The Danish Society s Archives and Library

Transcription

1 ~ Fictional ~ The Danish Society s Archives and Library Mission statement and collection development policy Marie Johansen Info 669 Special Collections Prof. Kathleen Reed May 19, 2010

2 MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Danish Society s Archives and Library is to preserve and promote awareness of Danish-American history and the history and culture of the Danish-American immigrant experience. The Danish Society s Archives and Library collects, organizes, preserves, makes accessible, and promotes the use of manuscripts, print material, audio, visual and audio-visual material of Danish Americans from the time of the earliest Danish immigrants to the present day. The Danish Society s Archives and Library support researchers and students of Danish-American history and culture. The Danish Society Archives and Library holds major research collections of print and manuscript materials in the following fields: - Danish-American History - History of Danish immigrants - Danish literature 19 th century early 20 th century - The Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church - Danish-American organizations COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY COLLECTION DESCRIPTION The Danish Society Archives and Library (DSAL) collect materials and records that reflect on or relates to Danish-American history and the history and culture of Danish immigrants in the United States. The Archive and Library collects official and private records including, but not limited to: letters, financial records, books, periodicals, diaries, memoirs, deeds, recordings, photographs, and films. The archives are a source of primary resources relating to Danish heritage. The collection is not genealogically oriented, but, because much of the collection comes from donations from families with Danish-American history, nevertheless has resources of interest for those genealogical studies. The rare books collection has its greatest strength in the areas of Danish Americana, Danish newspapers and magazines published in the United States in the 19 th and 20 th century, and 19 th century Danish literature. Rare books accepted into the collection must reflect a subject area in which the collection already has strength. In 1917, Denmark sold to the United States the Danish West Indies, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Library holds more than 700 books about these Caribbean islands that discuss Denmark's colonization of the islands, beginning with the acquisition of St. Thomas in

3 In order to support the study of the collections, the DHAL actively maintains a reference collection comprised of secondary materials related to the subject areas in the general collections. DSAL provides access to electronic resources in the form of bibliographic datafiles; electronic journals, and text and image files. Such files focus on Danish-American history more specifically on the history of Danish emigration to the U.S., Danish 19 th century literature, the history of the former West Indies under Danish rule, and Danish slaveholding in the West Indies. GENERAL COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES The Danish Society s Archives and Library acquires materials by purchase, gift, and exchange. Selection responsibility lies with the Head of the Danish Society s Archives and Library, but all professional staff assists in identifying new acquisitions and potential donors to the collections. The library uses the following ranking of collection levels: Level Fragmentary Description Include all significant works of a subject in all applicable languages. The aim is exhaustiveness. Includes the major published source materials required for independent research. A collection that is adequate to maintain generalized knowledge of a subject A collection suited for introduction to a subject area. A scattered collection of basic works. SUBJECT COLLECTIONS Formats collected Books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, manuscripts, photographs, audio-visual material. Languages collected Danish, English, Creole Subjects collected and levels of collecting Danish-American history (1609-) Danish-American organizations History of Danish immigrants ( ) 3

4 Former Danish West Indies ( ) - Danish slavetrade - Virgin islands 19 th and early 20 th century Danish literature American imprints especially Religion Danish Lutheran Church Danish Americana Digital image collection of Danish immigrants REFERENCE COLLECTIONS The reference collection supports research in the subject collections. Acquisitions reflect the specific subject concentrations of the subject collections. Formats collected Print and digital Languages collected English Types of publications and levels of collecting Monographs Scholarly journals Subject dictionaries and encyclopedias Subject bibliographies General encyclopedias and dictionaries Online databases: - America: History and life - Historical abstracts - Danmarkshistorien.nu - Gyldendals ordbøger - Dansk historisk bibliografi Publications by library staff Genealogy Professional resources to support collection management 4

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