Notes toward a collection development policy for the Statistics Alcove

Purpose:

The Statistics Alcove is designed to be the first (and, in some instances, only) stop for patrons seeking statistical information. As such, it includes all key indexes and guides to statistical information, as well as the most recent editions of various statistical compendia.

There are 3 call number runs in the Alcove: SuDocs, Canadian and Library of Congress. The LC-classed materials from Reference/Main and GovDocs are merged into a single run. Ownership of the materials can be determined from the Magic records as well as from the color of the call number label. (LC-classed Michigan documents have a light blue call number label; LC-classed International Documents have a red label.)

Geographic Scope:

All areas of the world are included, with special emphasis given to those areas of particular interest to MSU students and faculty: Africa, Asia and the Americas.

With the exception of materials focussed on the state of Michigan, works shelved in the Alcove must be at the world, regional or national level. Materials focussed at the subnational level must provide such coverage for a minimum of one entire nation. (So, for example, the following are hypothetical examples of works EXCLUDED from the Statistics Alcove: Statistical Handbook of Texas and the Ontario Statistical Annual. Titles that could be included are: Portrait of the Regions (regional data on the EU countries) and China's Provinces.

Historical Sweep:

The Alcove is primarily intended to be a source for current statistics. As such, very few historical compendia are included. To be included, a work must cover several nations and a large segment of time. The few exceptions to this are based on frequency of use: Historical Statistics of the United States.

Periodicity:

With the exception of the statistical indexes, no materials issued more frequently than semi-annual will be held in the Alcove.

Subject Coverage:

[NOTE: The section below is a statement of intent; the current practice is not so well-defined. We may want to revise it somewhat. It was set up to avoid having an abundance of unused material in the Alcove ...]

With the exception of materials focussing on the United States, Canada, and the State of Michigan, any subject-oriented compendium shelved in the Alcove must cover more than a single country. So, Agricultural Statistics (issued by the USDA) and the Demographic Statistics Yearbook (covers the EU nations) are okay, but Agricultural Statistics of the United Kingdom is not. Exceptions are works dealing with foreign trade (e.g., Foreign Trade of Japan) as long as these works provide data on specific trading partners. (So, it's not enough for Foreign Trade of Afghanistan to contain data on the trade in textiles - it must state who the trading partners are.)

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