in the English language about contemporary academic libraries= concerns and problems, including management, administration, personnel, and leadership; buildings and architecture; reference, automation, online catalogs, networking, library systems, online searching, the Internet, and library instruction; acquisitions and cataloging; preservation or conservation of materials; collection building and bibliography; copyright, censorship, and intellectual freedom. There is also a rather limited core collection in archives and archival administration, offset somewhat by the fact that it is fairly international in scope, in a number of mostly European languages.

The history of books and printing has never been a major area of curricular instruction at MSU, although it is part of a professional librarian=s development, and so has a place within the collection. Book history, the book trade, and typography were an area of personal interest for two bibliographers, Robert Runser and Henry Koch, whose work helped turn what had been a college library into a major research library in the years after WWII and on into the 1980's. The bulk of the collection is represented in the areas of the history of printing in the U.S. and UK; paleography; the history of individual presses; book industries and trade; book design and construction; composition, typesetting, practical printing, and typographical innovation. Much less has been added in these areas in the last decade of the 20th century and currently. The collection is comprised of materials for research at the master=s level, includes a fair amount of foreign language items, and is dominated by monographs.

Museum studies is a fairly recent curricular addition, but the Libraries has been collecting advisedly although widely in the areas of conservation and preservation from about the mid-nineteen seventies. The majority of acquisitions address issues such as the history and philosophy of museums; professional development, e.g. ethics; exhibition design; technologies; museum management; and the various aspects of collections management of non-textual materials (works of art on paper, ceramic, glass, metalwork, stone, textiles, woodwork, photographs, sound recordings, storage media, etc.); care or curatorship, that is, chemical composition of materials, handling, repair, conservation, and storage; public relations and marketing; diversity, education, and interpretation. The preservation and conservation areas include both paper and non-paper objects and cover disaster management and emergency preparedness; environment (temperature, humidity, pests, lighting, etc.); in-house repairs; library binding operations; preservation microfilming, copying (brittle books), digitization; and program planning and administration.

II FACTORS INFLUENCING COLLECTION POLICY

A. Anticipated Future Trends

Current and future trends include more emphasis on databases, electronic journals and monographs, new technologies (such as GIS), networking, digitization, artificial intelligence, distance learning, and information literacy. Other areas include off-site shelving (libraries) or storage (museums); virtual libraries; collection development in a digital environment; metadata and types of markup languages (HTML, SGML, XML, etc.); licensing and managing digital content; consortia; e-publishing; cyberculture; and changes in reference service, e.g. >chat reference= and email reference. We have not, however, stopped collecting traditional library materials (books, journals, microfilm, etc) nor would we in the foreseeable future. A recent article in ARL: A Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Actions from ARL, CNI, and SPARC says, AResponding to user demand, libraries have steadily been shifting the focus of their collection development to the acquisition and licensing of electronic content, much of it via consortia.@ The consolidation of commercially published STM (science, technology, medicine) journals in the hands of a few gigantic publishing conglomerates and aggregators has given rise to a response which envisions a new paradigm of scholarly communication and the development of cooperative ventures such as SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), Aan alliance of universities, research libraries, and organizations built as a constructive response to market dysfunctions in the scholarly communication system.@ (http://www.arl.org/sparc/home/index.asp?page=0)

In the area of the history of the book and the book industry, we have seen growth in the area of computer-aided design, and web page development and design. There has been exponential growth in the mining of the >hidden collections= of the archives and special collections units of libraries and museums for esoteric materials once known only to dedicated researchers. The MSU Library=s Special Collections Division, for example, is having its radicalism and men=s studies collections microfilmed, possibly for future digitization projects. Digital book production as a topic may also lead to the publication of unique, limited-edition type books that might in the past have been too expensive. Henry C. Koch=s Catalogue of Rare Veterinary Books & Allied Subjects in Animal Husbandry in the Michigan State University Library (http://digital.lib.msu.edu/vetmed/) is one such example.

National cooperative projects such as Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project (http://digital.lib.msu.edu/cookbooks/) make rare materials from the MSU Libraries= Special Collections Division available via digitization to anyone with Internet access. Many such projects are aimed at enriching K-12 curricula and exposing students to primary sources at an early age. This project and other similar ones are funded by agencies such as the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal agency that supports the nation's museums and libraries. Information literacy; evaluating web-based information; motivating children and teens to read, local studies librarianship, and online community information are some of the topics currently collected.

Museum studies now include museum ethnography; repatriation of native american remains; visitor studies; intergenerational programming for exhibits; museum evaluation; case studies in museum education; recent studies on the effects of the environment on outdoor art; cultural excursions; mission statements and codes of ethics; and the avant-garde in exhibition.

B. Relationships with Other Resources

1. On-Campus Branch or Format Collections, If Any

Resources about online searching and all aspects of programming and web design may class in QA and be collected in the Mathematics & Statistics or Engineering Branch Libraries. There may also be software or non-print formats in the Digital & Multimedia (formerly Audio-Visual) Center which also includes the Vincent Voice Library. The holdings in the Fine Arts Library consist primarily of reference materials; works about graphic design; U.S. printing history; practical printing, type specimen books; works about conservation and preservation; and museum studies. Additional significant art research holdings, such as illuminated manuscript facsimiles (http://www.lib.msu.edu/coll/main/finearts/illum.htm), rare books, microforms and software, are located in the Main Library (in Special Collections or in the Microforms section of the Current Periodicals & Microforms, Reserves and Copy Service Unit).

2. Regional or Network Resources, If Any

The University of Michigan School of Information offers a specialization in Library & Information Services, including school library media programs; Archives & Records Management; Human Computer Interaction, and others. Its library collection relating to SI graduate programs is a resource of great depth and historicity. The UM Libraries are also very strong in areas such as paleography. As part of the Michigan Research Libraries Triangle, MSU Libraries maintains reciprocal borrowing agreements with both the University of Michigan and Wayne State Libraries. Materials are also obtained via interlibrary loan from other CIC institutions.

C. Relationships to Resources Treated in Other Policy Statements

Education Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection

Main Library Reference Computer Sciences (cryptography, e.g.)

Special Collections Fine Arts

British History American Radicalism

There are also relationships to other units or divisions within the Libraries, e.g. Access and Preservation; the Digital and Multimedia Center; Special Collections; Fine Arts; Government Documents; Library Instruction; and Microforms.

III ANALYSIS OF THE SUBJECT FIELD

A. Chronology of the Subject

Overwhelming emphasis is on current concerns. This may include materials published in the past, but this seldom occurs.

B. Languages of Resources Collected

English is most usual, but original materials in other languages are also collected. The Canadian Conservation Institute publications are available in both languages, and several international organizations publish their colloquia in French and other European languages.

C. Geography of the Subject

We collect materials published in the United States about American libraries, primarily. Items published in English in other countries about libraries may be collected if the content apples to current problems, concerns, or interests in academic libraries, or within certain limitations, in public libraries. On the other hand, many publications about museums and museum studies originate from the UK and these are collected to the extent that they are useful for curricular studies at MSU. Preservation and conservation are mainly North American or Western European publications. Preservation efforts internationally are collected in the following precedence: the English-speaking world, Eastern Europe, and the rest of the world as funds allow.

D. Format of the Resources Collected and Treatment of the Subject

Books and periodicals mainly, although microformat and digital materials are also considered for purchase. On the Libraries Electronic Resources pages there are links to various URLs for the reports and other publications of various U.S. agencies and organizations related to conservation, libraries and museums.

E. Date of Publication of Resources Collected

Current materials are the norm. Retrospective purchases may be considered when time and resources permit.

IV LEVELS OF COLLECTING INTENSITY IN THE MAIN LIBRARY

The MSU Libraries use the following collection levels defined by the old Research Libraries Group Conspectus as follows:

1 Minimal Level: A subject area in which few selections are made beyond very basic books.

2 Basic Information Level: A collection of up‑to‑date general materials that serves to introduce and define a subject.

3 Instructional Support Level: A collection that is closely tied to the needs of the curriculum:

3A Undergraduate Support level: a collection that is adequate to support undergraduate instruction.

3B Upper Level/Graduate Support level: A collection that is adequate to support undergraduate instruction and most upper level / graduate instruction or independent studies.

4 Research Level: A collection that includes major published source materials required for research needs.

5 Comprehensive level: A collection in which the Library includes all significant works of recorded knowledge for a necessarily defined and limited field.

Conspectus Call # Ranges	Subject	Level of current collection intensity
Z4-8	History of Books & Bookmaking

V. COLLECTION MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Specific policies, if any, on replacement, de-selection, out-of-print acquisitions, preservation, conservation, etc.

Multiple copies may be purchased for high-demand titles and/or titles authored by MSU faculty or staff.

Replacement copies, if available, are usually ordered for high-circulation material or that which is important for the completeness of the collection.

Out-of-print materials are not normally considered for purchase, unless there is