The Anthropology Collections at the University of Florida
The cross-cultural literature of anthropology is widely dispersed throughout the University of Florida Libraries, and users may find that needed materials will be found not only in the research collections of Library West  but in other collections as well; e.g., the Architecture and Fine Arts Library, the Marston Science Library (including the Government Documents Department), or the Music Library as in the case of ethnomusicology. Although the Anthropology Selector is primarily responsible for collection development, this is a collaborative enterprise with other selectors and bibliographers, particularly in the case of Africana and Latin Americana (including the Caribbean). Shelf browsing has its inherent rewards and pitfalls; for newer materials, browse the Library of Congress class GN and, for archaeology, the CC area. Folklore materials are generally classified as GR, while customs and folkways are classed as GT.

The collection comprises ethnographies, archaeological reports and other cultural studies as well as a wide variety of specialized monographs written by theorists and practitioners of the study of humankind. Although there is a seemingly limitless number of ethnic peoples about whom monographs exist, as a practical matter the collection is developed in response to academic programs at the University of Florida and reflects its teaching and research emphases. Thus, relatively few selections are made in languages other than English and only modest selections are made to document the ancient Near East, tribal peoples of Asia or circumpolar regions, for instance. The well-rounded collection includes research on caste, refugee resettlement and disaster recovery, gender issues and agricultural development in the lesser developed countries. Native Americans, to be sure, comprise a solid chunk of the collection. As suggested earlier, special emphasis is placed on Africa and Latin America and this broad effort to capture the world's most significant publications is truly a collaborative one and one that has been an enormous success.

Attention in collecting is focused on all aspects of cultural anthropology and archaeology. In the latter case, emphasis is generally on Florida, the American Southeast, Africa and Latin America. Applied, biological and visual anthropology are all areas well covered in the collection, including particular strengths in the areas of human evolution, nutritional anthropology and sexuality.

The serials (journal) collection is a comprehensive one though budgetary cutbacks have forced the cancellation of some titles of lesser value or interest (as well as electronic-only access in many cases), based on close consultation between the selector and the academic faculty. The microfiche collection of the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) is housed in the Microforms area of Library West, while the electronic versions of eHRAF Archaeology and eHRAF World Cultures are available online. We are fortunate also to have access to the Tozzer Library's Anthropology Plus index via FirstSearch (see databases for others).

A cooperative venture with the University of South Florida and Florida State University was initiated in 1996, with purchases of expensive research-level resources coordinated for anthropology. In the first year of operation a division of labor between the three schools was defined with USF, for example, having primary responsibility for collecting ethnographic videos; FSU intended to take the initiative for mounting networked electronic resources and UF purchased doctoral dissertations and Indian census rolls for the United States. With interlibrary loan and with the library holdings of the three founding members of the Florida Research Library Cooperative entirely in the Library Catalog, we had hoped to create a combined collection to service the field of anthropology. While materials are shared cooperatively among these institutions, the acquisitions division of labor has not been maintained in the past decade.

Dan Reboussin (518 Library West) is the Anthropology Selector. Comments and recommendations for library materials should be directed to him (tel. 352-273-2642; email: danrebo@ufl.edu). Contact Dan for research consultations and advice on accessing materials not held locally.