Michigan State University

Collection Development Policy: Economics

A. Anticipated future trends

Other than international economics and microeconomic theory, there is an area in sustainability, 

B. Relationships with other resources

On campus branch or format collections:

Collecting for economics must be distinguished from that for the closely related subjects international development, agricultural economics, business/management, area studies, labor relations, and government documents. The economics of agriculture can be fairly readily defined as separate from the fields listed above, which focus on world, national, industrial, and personal economics, without specific reference to agriculture. (Most agricultural economics falls in the call number range HD101-2349).

International development can be characterized in simplest terms as the “transitional” economics of the Third World, and relationships with the “mainstream” economics of the developed world; “globalization” is a shared area. International development deals with the efforts by the poorer nations to increase levels of development not only in strict economic terms but also in terms of all aspects of society. While development is taught in the Department of Economics, it is of broader interdisciplinary scope and the focus of research and teaching elsewhere in the University, notably as coordinated by the Center for Advanced Study of International Development.

The distinction between business/management (the Gast Business Library collection) and economics is more difficult to make, and overlap or “gray areas” will always exist. In practice, the selectors for the two fields have made an assignment of call number ranges in “H” to each field, as seen in the appendix.

Area studies selectors are tasked with identifying and acquiring materials dealing specifically with the economy of a particular locality outside the United States.

The selector for the Labor and Industrial Relations Library is responsible for acquisitions in that area, wherever identified.

Many U.S. and other government documents provide materials of importance to economics, especially statistics and other data sets. As far as collection responsibility, it is the originating element that determines the location in MSU Libraries.