Collection Development Policy October, 1991

Purpose: To provide information about South Georgia by collecting and preserving materials relating to its development..

General Collection Guidelines:

Language:  English will be the primary language of the collection.  Works in Spanish and French will be considered if they are not available in translations.

Chronological Guidelines:  While there will be no chronological limits, emphasis will be on 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

Geographical Guidelines:  The primary emphasis will be on materials treating some aspect of South Georgia.  These materials will be housed in SP COL on a non-circulating basis.

Major exceptions to this guideline are materials dealing with the State's earliest history.  They will also be housed in SP COL on a non-circulating basis.

Materials on developments in North Georgia and adjacent states which influenced South Georgia should be collected, but would be better housed in the General Collection.

South Georgia is the region defined by the Georgia Library Consortia boundaries on January 22, 1982, or as lying south of a line running from west to east from the Alabama border along the northern borders of the following counties:  Clay, Randolph, Webster, Schley, Sumter, Dooly, Pulaski, Bleckley, Dodge, Telfair, Jeff Davis, Appling, Wayne, Long, and Liberty, and thence running north along the western border of Chatham and Effingham Counties, and east along the northern border of Effingham County, ending at the South Carolina line.

Treatment of Subjects:  Juvenile materials will not be a part of the collection.  Textbooks at the high school level or above may be considered.

Types of Material:  No limitations.  Any type of material relating to South Georgia will be acquired, although most material acquired will be in the form of books.  The following guidelines cover the majority of the materials considered for the Special Collection:

1.  Georgia Geological Survey materials:  Should be in the General Collection.

2.  Official county histories:  If feasible, two copies should be purchased, one non-circulating copy for SP COL, one circulating copy for General Collection. If there is only one copy, it should be non-circulating in SP COL.

3.  VSC/VSU theses and co-op dissertations:  These items should be housed in SP COL, but should circulate

4.  UDC gifts:  These gifts are presented with the understanding that they are to be housed in a special area and are not to circulate.  If the gift duplicates an item already in SP COL, the first copy may be transferred to the General Collection.

5. Monographs about Georgia:  Pamphlet materials should be considered for the Vertical File or for Archives before being considered for SP COL.  The library should acquire both scholarly and popular materials about the entire State of Georgia, but non-circulating status in SP COL should be limited to South Georgia.  For those items placed in SP COL, there should, where feasible, be second, circulating copies in the General Collection.

6. Serials about Georgia:  Periodicals should be placed with the library's other periodicals.  Monographic series should be treated in accord with the policy on monographs.

7. Literary works by Georgia authors:  If a work by a Georgia author is deemed worthy of purchase, two copies should be acquired, one for SP COL, one for the General Collection.

8. Works about those authors:  Same criteria.

9.  Works of other kinds by Georgia authors, including VSC/VSU faculty:  Should be included in SP COL only if they meet the geographic criteria of treating some aspect of South Georgia.

10.  Church histories:  Those from South Georgia should be housed in SP COL as non-circulating items.  Materials about churches in other areas should be judged for inclusion in the General Collection on their literary and historical merits.

11.  Old/Valuable/Limited editions:  These items should be examined to determine whether RARE might be a more appropriate designation.  Some less valuable older materials may be located in the General Collection.

Date of Publication:  Both current and retrospective purchases will be made.  Reprints will be purchased when original editions are prohibitively expensive or unavailable for either the first or second copy.

General:  All decisions concerning the inclusion of materials in the Special Collection should consider these factors:

1. Reasonable representation of the geographic area,

2. Access by library users, and

3. Ability to replace the material.

Materials that are ambiguous or exceptions to the policies for SP COL will be reviewed by a standing committee composed of the Archivist (Deborah Davis) and the Liaison to the History Department.

Location:  The first copy of all South Georgia materials will be shelved in the closed stack area designated as the Special Collection.  The second copy of any South Georgia material will be shelved in the General Collection and will circulate according to regular policies.  Two copies of all South Georgia material will be purchased, when available.  The Special Collection is primarily a non-circulating collection, with the major exceptions being theses and dissertations.