Microfilm Collection Development Policy

Much of the material in the Microfilm Room consists of serial publications, both backfiles and current subscriptions, stored in microformat, guidelines for which appear in the collection development statements for individual academic departments. The decision to buy microform backfiles of serial titles is made by the appropriate bibliographer and is usually based upon relative cost of microform to hardcopy, availability of paper backfiles, space considerations, preservation considerations, etc.

The library also collects a number of newspapers in microform, including: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, The New Orleans Times Picayune, The London Times, The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. Indexes to these newspapers are available in the reference department, mostly in electronic but a few also in print format. There are also a number of reference collections on microfilm, some of which are no longer current, the most heavily used being the Louisiana Manuscript Census Rolls and old city directories both necessary in genealogical research.

In the past the library attempted to collect large research collections in microform including: Early English Books I & II (the Short Title Catalogue); Eighteenth Century Sources for the Study of English Literature & Culture: Three Centuries of English and American Plays, 1500-1830; English & American Drama of the 19th Century; the Goldsmith-Kress Library of Economic Literature; Evans' Early American Imprints; Chaucer Society and Early English Text Society publications; American Antiquarian Society collection of Early American Newspapers; German documents captured in World War II; and the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) collection, etc. Many of these sets are complete or nearly complete, however subscriptions for those that are not were suspended a number of years ago due to budgetary restraints (with the exception of ERIC which remains on standing order).

The Film Room also houses a host of smaller collections usually purchased with book budget money from the department of the requesting faculty member with the approval of the bibliographer. Decisions regarding purchase or continuation of microform collections which are interdisciplinary in nature are usually made by the collected bibliographers. The cost of research collections focused within several identifiable disciplines may be collectively purchased with funds from these disciplines.

If a microform title or collection is available in several formats--roll film, microfiche, etc.--the decision about which format to acquire should take into account availability of readers and printers, file integrity, and likely demand patterns for the title in question.