A. Curricular, Research and Programmatic Needs
The primary purpose of the collection is to provide the information resources needed to support the teaching, research, and clinical practice of the faculty and students in the College of Nursing. The nursing profession encompasses health promotion, health maintenance, crisis care and rehabilitation; and the goal of nursing is to facilitate optimal health throughout the life span. As a theory-based discipline, nursing strives to improve the quality of care through the application of knowledge learned through research.
The College of Nursing offers the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (Ph.D.) degree programs. The focus of the undergraduate program is on basic professional education. There is a traditional BSN program, a RN to BSN program, and an accelerated second-degree BSN program. The MSN program consists of four concentrations, Family Nurse Practitioner, Adult Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist, Adult Gerontology Primary Care Practitioner, and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. The Clinical Nurse Specialist concentration prepares RNs for the advanced practice role of clinical nurse specialist (CNS).
In addition, the College of Nursing offers a Post- Graduate Certificate for students with advanced practice registered nurse certification who wish to extend their scope of practice. A Post-Master's DNP Program is designed for advanced practice registered nurses with a master’s degree to complete a terminal DNP degree. The DNP program prepares advanced practice registered nurses to provide clinical, organizational and systems’ leadership at the highest level. Both the post-graduate certificate program and the post-master’s DNP programs offer the following specializations: adult-gerontology clinical nurse specialist, adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner, family nurse practitioner, and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. Students can also pursue a Teaching in Nursing specialization.
The DNP program offers five specializations: adult gerontology clinical nurse specialist, adult gerontology primary care nurse practitioner, family nurse practitioner, nurse anesthesiology, and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. The nurse anesthesia concentration prepares nurses for advanced practice with the knowledge and skills to deliver safe and effective anesthesia care and assume leadership roles in the practice setting. The DNP projects are collected as part of the MSU Libraries Digital Repository.
The Ph.D. program emphasizes health status and health outcomes research within the context of community-based primary care. Required courses guide the student in the principles and methods of research for the evaluation, testing and development of theories relevant to nursing. The acquisition of remotely accessible digital library resources is emphasized as the College of Nursing offers several online courses and online degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
The College of Nursing has a very active and robust Center for Nursing Research, Scholarship and Innovation. Research areas, topics, and methodologies in the College of Nursing vary widely, and research data is both quantitative and qualitative in nature. The College of Nursing currently has two main focus areas of research: symptom science development for self-management of chronic conditions, and health promotion and risk reductions. The College of Nursing is also an active participant in research partnerships, including the Center for Innovation and Research and MSU's Trifecta initiative.
B. History of the Collection and Existing Strengths and Emphases
The nursing collection originated in 1950 when Michigan State College authorized a Department of Nursing Education based in the Division of Biological Sciences in the then so-named College of Science and the Arts. In 1980 the School of Nursing achieved college status. The nursing collections have been community-based in the absence of a university hospital and the physical collection is located in the Main Library, as is the medical collection.
From its inception, the nursing program has reflected the University's land grant philosophy and a commitment to innovative and broadly-based health care programs. The cross-disciplinary aspects of nursing are heavily emphasized and interest in the social and psychological aspects of health care are especially strong. Collection policies for nursing, therefore, address wide-ranging issues and topics related to nursing and materials are found among all medical call numbers and in the social sciences. The collection particularly reflects a demand for material to support nursing education, nursing research, nursing theory, and transcultural nursing. Materials related to practical and vocational nursing are collected at a minimal level, if at all.