Michigan State University

Collection Development Policy Statement: African American Studies

Out of Scope Subjects or Materials Not Collected

African materials:

Materials with an exclusive focus on Africa or individual African nations, issues, and other concerns are not collected by the African American Studies bibliographer. Requests for African materials will be referred to the Africana bibliographer.  Comparative materials including both African and African American issues or perspectives will be considered by the African American Studies bibliographer if they deal primarily with the United States.  Otherwise they will be referred to other subject specialists with geographic area responsibilities or the Area Studies Coordinator. 

International African diaspora materials:

Materials with an exclusive focus on the African diaspora experience outside the United States (for example, Great Britain, Canada, Haiti, or Latin American countries) are not selected by the African American Studies bibliographer, but by other subject specialists with geographic area responsibilities.  Comparative materials will be considered by the African American Studies bibliographer if they deal primarily with the United States.  Otherwise they will be referred to other subject specialists with geographic area responsibilities or the Area Studies Coordinator.

Juvenile materials:

Selected juvenile materials (meaning materials intended for a pre-school, elementary, middle school or junior high level audience) are collected for the Juvenile and Young Adult Collection. Secondary materials, such as bibliographies, finding tools, and original scholarly research on the topic of children's materials as relevant to African American populations in the United States, may be collected in consultation with the Children's Literature Specialist.