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General Works

Collection Policy Statement Index

(Class A)

I. Scope
II. Research Strengths
III. Comparison with other major research collections
IV. General Policy
V. Collection levels

I. Scope

This Collections Policy Statement covers materials in Class A, with the exception of "periodicals of general content" (those class in AP) which are covered in a separate CPS. This CPS on General Works includes materials in the subclasses of A:

AC	Collections, Series, Collected Works
AE	Encyclopedias
AG	Dictionaries and other general reference works
AI	Indexes
AM	Museums, Collections and collecting
AS	Academies and learned societies
AY	Yearbooks, Almanacs, Directories
AZ	History of scholarship and learning

Only books, periodicals, and material in other formats of a multi-disciplinary nature are in class A. Items relating to a specific discipline are classed with other material in that subject. Thus a dictionary of computer terms is classed with other computer books in class Q; an encyclopedia of American history in class E; Collecting of such materials is covered by the CPS for that subject area.

II. Research Strengths

The strength of the Library's collections lies in its breadth and depth. Although many libraries acquire current publications in this class as reference works, few, if any, have such broad universal coverage. The Library retains most superseded reference works, giving it a unique historical collection.

III. Comparison with other major research collections

While other major research libraries have large collections of works in class A, none have the world-wide coverage nor the historical depth as described in Section II.

IV. General Policy

With the exceptions of those items not collected as described in Section V, the Library acquires materials in this class at a Comprehensive Level (Level 5) if published in or about the U.S.; at the Research Level (Level 4) for materials published outside the U.S. For a definition of these levels, see "Collection Levels." When there are non-English language reference works with overlapping coverage, the Library acquires that which is the most current and authoritative.

V. Collection levels

Class	Subject	Collecting Level	Comments
AC	Collections, series, collected works	5/4
AE	Encyclopedias	5/4	All encyclopedias published in the U.S. are collected; foreign encyclopedias for juveniles are not collected.
AG	Dictionaries and other reference works	5/4
AI	Indexes	5/4	The Library does not generally acquire indexes to local newspapers or periodicals not held by the Library unless the index is of value to genealogical research.
AS	Academies and Learned Societies	5/4	The Library collects annual reports and/or membership lists of all but local organizations in the U.S. but only from national organizations outside the U.S. Programs of annual meetings/conferences are not kept.
AY	Yearbooks, Almanacs, Directories	5/4	Same as above
AZ	History of Scholarship And Learning	5/4	Same as above

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