Michigan State University Libraries

Collection Development Policy Statement: Advertising, Public Relations, and Retailing

A. Curricular/Research/Programmatic Needs

The collection supports the curricular and research needs of undergraduate and graduate (M.A., M.S., and Ph.D.) students and faculty from the department of Advertising, Public Relations, and Retailing. The College of Communication Arts and Sciences offers various degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The programs specific to advertising, public relations, and retailing include the following: B.A. and M.A. in Advertising; M.A. in Public Relations; B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Retailing; and Ph.D. in Media and Information Studies.

B. History of the Collection/Existing Strengths and Emphases

The collection reflects the history and research of its College as it focuses on highly practical and functional resources that help link communication to commerce. This reflects the history of the College as it was created as a both a school and placement service for faculty and students in MSU’s communication and publication facilities. Eventually, keeping the academic programs together with campus media operations became too much of a burden to the College, and they were separated in the late 1950’s. From this separation came the Division of Mass Communications within the College, and along with that the Department of Advertising. Since then, the Department of Advertising merged with the Merchandising Management Program formerly housed in the Department of Human Environment and Design in CHE. With the merger in 2004, the Department of Advertising's name was changed to the "Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing" as it exists today.

The collection today remains strong in supporting practical applications of students, researchers, and scholars. The College in its curriculum emphasizes real-life and practical applications, more so than scholarly and theoretical research in the discipline. To support this and the more hands-on nature of the advertising, public relations, and retailing professions, reference works and electronic databases are very strong components of the collection. Journal and monograph literature are significant facets as well, especially trade association publications.

A. Anticipated Future Trends

The emphasis on advertising, public relations, and retailing research and curriculum continues to focus on the merger of communication with commerce. Developing areas of interest to faculty and students include the implications of e-commerce on advertising and consumer behavior, the role of internet advertising, mobile advertising, consumer behavior of teenagers, culture and international communication and public relations, communication technologies, emerging brands, and health communications. Due to the recent merger of this department, other synergies or research emphasis may emerge and cannot be completely covered in this statement.

B. Relationships with other resources

1. MSU Libraries

Advertising, Public Relations, and Retailing are very interdisciplinary fields. Related disciplines include business, economics, communications, computer science, government documents (most notably statistics), law, psychology, and sociology.

2. Regional or network resources

A sufficient number of advertising, public relations, and retailing materials are acquired to meet most departmental curricular and research needs. Some individual advanced research may require access to outside collections. Materials from other libraries can be identified using electronic resources, such as WorldCat (the union catalog produced by the Online Computer Library Center).

C. Relationships to other resources treated in other policy statements:

1. Business
2. Economics
3. Communication
4. Marketing and Supply Chain Management
5. International Documents
6. U.S. Documents/Statistics
7. Psychology
8. Sociology
9. Computer Science
10. Law

A. Chronology of the subject:

There are no chronological restrictions. While the emphasis is on current and emerging topics, materials that focus on historical topics in advertising, public relations, and retailing studies are also considered.

B. Languages of Resources Collected:

While there are no specific language restrictions, the emphasis is on English language materials.

C. Geography of the Subject:

There are no geographic restrictions. While the United States is the primary focus of the collection, international communication, public relations, consumer behavior, and retailing are areas that are increasingly of interest at Michigan State. Efforts are made in cooperation with other bibliographers (particularly the International Documents Librarian) to acquire materials that are international in scope.

D. Format of Resources Collected:

All appropriate formats, including print, electronic, and microforms, are considered. Print and electronic materials are the primary formats of the collection. Both print and online reference materials and electronic business databases are heavily emphasized in this collection and are available on a variety of electronic platforms. With two off-campus Masters level programs available, the emphasis on making journals and other significant information available in electronic format is growing ever more important.

Textbooks are rarely purchased and only selectively generally only if they provide a valuable current synthesis of a complex or developing area of study; subsequent editions of texts very selectively.

Theses and dissertations are considered only when a specific need is demonstrated.

E. Date of Publications Collected:

Emphasis is on current publications at present.

Policies in effect for preservation, replacement, and weeding for Main stacks materials apply to the Advertising, Public Relations, and Retailing collection. Decisions about replacement are made on a case by case basis. Replacements are purchased usually only when appropriate for heavily used or high circulation items.

Multiple copies are rarely purchased unless of extreme importance or MSU faculty publications. Multiple copies of outdated monographs are usually not retained.