The library collections for Anthropology include more than 20,000 titles in those areas identified to be of most interest to our faculty. There are many more titles scattered throughout the Library of Congress Classification, especially in the D’s and the H’s, which are relevant to anthropology. In addition to the monographs, we currently subscribe to some 180 serial titles on behalf of the Anthropology Department.
The table below shows the estimated expenditures for the past three years, compared with those for 1993/94 (the last year in the previous report:
| Library Support | 1993/94 | 1996/97 | 1997/98 | 1998/99 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firm Orders | $3,194 | $968 | $3,015 | $1,314 |
| Approvals | 5,000 | 7,917 | 10,655 | 7,457 |
| Serials | 11,473 | 15,300 | 13,202 | 18,792 |
| Total Support | $19,667 | $24,185 | $26,872 | $27,563 |
As one can see, expenditures have fluctuated considerably from one year to another. This seems to be a response to requests (or lack of requests) from the faculty. Some expenditures for materials in anthropology are now distributed through other funds. For example, we have several area studies programs with interdisciplinary interests, and we purchase more on these funds than we did five years ago. These include Latin American Studies, Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, East Asian Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies. The latter is a relatively new program. Almost all materials for these areas are purchased on their funds, and not on the various departmental funds.
One can also see, from these figures, that we tend to get most of the material for anthropology through our approval plan for new books distributed in the U.S. The "firm order" line reflects expenditures for foreign books or older books not currently in distribution.
According to the Collection Development Policy Statement, prepared for Anthropology in 1983, the desired coverage in many parts of the discipline is RESEARCH. A RESEARCH level collection is one that includes the major source materials required for dissertation and independent research, including primary sources and specialized journals. It also includes all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as the major indexing/abstract services. In other parts of the field (generally, specific countries or regions), the Library seeks to maintain a STUDY level collection. A STUDY level collection is one which supports undergraduate and graduate course work, but which may not hold the specialized primary sources and journals necessary for graduate or faculty research. The Library has endeavored to maintain its Anthropology collections at RESEARCH or STUDY levels, as indicated in the policy statement. This statement, however, needs revision to bring it up to date with current interests of the Department.
I believe that our collections are more than adequate for undergraduate teaching in most areas of anthropology. Weaknesses show up, however, when we get to graduate teaching and research in some areas, especially those where we have new faculty in areas that were not taught here before, such as physical anthropology. For this reason, it is especially important that new faculty members, especially in areas new to Brown, come in with some commitment of extra money to build the collections in those areas. This is especially true if the new area is going to be one in which there will be graduate students. If we can identify such areas, we can build reciprocal agreements with other institutions, such as those within the Boston Library Consortium. We already have such an agreement in Latin American Studies (with UMass/Amherst, UConn, and Yale).
Our collections for anthropology, then, have been very much focused on the research interests of the faculty, especially as revealed in the 1983 Collection Development Policy. This needs very much to be updated. Such a collection also leaves big gaps in areas where there has been little interest historically, and exposes us to potential problems when research interests change for any reason. We are also faced with the question of where support for folklore belongs. It is often considered an anthropological field, but our department is not very interested in folklore. Yet, other departments, especially the ethnomusicology program are very interested in it.
Jenny Fierro-Wallace, the librarian who has been responsible for Anthropology for several years, has resigned this Fall (and was on leave for the past six months). We are fortunate to be able to replace her in this assignment with Donna Souza, the head of the Social Sciences Data Services in the Library, and a holder of a doctorate from the Anthropology Department. We hope this new assignment for Donna will help us strengthen the collections for Anthropology. We should begin by creating a new Collection Development Policy for Anthropology that will more accurately reflect the interests and needs of the Department.
William S. Monroe, Head Collection Development
Department of Anthropology
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