Collection Development Policies

The Library selects resources for its collections primarily in support of the current and anticipated curriculum of the University, and secondarily in support of the current and anticipated individual research needs of our faculty and students. Beyond these goals, we seek to maintain the vitality of particular collections of notable strength in relation to other regional, national, or international collections.

   Approval Plans

An approval plan is an arrangement whereby a bookseller automatically ships to a library books that fall within pre-determined parameters for on-site review. Books may then be kept for the collection or returned to the bookseller.

Brown University Library maintains several approval plans with various Spanish and Latin American book vendors:

Images
Top left: Original watercolor of an Inca (possibly Manco Capac) found in vol. 2 of Borrones: un recuerdo para la historia del Alto Perú. Undated. Church Collection. John Hay Library.

Top right: "Indian family of the Carribbee nation" from Narrative of a five years' expedition, against the revolted negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild coast of South America; from the year 1772, to 1777 by John Gabriel Stedman. London: J. Johnson, & T. Payne, 1806-13. Church Collection. John Hay Library.