PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Subjects covered : The African American studies collection supports teaching and research conducted by faculty in the Department of African American Studies. The collection contains materials relating to Africans in Diaspora with special emphasis on African American history, literature, society, politics, and culture. The collection also contains material on the history and culture of the peoples of the African continent.
Departments and users served : The African American studies collection serves students and faculty in the African American Studies Department, as well as faculty and students in anthropology, education, history, literature, political science, sociology, urban studies, and women's studies.
Students and faculty in Evening and Continuing Education, University College, Raymond Walters College, and Clermont College also make use of the African American Studies collection, as do students in other Ohio universities and colleges through OhioLINK.
Quantitative Information : http://asweb.artsci.uc.edu/afamstudies/frame_GenInfo.html
The faculty : There are 5 full time faculty members in the African American Studies Department in addition to visiting and adjunct professors whose numbers vary. Members of the African American Studies Department have published several monographs and contribute to the leading journals in their fields. The department chair is the first woman in the history of the university to be named a Charles Phelps Taft Professor.
Degrees granted : The African American Studies Department awards the bachelor of arts degree. The department also offers a minor in African American Studies for undergraduates in other departments and colleges within the university who wish to complement their major area of studies. Courses offered in the African American Studies Department at level 500 or above may be taken by master and doctoral candidates in other departments. For additional information about the department's course offerings see: http://asweb.artsci.uc.edu/afamstudies/frame_DeptProg.html .
Special programs and accreditation requirements : African American Studies is a multidisciplinary program of academic study that explores the dynamics that impinge on the structure of African society and the society of Africans in Diaspora, especially people of African descent in the United States, through class lectures, special topics seminars, guest colloquia, and cultural programs.
Grants and special funding : The African American
studies collection receives its funding from the library's general monographic
and serial allocations.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location : The African American studies collection is chiefly located in Langsam Library although older, little circulated monographs and discontinued serials are being moved to the off site cooperative storage center.
Other collections supporting the program
Internal : African American studies draws on many other disciplinary collections within University Libraries including anthropology, art, education, history, literature, music, political science, psychology, sociology, and women's studies. Collections in the Health Sciences Library and in the College of Law also support African American studies. General interest material and multidisciplinary materials purchased by the Cohen endowment and by the library's general arts and humanities and social sciences funds also support African American studies.
External : Collections at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, at the Cincinnati Historical Society Library, and at Xavier University support the African American Studies collection, as do the combined collections of the colleges and universities in Ohio through OhioLINK.
Collection history : African American Studies was established as an academic unit within the College of Arts and Sciences in 1970.
General level of collecting : Collection building
using the modest budget allocation for African American Studies is conducted
at a basic undergraduate level. However, because of its interdisciplinary
nature and the support received from other areas of the collection,
especially history, literature, and women's studies, materials in the
library that relate to African American Studies are at advanced undergraduate
through research levels in these areas.
SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION
Call numbers : As practiced at the University of
Cincinnati, materials purchased using the African American studies monographic
allocation fall chiefly into these call number ranges:
Current and retrospective collecting : The monographic allocation for African American Studies does not permit active retrospective collection building. Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of current monographic materials. However, the African American Studies collection benefits from the retrospective collection development practiced by other disciplinary areas, especially history and English.
Levels and treatments : The collection developed by African American Studies contains material suitable for the undergraduate student. Textbooks are infrequently collected, if at all.
Languages : English is the language of the collection developed by African American Studies. Dictionaries to support the Department's courses in Swahili are an exception.
Geographical areas : Emphasis is placed on collecting materials relating to persons of African descent living in the United States. An occasional purchase is made of material relating to persons of African descent living in other Diaspora areas, notably the Caribbean. Some material relating to Africa is also collected.
Types of resources : The African American studies collection contains monographs, journals, reference materials, videos, and web sites.
Resource formats : The African American studies collection includes print, microform, video, and digital formats. Print predominates.
Endowed areas supported by restricted funds : The
African American studies collection is not supported by any endowed
or restricted funds.
ACQUISITION PROCESS
Approval plans : The African American studies collection participates in the approval plan supplied by Yankee Book Peddler.
Firm orders : Firm orders for African American studies are selected from a variety of sources including vender notification slips, direct mail brochures, publisher catalogs, and book reviewing publications.
Standing orders : The African American studies collection maintains standing orders for journal publications.
Document suppliers : The African American studies collection relies on direct patron access through OhioLINK and the library's Interlibrary Loan Department for access to items that are not in our collections, are in circulation, or are missing from the collection.
Special vendors : The African American studies collection relies on the Acquisition Department to determine if a special vendor is needed to acquire requested materials.
Unique sources : The university's Archives and Rare
Books Department holds manuscript materials relating to African Americans
in Cincinnati among its urban history collections.
Sally Moffitt, Bibliographer
African American Studies
July 2001