Beyond the Library of Congress: Collecting Practices of South Asia Area Specialist Librarians

Abstract

South Asian Studies librarians have historically relied upon the Library of Congress’ (LC) South Asia Cooperative Acquisitions Program to build collections of materials from South Asia for their institutions. This study examines the extent to which South Asian Studies librarians continue to rely on the LC programs and examines the range of other acquisitions techniques used by South Asia specialists. It is possible to identify themes and larger trends and develop a set of best practices for collecting materials from overseas by comparing the methods used by South Asia specialists to those used by other specialist librarians.