Michigan State University

Collection Development Policy Statement: Native American Studies

Purpose or Scope of Collection

*Native American and American Indian are used interchangeably in this document

The Native American Studies Collection Development Policy Statement identifies selection criteria for building a multi-disciplinary collection of relevant and quality materials. It identifies the responsibility for building and maintaining the collection, the purpose and the scope of the collection, and guidelines for the selection and retention decisions for these materials. It is a development and planning instrument to communicate with MSU Libraries staff and the University community. The selector of the collection is the Ethnic Studies Bibliographer.

The selection of materials representing the American Indian experience in the MSU Libraries is designed to support interdisciplinary study, instruction, and research for American Indian studies at the undergraduate and graduate level that provide a historical and contemporary perspective Titles will reflect issues in the social sciences and the humanities and include scholarly and authoritative informational works. Titles considered "Popular Culture" may be selected to serve research needs. The primary users of the collection are students and faculty in the American Indian Studies Program, the Native American Institute, American Studies Program and students and faculty with research and teaching interests in classes studying the Native Americans.