The repository shall serve the state and West Alabama by collecting and preserving source materials on the contributions, achievements and general experiences of Afro-Americans, and shall endeavor to reproduce and secure copies of all materials on or about black Americans from the earliest beginnings to the present. It shall provide bibliographic and copy services, whenever practical, to state agencies, the university system, state officials, researchers and scholars of Afro-American history and culture, and encourage the use of Afro-American instructional materials in state educational services to all groups without regard to racial, religious, or ethnic membership.