History

Collection Development Policy Statement

Library's Collection Development Objectives

The LSU Libraries seek to support teaching and research in U.S. and world history throughout the university community, providing material and support for undergraduate majors and minors, masters and doctoral programs in history as well as faculty research. Although this policy seeks primarily to support the curriculum of the Department of History, the Libraries support numerous courses of study spanning multiple departments (Women's and Gender Studies, Jewish Studies, French and Francophone Studies, for example) through their collections. Undergraduates from all college use these materials to fulfill their general education requirements.

Curriculum Programs Descriptions

The Department of History is widely recognized as a center for the study of Southern and Civil War history, but it has developed other strengths in recent years. Intellectual, cultural, and religious history are other particular strengths. Graduate courses and faculty research are also strong in economic, intellectual, political/diplomatic, military, and social history as well as mass culture.

Although the primary strengths support the history faculty and students, their counterparts in other disciplines make frequent use of collections in history. Many courses offered by the Department of History fulfill specific general education requirements for all undergraduates. Also, within the College of Arts and Sciences, any history course can fulfill "Group III (Social Sciences)" curricular requirements.

The B.A. program in History is designed to instill in students an awareness of the value of historical knowledge and a sense of historical perspective; to assist undergraduates in acquiring and refining skills in critical thinking, reading, and writing; and to train them to apply those skills in making and evaluating historical interpretations. The goal of the Masters of Arts and Ph.D. programs in History is to deepen students' knowledge of the historical record and to enhance their skills in critical thinking, research, and writing. The Masters program provides professional training to equip students for careers in secondary education, government service, and other appropriate fields. The Ph.D. program in History trains students for careers as academic and public historians and in other professional careers.

About a third of the History Department graduate faculty members are Americanists, the others deal with some aspect of world history. All faculty are engaged in research and publication. Undergraduates must distribute their course of study between the general areas of U.S., European, or Third World history. Graduate students may select an emphasis in American, British, European, or Latin American history. A minor emphasis for graduates is also offered in Asian history.

History Majors

New and Expanding Areas of Interest

Generally, department interests in European, Latin American, and Asian history are growing. European intellectual traditions and religious history are a major focus of several faculty members now in the department. Mass culture is also receiving increased emphasis.

Areas of Specialization/ Major Faculty Research Interests

• Southern history and culture
• Civil War
• United States
• Western Europe
• Latin America
• Asia
• American South
• Religious
• Intellectual
• Women's Studies
• Minority/Ethnic Studies
• Political/Diplomatic
• Economic
• Military
• Mass culture

Interdepartmental Interests

The following research areas on campus are contributing to increased enrollment in history courses (both undergraduate and graduate) and to increased use of library materials in history (numbers 3-8 below specifically stated their intent to increase emphasis on historical course work for students enrolled in their programs in the Second Follow-up Report--SACS Review Report, May, 1997).

• Women's and Gender Studies

• French and Francophone Studies

• Latin (stressing increased course work for students in related fields of history and philosophy)

• Sociology (stressing increased historical course work for students)

• Philosophy

• Economics

• Russian Area Studies

• German

Treatment of Subject Depth

The Libraries are striving to maintain and build a general history collection in United States and world history that supports curriculum and instruction (collection depth level 3) . The Libraries work to support areas of specialization and faculty research interests cited above at the "research level" (collection depth level 4). Through Special Collections of the LSU Libraries, "comprehensive level" (level 5) collection is maintained in history of the geographic region of Louisiana and the Lower Mississippi Valley. (See Classes Analysis for the specific areas and their collecting levels.)

CD ROMs, Electronic Books, Remotely Accessed Texts

LSU Libraries will purchase CD ROM works on a case by case basis when requested by faculty members or graduate students in need of enhanced capabilities afforded by CD ROMs. The LSU Libraries recognizes that electronic information, e-books, electronic paper, etc. merit attention. The purchase of access to remote data and texts, such as J-STOR and others, will be pursued when the ownership of remote products will benefit the greatest number of students, staff, and faculty at the best possible price. Purchase of remotely accessed texts must follow the policy and procedures set forth in Procedures for Acquiring and Processing Electronic Resources.

Specific Delimitations

Type

Collected extensively: Major monographs of original research, scholarly biographies, scholarly editions of historical texts (including CD-ROM editions), scholarly bibliographies.

Collected selectively: General reference works including dictionaries, encyclopedias, yearbooks, indexes, and general bibliographies; anthologies, translations, audio-visual materials.

Excluded: Textbooks, handbooks.

Physical Format

Collected extensively: Monographs, serials, microformat materials, CD-ROM indexes and editions. For Special Collections, manuscripts, photographs, maps, audio-visual materials.

Collected selectively: Audiovisual materials.

Imprint date

Collected extensively: Current ten years, in print.

Collected selectively: All previous years, out of print.

Place of publication/Type of press

Collected extensively: United States, Great Britain, Canada. University presses, scholarly/academic publishers, fine presses.

Collected selectively: Europe, Asia, Latin America. Private presses.

Excluded: Self-published, or "vanity" presses (some exceptions for Special Collections materials)

Languages

Collected extensively: English. For Special Collections, French.

Collected selectively: Translations of foreign works, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian.

Chronological Periods

Collected comprehensively: American Civil War.

Collected extensively: 18^th through 20^th century.

Collected selectively: Earlier periods.

Geographical Focus

Collected comprehensively: Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Region.

Collected extensively: American South, United States.

Collected selectively: All other areas.

Overlap with Other Subjects or Collections

Primary: The following interdisciplinary areas have been identified for which this policy assumes the primary collection development responsibility:

State and regional history (French and Francophone Studies)

Political history (Political Science)

Intellectual history (Philosophy, Religious Studies)

Economic history (Economics)

Military history (Military Science)

Women's history (Women's and Gender Studies)

African-American and minority history (African-American Studies)

Secondary: The following interdisciplinary areas have been identified for which this policy is concerned, but other policy statement and selectors will assume the primary responsibility for collection development:

State and regional society and culture (Sociology, Human Ecology, French and Francophone Studies)

Early history and culture of indigenous peoples (Geography and Anthropology)

Religion (Religious Studies)

Shared: There are considerable United States history materials in the following collections in the library:

Government Documents

Special Collections (manuscript and non-print materials)

Law Library (U.S. and Louisiana legal history)

Cartographic Information Center of the Geography and Anthropology Dept. (maps)

Design Resource Center (local geography and landscape history)

Cooperative Programs

LSU subscribes to CARL for document delivery of journal articles that are not held by the LSU Libraries. To borrow serials that are not supplied by CARL, and monographic works, the LSU Libraries cooperates with LALINC (a consortium of networked academic libraries in Louisiana), ASERL (Association of Southeastern Research Libraries), and ARL (Association of Research Libraries). The LSU Libraries maintain independent reciprocal lending agreements with research libraries of several regional universities. There are no borrowing practices that are particular to history materials.

Classed Analysis

Existing strengths are based on the Middleton Library holdings report of the North American Title Count that enumerated existing collection strengths in broad call number ranges. Current collecting intensities are also listed below. Collecting patterns and strengths within broad categories are listed in the "Comments" column.

Prepared: January 15, 1998