Purpose & Goals

Research questions:

• What central themes and patterns are found in area studies collection descriptions from Title VI NRC proposal narratives?
• What can these themes and patterns tell us about how area studies collections develop?
• How can these themes and patterns help institutions assess the strength of their area studies collections and, thus, their impact on teaching, learning, and research?

Design & Methodology

For decades, the U.S. Department of Education has funded area studies centers and programs in higher education institutions nationwide via their Title VI grant programs. Beyond supporting interdisciplinary and language instruction/research, these programs have helped build remarkable area studies collections in academic libraries. The Department’s National Resource Center (NRC) grant program, in particular, has substantially impacted area studies collections. This presentation will share findings from a qualitative thematic analysis (Braun & Clark) of text and image data from the “strength of the library” sections of NRC grant narratives, focusing on the East Asian/Pan-Asian category. These sections address the eligibility requirement for each institution to "maintain specialized library collections.” In these sections, institutions describe collection statistics, unique holdings, subject and language foci, cooperative agreements, budget allocations, acquisition initiatives, and staffing expertise. By exploring themes and patterns within these descriptions, we can learn how each institution defines its area studies collections, how collections develop over time, and how institutions assess the strength of their collections. This analysis aims to support library professionals charged with developing and managing area studies collections, which require unique selection and acquisition approaches. We can learn from each other and, hopefully, work more collaboratively to grow and preserve these truly interdisciplinary collections.

Conclusions

Libraries have traditionally used collection counts (e.g., the number of volumes by language) to assess a collection's size (and implied strength). However, traditional collection counts are less impactful when determining the strength of an area studies collection. Initial findings suggest that detailed descriptions of subject coverage provide better insight into collection strengths. Themes that address this finding include:

• Interdisciplinary nature: East Asian/Pan-Asian collections are interdisciplinary. Materials span humanities, social science, science, and technology disciplines. This broad coverage makes it challenging for libraries to separate collection counts, budget allocations, and personnel specifically for Asian Studies from other disciplines.
• Descriptive subject coverage: East Asian/Pan-Asian library collection descriptions include details beyond statistical counts and budget allocations. These descriptive highlights stress the significance and strength of library collection holdings in a particular subject, language, people, or region. Collections housed beyond the library and managed by campus or community organizations are also highlighted. Additional findings suggest that sharing materials and expertise between institutions is essential for area studies collections. Themes that address this finding include:
• Collective sharing: East Asian/Pan-Asian collections and expertise are shared among institutions locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Library networking and collaboration are documented through consortia memberships, resource sharing, outreach, cooperative acquisition programs, and open access.

Continued research is needed to examine themes and patterns across multiple Title VI NRC world region categories (e.g., Africa, Middle East, Latin America). This would help make the findings more generalizable. Furthermore, continued research into established systems for assessing collection strength (e.g., Library of Congress’s conspectus levels: https://www.loc.gov/acq/devpol/cpc.html) will help identify a useful system for all institutions to follow when determining the strength of their area studies collections for purposes such as Title VI NRC grant proposals.

Implications & Value

Understanding how academic libraries describe their area studies collections provides valuable insight into the multifaceted, interdisciplinary world of foreign language collection development. Many institutions nationwide receive U.S. Department of Education Title VI NRC grants. The unique nature of international/area studies collection development, lean library budgets, and limited staffing make supporting these centers challenging. A wealth of information has yet to be explored in the grant narratives that fund area studies centers. The themes and patterns within the grant narrative data can provide perspective and ideas for library professionals responsible for area studies collections. The use of reflexive thematic analysis as the qualitative method for this research will also be addressed in the presentation, which adds an extra layer of interest for librarians.

Learning objectives:

• At the end of this session, attendees will be able to discuss the relationship between Title VI NRC grant programs and area studies collections in academic libraries.
• At the end of this session, attendees will be able to identify at least three themes or patterns in East Asian/Pan-Asian collections from Title VI NRC grant-funded institutions.
• At the end of this session, attendees will experience a use case of reflexive thematic analysis as a qualitative method in collection development assessment.