Guidelines for International and Area Studies

Table of Contents

1. Purpose
2. General Collection Guidelines
    A. Language
    B. Chronology
    C. Geography
    D. Publication Date
    E. Treatment of Subject
    F. Types of Materials and Formats
3. Area Resources
4. Subjects and Collecting Levels

 

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1. Purpose.

Collections in International and Area Studies support teaching and research consistent with the curriculum at a Carnegie Research Intensive (Very High Research) institution with undergraduate programs in the field.

The International Studies minors: Global Studies, Area Studies (Russian and East European Studies, Western European Studies, Asian Studies, African Studies, Latin American Studies, or Middle Eastern Studies), and Native American Studies are designed to increase the awareness and sensitivity of students to the traditions, values, aspirations, and concerns of people in other parts of the world.  Through the completion of a minor, students may examine either the complexity of the international environment by focusing on a wide range of cultural, social, economic, and political issues that confront the world community; or they may focus on a specific geographic area.  Both options seek to expose students to the unique and / or comparative insights offered by a wide variety of cross-cultural disciplines and courses.

Although these minor programs are coordinated through the College of Humanities and Sciences, they are open to all VCU undergraduate students, and allow students to earn a minor in one of the program areas while simultaneously completing their requirements for the baccalaureate degree.

2. General Collection Guidelines.

A. Language.
English is preferred, but material in languages relative to the specific Area Studies (for example Spanish in Latin American Studies or Arabic in Middle Eastern Studies) may be purchased if no English-language translation is available.

B. Chronology.
No limitations, due to the programs' strong interdisciplinary component.

C. Geography.
No restrictions are placed on the material collected.  However, focus will be on materials relevant to the various minors.

D. Publication Date.
Collecting efforts center on current imprints, but if the material is of importance to the historical coverage of the disciplines, there are no restrictions on date of publication.

E. Treatment of Subject.
Material providing critical, historical, bibliographic, or textual studies of the various areas are collected.

F. Types of Materials and Formats.
Monographic literature and a wide variety of reference works, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and concordances, are acquired, as are relevant serial titles and selected proceedings. Because of the existence of specialists across the university in the various Area Studies, special attention is given to the collection of materials in those areas. Fiction as well as non-fiction materials may be collected as needed to support the programming in the Department. Unpublished theses and dissertations may be collected when they provide a unique source of information on a particular topic. In general, there are few restrictions on format if the material is deemed essential for instructional support.

Excluded are textbooks; juvenile or popularized materials.

3. Area Resources.

There are no major collections of materials in the focused minors.  The University of Richmond does have a solid collection of materials in International Relations and Studies.

4. Subjects and Collecting Levels.

Resources for International and Area Studies are collected at an instructional support level (3).