ST. JOSEPH COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY LOCAL HISTORY & GENEALOGY ROOM Collection Development Plan Purpose of the Local History & Genealogy Room Collection The Local History & Genealogy Room is part of the St. Joseph County Publi Library and supports the Library's overarching mission and vision. Local History & Genealogy adheres to the Library's collection development guidelines. The purpose of the Local History & Genealpgy Room is two-fold: 1 to preserve primarily materials that document the history and genealogy of St. Joseph County, indiana, and its communities: secondarily other materials of historical and genealogical interest; and tertiarily materials relating to Indiana: and to make these and other materials available to serve the information needs of history enthusiasts, genealogists, and residents of St. Joseph County. cope of the Collection Historical Collection Development Focus The Local History & Genealogy Room has many resources used by both genealogists and local historians, These include city directories, yearbooks, microfilmed newspapers, microfilmed area records, and city and county histories from St. Joseph County and its communities. The Local History & Genealogy Room has an extensive genealogy collection that focuses on a wide range of genealogy materials. The primary focus of the collection is St. Joseph County. A secondary focus is the eastern states from which people migrated to St. Joseph County in the nineteenth century. There are also some materials available on neighboring states and on states in other areas of the United States. Additional, smaller collections include histories and genealogies of particular ethnic and racial groups that have lived in St. Joseph County, as well as general genealogy guides. Selected genealogy periodicals are acquired, and those that pertain to the local area and Indiana as a whole are bound and retained, Online databases, including census and immigration records, are provided. To meet the needs of patrons interested in St, Joseph County history, the Local History & Genealogy Room has an extensive file of newspaper clippings dating back to the early part of the twentieth century. The collection also inchides a number of St. Joseph County and South Bend histories, local government reports and publications, area city directories and phone books, area yearbooks, and books about local pcople, artists, authors, and industries. We also have a collection of books by local and Indiana authors,In addition, the Local History & Genealogy Room has a small collection of material related to Indiana, including but are not limited to such topics as Indiana geography, natural history, biology/environment, county facts, trivia, and famous residents, Current Collection Development Focus Almost any item relating to the history and/or genealogy of St. Joseph County residents is appropriate for this collection. The staff will actively pursue genealogy and history materials related to St. Joseph County, the Michiana area, and Indiana overall. In addition, how-to and research guides pertaining to genealogy and local history will be actively collected. Other areas of primary genealogical emphasis will be materials relating to the states surrounding Indiana and to the states and countries that fed immigration to Indiana. Also, material concerning all the ethnic and racial groups that have lived and still live in this region will be actively sought. Other areas of primary local historical emphasis include materials about St. Joseph County people, businesses, universities, organizations, and events. Materials by St. Joseph County authors (including books by local university authors) may also be purchased, depending on their suitability for the collection. In addition, to maintain the coverage that was until recently provided by the South Bend Tribune clipping file, the staff will accept ephemera from community businesses, organizations, and governmental units concerning events in the community. (In addition, the Tribune Online Archives subscription database will help in this regard.) Yearbooks from St. Joseph County schools will also continue to be actively collected. Photographs pertaining to local history will also be added to the collection. Secondary areas of genealogical focus are materials related to states to which Indiana residents emigrated, but this area will expand more slowly. Additional materials on states and regions not already mentioned will be appropriate if they add information not already available in the collection but will not be actively pursued, Similarly, genealogies of individual families who lived in the St. Joseph County area are appropriate but will be collected through donation rather than active acquisition. Secondary areas of local historical focus are items that relate to Indiana history, both fiction and non-fiction. The emphasis will be to provide information that we do not already have or to provide unique information that specifically relates to Indiana. It is also appropriate to update information that we now have but for which a newer version or newer information is now available. Books by Indiana authors are also appropriate for the collection. Material concerning historicalevents that affected the history of this region and of Indiana in general will be actively sought. The Library is a partial state government document repository and thus receives state documents. These materials are retained and made available to patrons according to state law. Materials that match the collection development focus may be cataloged and entered into the collection; those government document materials that do not may be deaccessioned after the mandatory retention period. ‘The Room should maintain and minimally add to its collection of non-history, non-genealogy Indiana-related items. There is some demand for these materials, so they should be retained and kept current where needed. However, this material is of low priority. Family genealogies that are not related to this area and are not written by local authors are not appropriate for the collection, They will not be purchased, and would-be donors should be guided to libraries and historical societies in more appropriate geographical areas. See Appendix A for a bulleted, up-to-date list of collection development areas. Materials and Formats The Local History & Genealogy Room currently houses all different material formats that relate to its purpose, including print materials (such as books, maps, pamphlets, and periodicals), CDs, DVDs, microfilm, microfiche, videos, photographs (including digital images), and ephemera. Going forward, print materials such as books (including yearbooks), periodicals, maps, and ephemera, and online materials such as subscription databases, will be actively favored for collection. Photographs, both actual and digital, will also be collected. In addition, certain items on microfilm such as newspapers and local area records will be acquired. Videos and DVDs will be collected but less actively. Materials on CD will be added if that is the only format in which they are available and likely to become available. Materials on microfiche will no longer be collected. In the course of acquiring materials that fall into the current collection development focus, the Room should be sure to consider, acquire, and retain materials that may be considered rare books. If rare books are offered as donations, the Room should consider accepting them. Once accepted, they should be as much as possible considered not to be candidates for weeding. Periodicals (magazines, journals, newsletters, and family newsletters) present unique challenges for collection development. Our policy is to collect periodicals that fit the collection development focus outlined above—periodicals that pertain