Collection Development Policy
for Africana Studies

GENERAL STATEMENT

DEPARTMENT & COURSES:

The Brooklyn College Department of Africana Studies consists of nine faculty members including the Chair Régine Latortue, Deputy Chair of CLAS, George P. Cunningham, Deputy Chair of SGS, Bert J. Thomas, and Professors Prudence Cumerbatch, Lynda Day, Ernest Green, Gerald Horne, Willam Page, and Lenora Peterson. Lynda Day serves as the library representative for the department.

The Department of Africana Studies offers a major, a minor, and an education concentration for undergraduate BA degrees in Africana Studies and education. Graduate courses are also offered to students in other fields. The curriculum studies Blacks in the United States, the Caribbean and Africa. It is a multidisciplinary department offering courses in the social sciences (history, political science, economics, psychology and sociology), education and the humanities (literature, culture, the arts and religion) in each of these three geographical areas. Special topics, seminars and independent studies courses require advanced research.

The Department of Africana Studies participates in the College's core curriculum through Core Studies 4, 5, 6, and 9.

LIBRARY:

Although such major facilities as the Schomberg Collection and the Research Institute for the Study of Man are located in New York City, the Brooklyn College Library serves as the predominant library for undergraduate research.

In addition to the general circulating and reference collections appropriate to Africana studies, the Brooklyn College Library special collections division also houses The Hess Collection on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa and the Robert L. Hess Collection on the Continent of Africa. These collections are largely devoted to colonial issues and the colonial period. The materials date from the late 18th to the mid-twentieth centuries. When rare, out-of-print materials from these time periods becomes available, they are pursued for the collection. In addition, more current, in-print material covering Africa and specifically Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa is purchased to enhance the collection.

FUNDING:

The Africana studies collection is funded through state-levied money that comes through the annual library budget.

Additions to the The Hess Collection on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa and the Robert L. Hess Collection on the Continent of Africa are bought with money from the Hess Fund. Often duplicate copies of material purchased for the Hess collection are bought from the regular department budget in order to make circulating copies of these resources available.

The Luecelia Johnson McAlpin and Callie Canada Naylor Book Fund (a.k.a., the Naylor Fund) provides supplemental money for purchases for Africana Studies but is not meant to be used in place of a regular budget for Africana Studies.

GENERAL APPROACH TO MATERIALS SELECTION

A. ACQUISITIONS STRATEGY

Print and non-print resources are identified through review resources with broad subject area coverage including the printed resources

online resources including and specialized journals in the Brooklyn College Library collection that include book reviews. These include:

Publisher catalogs, in particular from publishers with a special interest in the topic such as African Books Collective (ABC) and small press publishers are checked for recent publications in the field.

For media purchases, video catalogs and Web sites are also checked including

and others. Additional titles may be identified in the Video Source Book.

The online catalogs of other university and research libraries are checked for appropriate resources in specific areas.

Books are also identified in the Strand Bookstore flyers that are circulated to the librarians.

When microfilm and CD-ROMs of archival material becomes available (e.g., University Publications of America publications), the notices for these so-called "big-ticket items" will be held for consideration at those times when a sudden budget windfall must be spent quickly

Electronic Web-based resources identified for subscription access will be recommended to the department of Africana studies for consideration. Items that may be off interest to the entire City University of New York (CUNY) will be brought for consideration before that CUNY Electronic Resources Advisory Committee.

Web resources that are available at no cost will be identified through their mention in other printed and electronic publications (including Web sites, listservs, and e-mail correspondences). These sites will be evaluated for appropriateness and, if acceptable, added to the subject guide for Africana Studies on the Brooklyn College Library home page.

B. LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY

Most materials will be collected on a college level. Books appropriate for teachers of elementary education that cover biography, country studies, and holidays and celebrations may be purchased on the K-6 level. Popular material that is likely to be requested and that is relevant to the curriculum will also be collected.

C. LANGUAGE

Most material will be in English. Special items will be collected in Spanish and French as appropriate.

D. GEOGRAPHIC AREAS INCLUDED/EXCLUDED

Africa and Latin America are heavily emphasized in addition to the United States.

E. CURRENT AND RETROSPECTIVE PURCHASES

Current publishing is heavily relied upon due to the constant state of change regarding educational, political, social and other issues. It is extremely important to locate out-of-print titles because these titles may be the only materials available on various subjects, these titles may be useful for historical purposes, and often may be considered rare items.

F. FORMAT OF MATERIALS COLLECTED/EXCLUDED

Printed and non-printed resources will be collected. Videos will be ordered if requested by the department. CD-ROMs may be ordered on a limited basis if they offer information not readily available in some other format. Electronic resources requiring a subscription for access as well as free electronic resources will be included.

G. REFERENCE POLICY

Bibliographies, indexes, standard reference tools, and materials that would normally circulate but are in "high" demand because of their importance should be included in the reference policy.

H. DUPLICATION

As is generally the policy of the Library, books will not be ordered in duplicate with the exception of books identified for the Hess Collection.

I. WEEDING POLICY

Weeding should be done on a yearly basis to replace lost or stolen items and to remove popular materials that can be replaced by scholarly materials. Inventory should be made when organizations publish lists, or bibliographies are published, of core collections.

J. SELECTION ACTIVITY

The subject bibliographer for Africana Studies alerts the department library representative when funds become available for purchase and will encourage her to inform department colleagues of the availability of the money. The bibliographer will allow 1/3 to ½ of the library budget to go to purchases requested by the department representative. The subject bibliographer will make selections with the remaining money in order to provide balance to the overall collection and its cross-disciplinary uses.

SELECTION ACTIVITY/PROBLEMS

At this time, there appears to be no problems with selection.

COMMENTS

A system for alerting library and classroom faculty of important new acquisitions in Africana Studies and all areas could be beneficial. The Library is constructing a database of its uncatalogued, electronic subject resources and an alerting system may be integral to its construction. Additionally, suggestions are available for how to create an e-mail notification system which would notify patrons when new titles are catalogued (see http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Web4Lib/archive/0006/0158.html ).

Updated: August 30, 2000
Prof. Beth Evans