Library Policy Statements

I. PROGRAM INFORMATION

Philippine Studies was established at the University of Hawaii in 1975. The Center for Philippine Studies (CPS) is one of nine area studies centers of the School for Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies. Undergraduate and graduate students may pursue Philippine studies as an area of concentration or as a minor. CPS offers a Graduate Certificate Program, which provides post-baccalaureate students the opportunity to acquire integrated interdisciplinary knowledge about the Philippines. Philippine and Philippine-related courses are offered in the departments of Anthropology, Art, Asian Studies, Economics, Education, Ethnic Studies, Geography, Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures, History, Linguistics, Music, Political Science, Sociology, and Theater and Dance; and the colleges of Business Administration and Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

II. COORDINATION OF COLLECTING RESPONSIBILITIES

Materials about the Philippines and Filipinos in the social sciences and humanities, regardless of place of publication, are collected. Science and technology materials are selected by and for the Hamilton Library general collection. Material about overseas Filipinos are selected by a variety of areas: Filipinos in Hawai'i and in the Pacific island countries, by those area collections; Filipinos in the United States by the subject selectors; and Filipinos in other Asian countries and in other parts of the world by the Philippines selector. Maps and audio-visual materials are acquired in consultation respectively with the map specialist and the Head of the audio-visual collection and are housed in the appropriate collection. Documents published by the U.S. government and international agencies are acquired and housed in the Government Documents. Electronic resources are selected by the Philippines specialist.

III. GUIDELINES TO MATERIALS COLLECTED OR EXCLUDED

Language:

Primarily English, as it is presently the language of printed mass media, academia and government. Filipino, Ilokano and Spanish materials are acquired selectively. Materials in other Philippine languages and other western languages are acquired very selectively.

Chronological:

No limitations, but the emphasis is on the post-Spanish colonial period, 1898 to the present. >

Geographical:

The Republic of the Philippines.

Date of Publication:

Collecting intensity is on current imprints; retrospective materials are obtained selectively.

Types/Formats of Materials Collected:

No limitations, but the majority of the material is monographs, serials, Philippine government documents (primarily at the national level; local level is also desired), dissertations, reference works, and non-trade publications. Selected high interest international and United States government documents obtained for the Government Documents Collection are duplicated for the Asia Collection. Also collected are microforms, maps, media, and electronic resources.

Popular materials important for research and/or literary significance may be selected.

Treatment:

No limitations in the social sciences and humanities, but focusing on current research and curriculum interests.

IV. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

The Library has exchange agreements with major libraries in the Philippines. Some materials are received on gift and exchange arrangements, as it may be the only means of acquisition. Some organizations do not have the mechanism to accept payments, and others will offer a publication only on exchange.

Increasing reliance will be placed on the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) for highly specialized and infrequently used resources. Research material is becoming available through the Southeast Asia Microfilm Project (SEAM), which is housed in CRL, to which the Asia Collection subscribes. SEAM is acquiring on microfilm both current and retrospective files of newspapers and other serials, official and private archives, and other materials published in the Southeast Asian countries or related to them.

The Approval Plan covers current trade and university press publications in the United States and United Kingdom, but yields few Philippine-related titles.

A major obstacle in acquiring materials from the Philippines is the lack of adequate bibliographic control. The national bibliography is not current and lacks numerous publications. Print runs are extremely limited and often are quickly exhausted.

Date compiled: September 2001 Compiler: Alice W. Mak