Collections of Academic Libraries

Most academic libraries primarily collect books and journals that are published through traditional publishing houses. Here are a few publishers you may recognize: Pearson, Hatchet, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, and Penguin Books. Academic libraries collect the books and journals most useful to the programs offered on a specific campus. In other words, since there is not an electrical engineering program at the University of Northern Colorado we don't collect [many] books about electrical engineering. But, since there is a criminal justice program offered at UNC, we do collect many books that support education in criminal justice. Academic libraries also collect other items than academic books and journals. The James A. Michener Library has a Current Reading collection to support nonacademic reading of bestsellers and current books; a model collection study of human anataomy for Health Sciences students; a DVD collection to support all sorts of academic programs and items that could be used academically - but are more likely watched for enjoyment; a children's collection to support students in education programs - but that also can be used by any student who is a parent and wants books to read to a child; and many other small collections around the library. There are many sources of information that academic libraries do not collect, but librarians can still help you find. Here are a couple of examples: Victoria's Secret is a retailer owned by the company Limited Brands. Every year Limited Brands self publishes an annual report of their financial statements, profit and loss accounts, economic outlook, and more. The annual report is published on the Limited Brands website by the company. While the University of Northern Colorado has a large large prestigious business program on campus, we do not collect the annual reports of companies at the University Libraries; however any librarian can help you find the annual report for Limited Brands or any other publicly-traded company. Privately-held companies are not required to publish annual reports; thus; librarians cannot help you find the annual report for Hallmark Cards, because it is a privately owned company, so there is no published annual report. A second example of a resource the academic libraries do not collect is fanfiction. A literary studies student might want to compare traditionally published fiction to fanfiction. Fanfiction is defined as stories authored by fans of a particular work. There are seven Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling; there are hundreds of thousands of fanfiction stories using the characters from the Harry Potter books that are written by fans. There are four Pirates of the Caribbean films and thousands of fanfiction stories that include the character of Jack Sparrow written by fans of the original movies. While the University of Northern Colorado does not collect fanfiction, the librarians at the James A. Michener library can certainly help you locate fanfiction stories. Information that is not published through traditional publishers is generally referred to as grey literature. Sometimes grey literature is hard to find because you don't even know to look for it. Before today did you know that publicly traded companies publish annual reports on their websites, or that fanfiction even existed? It is possible for grey literature to become traditionally published. A fan of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series wrote additional stories using the characters and background of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. The fanfiction was written by El James and inspired a huge following that read all of James' stories Eventually James decided to see if she could get her stories published as traditional books, and this became the Fifty Shads of Grey trilogy. It is possible for grey literature to become traditionally published. Academic library collections are arranged by either author or by subject. For instance, look up books on the subject of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and all of the books have the same beginning call number: E835 or E836 this means when you find one book on Dwight D. Eisenhower you will find more books about Eisenhower all together on the library shelves. Or, if someone is looking for DVDs on the subject of pilates in Michener Library, she will find all of the pilates DVDs under the beginning call number RA 781 in the DVD collection. The code that begins the call number indicates a specific subject. So call numbers that start with E835 through E837.5 are all books or DVD's on the topic of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his administration. Call numbers to start with RA773 through RA788 are all books or DVD's on the topic of personal health and hygiene, including exercise. Sometimes collections are arranged by author first. In the Michener Youth collection, the fiction books are arranged by author first. You will find all of Suzanne Collins books located sitting next to each other; at least in the books are not currently checked out. So if you find one fiction book by Suzanne Collins you will find others. Most books, movies, and other items in Michener Library are arranged under the Library of Congress Classification Schedule. This is simply a set of rules for what call number of book gets, and, therefore, where it is located in library. This is an outline of the Library of Congress Classification Schedule that can be found online. So, if I'm interested in books about watercolor painting, I would look through the subjects listed here; find the main subject of Fine Arts under the call number starting with N and click on it to look at a more detailed outline. Now I can see that the subcategory of paintings is under the call number ND; clicking for a more detailed breakdown, I find that books on watercolor paintings can be found in the library between the call numbers ND 1700 in ND 2495. If I find one book on watercolor painting, I will find more books on watercolor painting.