University of Michigan - Flint

The Public Administration division is not a division of the WLN conspectus. It was created to measure how well the collection supports the curriculum of the Public Administration program, which offers an undergraduate major and Master of Public Administration with specialization in various subjects, including government, educational administration, criminal justice administration, non-profit agency administration, and health care administration.

Because it is an interdisciplinary program, relevant books and other materials are found throughout the collection. It is therefore difficult if not impossible to gauge the number of titles that would be appropriate. The assessment of the collection relies on the percentage of holdings from bibliographies.

Monographs. The Library holds a relatively high percentage of public administration titles from bibliographies. A notable weak area is in educational administration, although this might owe primarily to the relative newness of the program.

Acquisitions. The Public Administration program does not have its own allocation for library acquisitions, but shares it with political science. Some titles are undoubtedly acquired by related disciplines (e.g. management and health care). To attain an annual acquisitions rate of 15%, approximately $1597 would have to be spent. A check of titles indexed in H.W. Wilson's Cumulative Book Index shows that the Library is acquiring public administration monographs at about a 3a level.

Periodicals. The Library has a print subscription to several indexes, including Sage Public Administration Abstracts, and access via FirstSearch and other services to various general databases. There are 125 Wilson-indexed periodical titles pertinent to public administration. The Library has paper subscriptions to 84 (67%=3a) and web access to 16 more (80% total=3b).

The Wilson-indexed periodicals mentioned above come from several disciplines. If the Library and the various academic departments that have serials allocations were able to increase the number of subscriptions (or gain electronic access to more periodicals), it is likely that the number of public administration titles would also increase.

Recommendations. The periodicals deficit, although not as severe as in other divisions, is the product of the overall weakness of the serials budget for the departments and for the Library's acquisition fund. This deficit could be corrected either by creating a separate fund for the Public Administration program or by maintaining the current structure, but increasing funding for all the existing funds. The latter option seems more appropriate for the time being, but this option depends, of course, on the Library's being able to secure increased funding, especially for periodicals. If extra funding does not come through, or if it does but the number of subscriptions to public administration periodicals does not increase enough, then a separate fund should be considered.

Sources consulted: APAB, BTCS, CLBJ, GTRB, PABG

Prepared by Paul G. Streby, in consultation with Prof. Ellis Perlman.

Ratings for Public Administration CL=Current collection level; GL=Goal level
	CL	GL
Division as a whole	3a	3c

0 -- Out of scope

1 -- Minimal level
1a ---- Minimal level, uneven coverage
1b ---- Minimal level, even coverage

2 -- Basic information level
2a ---- Basic information level, Introductory
2b ---- Basic information level, Advanced (Appropriate for community college students)

3 -- Study or instructional support level
3a ---- Basic study or instructional support level (Adequate to support lower division undergraduate courses)
3b ---- Intermediate study or instructional support level (Adequate to support upper division undergraduate courses; not adequate for master's degree programs)
3c ---- Advanced study or instructional support level (Adequate to support master's degree programs)

4 -- Research level (Adequate to support doctoral research)

5 -- Comprehensive level