A. Curricular/Research/Programmatic Needs
The engineering collection support the current and anticipated research and curricular needs of College of Engineering. In order to support doctoral programs and research, the goal is to maintain the collection at a graduate/research level. Due to inflation, the increase in the amount of information available and the need to support new research programs it is not possible to meet this goal utilizing only the engineering collection at Michigan State University. As a BTAA (Big Ten Academic Alliance) institution the MSU Libraries is part of a virtual electronic library and can utilize the collections of the other BTAA institutions to help meet the information needs of the MSU community.
The engineering collection supports the research and curricular needs of the following departments in the College of Engineering: Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. It also supports degree programs in computer engineering and manufacturing engineering and supports in part the Construction Management Program. The collection also supports the research needs of the Composite Materials and Structures Center and the Energy and Automotive Research Laboratory within the College of Engineering. It also provides partial support for the Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering department, Center for Fundamental Materials Research, the Center for Microbial Ecology, the Center for Sensor Materials and the Michigan Biotechnology Institute. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of much of today's research, the collection is also used by researchers in chemistry, mathematics, and physics and to a lesser degree biomechanics, biosystems engineering, environmental studies, and geology. Materials for undergraduate engineering are also collected.
B. History of the Collection/Existing Strengths and Emphases.
The engineering collection dates back to the early years of the University. For a time prior to 1963 it was housed in the Science division of the Main Library. In September of 1963 part of the collection was moved to the new Engineering Library located on the third floor of the recently completed Engineering building. In the summer of 1989, the Engineering Library moved to its new location on the first floor of the not yet completed addition to the Engineering building. In 2003 the Engineering Library underwent a major renovation that included the installation of compact shelving, new carpet, and a new public service point. The Engineering Library closed at the end of 2015. The most heavily used print materials were moved to the Main Library and the bulk of the remaining volumes were moved to Remote Storage. Prior to the closing of the Engineering Library the collection was evaluated resulting in the withdrawal some older materials, duplicate copies of volumes and volumes of serials for which we had permanent online access.
Technology materials were collected for the Engineering Library and the Main Library. The Main Library collection emphasized general technology, history of technology, communications, water resources, pollution, textiles, and agricultural engineering. Neither the Main Library collection nor the Engineering Library collection were historical collections as such. The main goal for these collections was to provide materials to meet the current research and curricular needs of faculty and staff and to anticipate their future research and curricular needs. Older materials of significant value are retained. Older materials of lesser value are removed as identified.