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

Purpose of the Collection

The UCSB Library collects, manages, and provides access to the collection of literature in global and international studies fields to support the research and curricular programs of the Global and International Studies Department. It supports research activities, public events, university-wide academic projects, and print and electronic publications for the wider academic and Santa Barbara community.

Academic Department/Program Description

The Department of Global & International Studies is an interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate program in international studies, global studies, and cultural area studies. It is the administrative home for the majors in Global Studies and Middle East Studies and minors in Global Peace and Security and Women, Culture and Development. It provides an undergraduate major that is distinctive in its emphasis on the transnational process and interactions that bring the world together across traditional national boundaries. The major allows students to focus on global studies with either an emphasis in culture and ideology that relates to the contemporary interactions of cultural traditions and ideologies around the world, or an emphasis in socioeconomics and politics that concentrates on the emergence of global socioeconomic systems and issues relating to world order.

The Department also offers a terminal Master of Arts in Global Studies & International Studies. The M.A. is intended to provide an understanding of the economic, political, social, and cultural forces that are shaping global organizations. Students are also encouraged to engage in or study the dimensions of global civil society—such as political economy, development, law, human rights, religion, culture, and environmental protection—that affect the contemporary world in significant ways. 

The Ph.D. program in Global Studies seeks to provide a unique interdisciplinary degree for students studying global issues such as conflict, immigration, human rights, the environment, sustainable development and the challenges these issues present for lasting peace, equality and prosperity.

Subject Parameters

Major areas of interest cover global conflict; people, poverty and the environment; human rights issues; peoples and cultures of various regions; foreign policy; development and change in Latin America; social analysis of terrorism; world systems; and sociology of development.  

Scope

Subjects

Global and International Studies is probably one of the most interdisciplinary fields in the social sciences and area studies. It relates directly to anthropology, Black Studies, conflict resolution, East Asian studies, economics, education, environmental studies, history, immigration, labor studies, Latin American studies, military science, political science, psychological and brain sciences, sociology, urban studies, and women's studies.

Geographical Coverage

Primarily covers all world areas, with emphasis on East Asian, Middle Eastern, European, Latin American and North American areas.

Language

Principal languages include English, with some French, Spanish, German, and Italian as necessary. Subject specialists in non-English language resources are consulted.

Chronological Limits/Period Coverage

Primarily modern history coverage with emphasis on twentieth and twenty first century.

Publication Dates

Recent imprints are prioritized.  Older imprints are selectively acquired.

Types of Materials Collected

We collect monographs, reference tools, audio-visual materials, periodicals, and scholarly series. Conference proceedings are collected selectively. While a large percentage of content is exclusively published in print, reference tools, periodicals, edited volumes and anthologies are actively preferred in electronic format. Dissertations are only acquired on demand. Textbooks are generally not acquired.

In addition, Government Publications including United States, international agencies, and foreign country government publications are used extensively and are acquired and/or subscribed to by the Government Publications collections managers.

Systemwide and Other Resources

U.C. system-wide sources purchased via the California Digital Library such as article and research databases greatly support the discipline.

Related Collection Development Policies

Subject librarian: Ryan Lynch
Policy Last Updated: June 2015