General policies and principles for the Library's collections are stated in the General Collection Development Policy. 

Purpose of the Collection

The purpose of this collection is to support the instruction and research in the UCSB Sociology Department.

The department takes great pride in offering a multi-level and multi-method approach to social inquiry, with special strength and international visibility in six interrelated areas of research: Conversation Analysis; Culture; Global Studies; Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies; Race, Ethnicity, and Nation; and Social Movements, Revolutions and Social Change.

The department takes advantage of the campus culture and tradition of breaking down traditional disciplinary boundaries, and collaborates with the departments of Black Studies; Chican@ Studies; Environmental Studies; Feminist Studies; Global Studies; and interdisciplinary groups such as Conversation Analysis; Culture, Environment & Society; Language, Interaction & Social Organizations; Technology & Society; Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences; and Social Movements & Networks.. 

Scope

Geographical Coverage

All areas are covered.

Language

Primarily English language publications

Chronological limits/Period Coverage

Primarily modern history coverage with emphasis on twentieth century.

Publication dates

Primarily recent publications dates, although if appropriate, older publication dates as well.

Types of Materials Collected

Materials are collected for the express purpose of supporting the researching and teaching needs of the department.  As such, research monographs, peer-reviewed journals, and reference sources are high in priority as determined by consultation with faculty.

The following materials are generally not acquired: textbooks; reprints; selected works when the Library owns the collected works; collections of reprinted articles; minor revisions; unpublished theses and dissertations.

Because the budget for serials is fully committed, new subscriptions are considered only if an equivalent dollar amount of existing local subscriptions can be cancelled

Systemwide and Other Resources

The collection benefits heavily from the systemwide licensing of serials, indexing and abstracting databases, and digital archives by the California Digital Library and UC Libraries.  Interlibrary loan is another resource that is used heavily. 

Related Collection Development Policies

Policy Last Updated: May 2017