SCOPE STATEMENT

The Great Smoky Mountains Regional Collection is a comprehensive collection of current and retrospective materials on the Great Smoky Mountains region of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. Subject parameters for the collection include history, culture, literature, arts, folklore, performing arts, music, recreation, economic development, sociology, agriculture, land use, human geography, anthropology, medicine, education, and the life and physical sciences. All levels, technical, scholarly, popular and juvenile, and all formats, print, manuscript, visual, audio, and electronic, are represented.

The catalog designation for the collection is: Great Smoky Mountains Regional Collection. This designation will be added to the 793 field in the catalog record, searchable as a title keyword, of all new purchases as authorized by the subject librarian charged with building and maintaining the collection. The designation will eventually be added to material already in the collection, enabling researchers to easily identify all Great Smoky Mountains regional material in the Libraries' collections.

With some exceptions, material purchased for this collection is placed in Special Collections. To balance high demand and use with the need for preservation, inexpensive (under $50) monographs will be purchased in duplicate--one copy for the circulating collection and one copy for Special Collections. The location of the circulating copy will be determined by the subject matter of the item. Formats that are not supported by appropriate equipment in Special Collections, such as video cassette or audio compact disc, will be located in the library location most appropriate for the format.

Attached is the geographic description for The Great Smoky Mountains Regional Bibliography. The Great Smoky Mountains Regional Collection covers a similar geographic area. However, materials with a broader regional focus may be added to the collection at the discretion of the subject librarian charged with building and maintaining the collection.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS REGION DEFINITION

For the purposes of The Great Smoky Mountains Regional Bibliography (GSMRB), the Great Smoky Mountains (GSM) region is loosely defined as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and adjacent mountain communities and wilderness areas. On the Tennessee side to the northwest, the region includes the Chilhowee Mountains as well as the communities of Sevierville, Townsend, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and other near-by towns. To the south, the division between the GSM and the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western North Carolina is ill-defined. For the purposes of GSMRB, the Qualla Boundary (land owned by the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians) and the communities of Fontana Village, Bryson City, Sylva, Waynesville and other near-by towns are included in the GSM region. The valleys of the Pigeon and Little Tennessee Rivers terminate the GSM on the east and west, respectively, and separate them from the other ranges of the Southern Appalachian Highlands.

This definition is intended to guide but not restrict contributors. The ultimate decisions about the boundaries of the region are left to the discretion of the contributors, in consultation with the editors, and may vary considerably from subject to subject. Contributors will provide a geographic rationale in their section introductions.