Collection Development Policy Statement

Social Sciences

University of Northern Virginia Library

Linda Nainis, Dean, Learning and Instructional Resources

Antje Mays, Consultant (email)

I. Purpose

The purpose of the Social Sciences collection development policy is to guide the library's support of UNVA's present needs and anticipate future program growth and changes. As the programs continue to evolve, the policy is designed to provide strategic direction while remaining adaptable to future program evolutions.

UNVA's two baccalaureate degrees, the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, provide a rigorous social sciences foundation to complement the expertise in business and information technology. The Social Sciences courses deliver anthropology, geography, legal scholarship, psychology, political science, and sociology.

II. Scope

Language
The materials are almost exclusively English or translations into English. Consideration should be given to international students whose native language is not English.
 

Geographical Areas
A United States focus predominates, but many contributions in the social sciences are also made from Europe and other regions of the world. Library materials should reflect and support these varied geographic origins of new findings.

Chronological Periods
Twenty-first century materials as well as earlier materials providing historical foundations support the social sciences.

 
III. Types of Material and Formats
Given the geographically dispersed locations of UNVA, academically well-rounded scholarly e-book collections and full-text databases of journals, trade magazines are the best way to ensure that all students from all campus have access to equal library resources. As students are enrolled both in Virginia and worldwide (distance programs), the primary emphasis should be on in-depth electronic resources to serve the research needs of UNVA communities, including distance learners. Electronic products are generally preferred over print equivalents, all else being equal. There is an ever increasing demand for online resources with remote access. This is an area with unlimited growth potential, and the library will meet that challenge. Thus, electronic resources are actively purchased.

For online materials, the purchasing preference is the subscription basis. Perpetual use purchases are generally discouraged. Given a choice between similar databases when selecting new content, it is preferred to stay with the same vendor, unless there is a strong reason such as truly unique content which only another vendor can provide. Many databases from few vendors keeps the database interface more consistent for students and faculty.

Print may be purchased selectively, as appropriate, on a small scale, mostly for reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and certain types of directories and handbooks. The most appropriate scenario which could occur that might justify campus-specific exclusivity of materials not available to other locations would be materials of strictly local importance.

IV. Strengths & Weaknesses
The online collection is strong; over 110,000 e-books are provided by EBL and ebrary. Of these, about 28% support Social Sciences. A rich collection of databases includes Infotrac Databases, Legal Trac, Custom Newspapers, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, Student Resource Center Gold, Research Library Core and other subject-specific ABI Complete modules (International, Law, Military, Multicultural, Psychology, Social Science, and Women's Interest modules), and ProQuest ELibrary for broad coverage across the curricular spectrum. Additional databases may be added in the future.  Academic Search Complete or SocIndex Full-Text might be a meaningful addition in the future.

The print collection is small, but in light of UNVA's multi-campus research environment, library collection focus should continue to be on electronic resources.

V. Related Resources
Additional library collections pertaining to specific subjects of study are described in the collection policy statements for the Schools of Education, Management, Technology, Liberal Arts, and the Reference policy; they are served by separate collection development policies.

VI. Subjects and Collection Levels:
Subject collecting is characterized by levels 1-5, with Level 1 representing the most intensive buying, and level 5 representing the lowest level of buying.

1. Research Level: Advanced and comprehensive collection supporting doctoral dissertations and independent research, as well as support for faculty in their doctoral-level course preparation and specialty-related research. Materials at this level should include research reporting, new findings, scientific experimental results, and other primary documents and/or original research dissemination. Other resources at this level include all important reference works, a wide selection of specialized books, e-books, instructional videos and/or streaming web-based instructional A/V materials, an in-depth collection of journals, e-journals, major in-depth full-text databases for indexing, abstracting, and full-text journal content.

2. Study Level: Thorough collection supporting baccalaureate and master's level coursework, master's theses, and project-based independent study, as well as support for faculty in their baccalaureate and master's level course preparation and specialty-related research. This level supports general subject overview and some specialized knowledge, but is not as in-depth as the Research level. Materials include a wide range of books, e-books, workbooks (for example teacher's workbooks, lab manuals), A/V materials where appropriate to the academic discipline, core journals, e-journals, electronic full-text databases, and reference works providing study foundations.

3. Basic Level: Introductory collection to provide a basic subject overview. May include some resources for faculty course preparation and research. Materials include major encyclopedias, dictionaries, important bibliographies, a few major journals / e-journals and possibly drawing from general academic full-text databases already purchased for other subject areas.

4. Minimal Level: Few selections of either very basic works or occasional selections of specialized works in a narrow sub-field, but no systematic support of the subject area.

5. Not collected

 

Subject emphasis: Materials should be primarily chosen for their emphasis by subject, keeping in mind that English is a second language for most undergraduate and graduate students. The subject list below is a starting point for selecting new materials and a guidepost in case of withdrawal projects.

Subject	Collection Depth	See also in other policies
Cultural Anthropology	2 - Study Level
Geography	2 - Study Level
Psychology	2 - Study Level
Political Science	2 - Study Level
Sociology	2 - Study Level
Statistical Analysis and Methods	2 - Study Level	Business Statistics, Educational Leadership, Higher Education Administration

Pertinent LC Call Number Areas

Although UNVA's library does not actively pursue print collections where call-numbers are traditionally emphasized, the Library of Congress (LC) call-number classification system has great value in drilling down with precision to the curricular areas to be supported, even with e-book collections. Similar to a taxonomy, the LC call numbers classify knowledge consistently. This systematic language for coding subjects supports several important library roles: (1) retrieving library holdings by classification ranges of e-books from the online catalog to assess where collections need to be enhanced or pared down; (2) coding curriculum-support profiles for e-book vendors and approval plans; (3) teaching students an additional way to search with precision for library resources on their research topics.

Following are some of the call-number ranges into which Social Sciences titles can fall: