Over the past three weeks, I've found more than 120 collections development policies from different higher education special collections and archives. I began by searching for policies from Research I and Research II institutions. I also did a Google search for policies from universities and colleges without those classifications. Whether an institution posts a policy on their website doesn't seem to correlate with its size. Initially, I thought more R1 institutions, having greater resources, would have more policies. In reality, I couldn't find policies on some R1 websites, while I found policies for smaller universities I hadn't heard of before.

To help me track what sections or content each policy has, I referred to an article I read in LIS 640, where Faye Phillips (1984) proposed a collection development policy model. She included categories, such as statement of purpose and collecting strengths, which I've adapted for my spreadsheet. This article seems to have had an impression on the field because I found some policies mirroring her model. One example is Centenary College of Louisiana.

During this research, I recalled another article I read in LIS 640 where Marshall (2002) questioned whether collecting policies are useful for decision-making internally or are more of a public relations tool for donors. The policies I found varied greatly in length, format (e.g. PDF, web page), and contents. Comprehensive policies indicating how often they're reviewed might demonstrate that they're actively being used, whereas shorter policies might primarily serve the external audience. Sometimes the collection development policy was next to the reading room and usage policy, as in the case of the Mississippi University for Women.

One section that indicates to me that a policy is useful internally is collecting level, though I didn't encounter this frequently. Michigan State University uses the categories Instructional Support Level and Research Level to convey the collection level intensity. Adelphi University uses a 1-5 numbering system for minimal to comprehensive. Iowa State University just mentions if they're actively or inactively collecting within an area.

To be continued . . .

Marshall, J.A. (2002). Toward common content: An analysis of online college and university collecting policies. The American Archivist, 65, 231-256.

Phillips, F. (1984). Developing collecting policies for manuscript collections. The American Archivist, 47(1), 30-42.