General policies and principles for the Library's collections are stated in the General Collection Development Policy.
Purpose of the Collection
The Social Sciences Interdisciplinary collection was developed to identify and purchase materials that do not specifically fall under a single social sciences subject area, but tend to cross over several disciplines. It supports research activities through the doctoral level.
Subject Parameters
Top priority is given to social policy issues, as well as social science research methodology. Other topics include: adolescent research, economic and international development, urban studies, policy and research in current high-interest political and social topics, grey literature covering alternative viewpoints, and publications covering more than one social science subject area.
Geographical Coverage
Primarily covers all world areas, with emphasis on North American, Asian, and European areas.
Language
Material is primarily collected in English. 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. The periodicals collection is very limited, covering major cross-disciplinary social sciences topics. While a large percentage of content is exclusively published in print, electronic format is preferred for reference tools, periodicals, edited volumes, and anthologies.
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 interdisciplinary social sciences.
Related Collection Development Policies
- Anthropology
- Asian American Studies
- Black Studies
- Chicano/a Studies
- Communications
- Economics
- Education
- Feminist Studies
- Global & International Studies
- Linguistics
- Political Science
- Sociology
Subject librarian: Shari Laster
Policy Last Updated: June 2015
