A. Anticipated Future Trends
Study abroad will continue to be emphasized at M.S.U. Because the University requires two years of foreign language study for entrance, or completion of this requirement once students enroll, there will continue to be a need for the French 100 and 200 level courses which are taught each semester, typically by French graduate students and fixed term faculty. With teaching opportunities for graduate students available, the M.A. and PhD programs will continue to have students. There is some interest in languages, cultures, and second language acquisition in the RCAH, Residential College in Arts and Humanities. We anticipate collecting electronic research data subsets created by faculty and graduate students from our electronic resources.
So far, our holdings of electronic books for French studies are limited to our subscription to Digitalia Francaise and those that come in our English language e book packages or are requested by faculty for class assignments. The new French studies selector will want to work with the users to determine whether, and what, French language e books should be collected. It is possible to buy them through GOBI (Cairn lists) or AMALIVRE.
We have a small books approval plan with AMALIVRE in Paris for three star (***) literary works. We have an AMALIVRE approval slip plan for the other subject areas. We receive shelf-ready approval books and use approval slips from GOBI. Faculty and graduate students recommend selections. All reasonable requests are to be honored; the French studies librarian decides what is reasonable! Firm orders are also done, for books beyond the approval plans, especially for, but not limited to, French Canada in French. This should continue as it is a way MSUL contributes to regional collecting.
B. Relationships with Other Resources
On campus branch or format collections, if any.
Art Library collects visual art, art history, architecture, architectural history, and design material
Music Library collects music, music history, music recordings, and musical scores.
Murray and Hong Special Collections collects works published prior to 1866 and popular culture material. The French studies librarian may assist with some selections related to history and literature
Africana and area studies bibliographers collect relative to French language and culture in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Reference collects reference materials, including electronic resources, but mostly the French studies selector chooses reference materials for Main and electronic reference titles.
Map Library collects maps and atlases
AV/Voice/DMC has videos, DVDs, and electronic resources not appropriate for Reference and not available on the internet. The French studies selector may recommend titles.
The RCS department has an extensive electronic language-learning laboratory for which the department selects the resources.
Regional or network resources, if any
We subscribe to ARTFL, the American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language, a full-text database of over 2000 French texts of a literary, philosophical, historical, artistic, or scientific nature through the 20th century, co-produced by the University of Chicago and the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Langue Francaise. Our subscription is through a cooperative arrangement with the other BTAA schools.
We cooperate with other BTAA institutions in the purchase of expensive electronic resources.
As members of the Center for Research Libraries, we borrow items from their collections via interlibrary loan.
In spring, 2020 we joined CIFNAL, Collaborative Initiative for French Language Collections in North American Libraries, a cooperative run through the Center for Research Libraries to promote and facilitate the cooperative exchange of ideas and resources between Francophone and North American research libraries. Membership gives the French studies selector some colleagues around the nation to liaise with. CIFNAL members can obtain consortial pricing for expensive electronic resources. We bought Le Monde newspaper online 1944-2000 this way.
Scholars travel to use the French studies collection at the University of Michigan libraries and we borrow items from U.M. via interlibrary loan. Their budget and their collection development expertise in French studies are much greater than ours.
C. Relationships to Resources Treated in Other Policy Statements
Africana, Asian, Southeast Asian, and Latin American bibliographers collect Francophone literature, history, and other Francophone titles about Africa, Asia, SE Asia, and Latin America
The art and music librarians collect French art and French music and works about these subjects.
The philosophy librarian collects French philosophy titles. The French studies librarian may also.
The classical studies librarian collects works on the period of Roman occupation of what is today France, prior to the Middle Ages.
The military science librarian collects works on French military history, especially for the 19th and 20th centuries. The French studies librarian may collect also, particularly about pre-Napoleonic wars and military subjects.
The linguistics librarian collects works on French linguistics. The French studies librarian may collect works on the history of French language.
The social science/social work librarian collects works on French criminal justice, sociology, and social work. The French studies librarian may collect here also, but not the practical materials used by professionals in the fields of criminal justice or social work.
The political science librarian collects political science. The French studies librarian also does.
The gender studies librarian collects works on gender studies, women, and families. The French studies librarian also does, in both English and French.
The maps librarian collects maps and atlases on France.
The history of science in France, medieval to present, is collected by the French studies librarian, especially in the absence of any interest on the part of the science librarians.
The Canadian studies librarian collects material about French Canada in English. The French studies librarian collects history, literature, and contemporary affairs material about French Canada primarily in French language.
The French studies librarian may collect, or recommend, any French or English language resource in any of these areas.