The collections: The MSU Libraries are home to two named turfgrass collections: The O.J. Noer Memorial Turfgrass Collection (Noer Collection) and the James B Beard Turfgrass Library Collection (Beard Collection). The Noer Collection is the Libraries’ circulating collection, with materials held in the Main Library stacks and in Remote Storage. The Beard Collection is the Libraries’ non-circulating collection of reference, with materials held within the Turfgrass Information Center, Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections, and Special Collections Remote.
Multiple copies: At least two copies of most in-scope items are desirable — one non-circulating copy or “copy of record” as part of the Beard Collection and one circulating copy as part of the Noer Collection. Exceptions may be made if an item cannot circulate due to age, rarity, or other factors. Additional copies of certain items may be sought or retained if they are in particularly high demand. Purchasing priority will generally go towards acquiring first copies of unheld items before second copies of held items, and first copies will generally be cataloged for the Beard Collection before the Noer Collection, to help ensure collection integrity.
Electronic versions (i.e. eBooks): Electronic versions may be purchased if a) needed for a class, b) an MSU faculty member requests this, or c) it is bundled with the print — in which case the platform should be reliable, functional, and suitable to the content of the work, per MSUL acquisition and accessibility policies. The electronic version of a turfgrass resource with a corresponding physical printing should not be the sole or primary version purchased — rather, e-resources should be supplemental and additional to held physical copies, whenever possible.
Replacement copies: Replacement copies will be ordered or otherwise acquired for missing or damaged titles, or parts of multi-volume works.
Conservation/preservation: Preservation decisions follow the general guidelines established by the Main Library, for Noer Collection items, and/or by Special Collections, for Beard Collection items.
Out-of-print (OOP) materials: Out-of-print materials are often acquired, normally via dealer catalogs, auctions, or online availability.
Old, fragile, rare, valuable, or archival materials: These types of materials will generally be held in Special Collections for security/conservation reasons. As a rule, most turfgrass materials published prior to 1900 will be housed in Special Collections.
Fiction and juvenile literature: Such materials will be acquired if within scope, and if the turf element is an actual component of the story itself.
Turfgrass serial runs: Serial turf materials will not be bound incomplete, and efforts will be made to obtain missing issues in order to enable complete bind runs. Incomplete runs are held within the vertical files of TIC, if not located in PRR, until such time as the missing issues (or a facsimile thereof) are acquired, or until the title is digitized by MSUL, whichever comes first.