Collection Development Policy Statement: Geology

Trends in the Geoscience Publishing

Most scholarly book publishing is acquired by the library through package deals with vendors and vendor distributors. Most books are not selected individually by the subject librarian but are shipped according to parameters set for subject matter and scholarly merit.  These package deals are set up to arrive either as ebooks or in paper format at the macro level, not on a title-by-title basis. The subject librarian works around these deals seeking out works from smaller presses and on emerging topics. Journal subscriptions are handled similarly, with some being part of large publisher deals and others selected title-by-title. Journals are always acquired in electronic format when vendor contracts allow.

The following areas of research are expected to become more significant in the near future, and should be considered for purposes of collection development: Mantle tomography, mantle-crust dynamics, planetary geology, neo-tectonics, seismic and volcanic hazard analysis, extinction events, surface processes—interaction and analysis, water resources, environmental resource protection and remediation, new energy and mineral resource identification and development, adaptation of new technologies to geochemistry, geophysics, mineralogy and petrology, ocean-atmosphere interaction analysis, short and long-term global climate change through time, geomicrobiology, origin of life on both the molecular and genetic levels, isotope paleontology, animal and plant radiations through time, and finally, the developing importance of Africa, Asia, South America, Australia and Antarctica as contributors to the fossil record of both flora and fauna.

Relationships with other library resources

Since the geosciences are broad in their compass, a mention of other library units where coverage overlaps is warranted.

• Engineering: There is overlap in the areas of mining and petroleum geology/engineering, materials studies, and groundwater studies.
• Maps: The Map Library houses most geology maps, including most USGS series and USGS topographic maps. Some USGS series and miscellaneous maps are housed in Government Documents.
• Government Documents: The Library of Michigan as a Depository Library receives the USGS publications/maps and sends most of them to MSU as part of a Selective Housing Agreement. In addition, MSU is a Depository Library in its own right, collecting approximately 80% of available materials. USGS monograph series, like USGS Bulletins and Professional Papers, are kept in Documents.
• Special Collections: Special Collections holds most of the rare, fragile, and unique items acquired during the first years of MSU’s history.
• Gull Lake Library (Kellogg Biological Station): There is some overlap of environmental and biogeochemistry materials.
• The State Geological Survey of Michigan no longer officially has a library, as it was formally disbanded in the 1980s. The State Geological Survey is now headquartered at Western Michigan University.  The US Geological Survey is making an effort to digitize all state geological survey publications and make them available at the National Geologic Map Database, http://ngmdb.usgs.gov