Collection Policies

The Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice offers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in sociology, sociology (social welfare emphasis), and sociology (anthropology emphasis). Undergraduates seeking the B.A. degree must meet all of the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree in the College of Arts and Letters. The Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice offers minors in sociology, sociology (social welfare specialization), and sociology (anthropology specialization) for undergraduates pursuing a B.A. or B.S. in another academic discipline. The Library's criminal justice and anthropology collections have separate collection development statements.

Old Dominion University's Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, and Norfolk State University's Department of Sociology, also offer a joint Master of Arts - Applied Sociology Major. This graduate degree is designed to serve as professional training for students seeking employment in federal, state and local government agencies or in private-sector organizations. In addition, the M.A. - Applied Sociology Major provides training in the fundamentals of sociology for students wishing to pursue a Ph.D in the social sciences. Approximately half of the programs core courses and electives are taken at each institution. Students in the Applied Sociology Master's program may choose sociology, criminal justice or women's studies concentration tracks.

The sociology collection also supports a variety of other undergraduate and graduate level programs at Old Dominion University. At the undergraduate level, sociology courses are integrated into the "perspectives - social sciences" area of the general education core. Additionally, the sociology collection supports undergraduate and graduate level work in the areas of political science, women's studies, urban studies, public administration, psychology, philosophy, law, international studies, religion and education. The sociology collection may also support work done on campus by the Institute for the Study of Minority Issues.

To support these program offerings the library must collect a broad base of sociology materials at the undergraduate level, and a narrower range of material at the graduate and research levels. The areas of heaviest concentration are marriage/family, violence, social research methods and sex/gender. The area of violence is addressed in the collection development statement for criminal justice.

Language Guidelines:
English will be the primary language of the collection. English language translations of foreign works will be collected on a selective basis. Non-English language materials will generally not be collected, although exceptions are possible in special circumstances.

Chronological Treatment of Subject Guidelines:
The collection development emphasis will be on current topics in both applied and theoretical areas. Historical works and scholarly biographies will be collected selectively.

Geographical Guidelines:
United States geographical areas will likely be emphasized. However the University's international emphasis will mean that sociological works related to all areas of the world will be selectively acquired. The primary areas of international emphasis will be Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, Southeast Asia, Pacific Rim and Africa.

Treatment of Subject:
The collection emphasizes applied sociology materials. This may include handbooks, manuals to research methodology, etc. Highly theoretical treatments in sociology will be acquired selectively.

Types of Material:
The library will collect scholarly monographs including bibliographies, conference proceedings, and reference works. It will maintain on-site access to core sociology periodicals and to bibliographic databases designed to facilitate access to sociology literature. In addition, the library will offer access points to sociology related information that is not available on-site including online database services and Internet accessible resources. The Library may selectively acquire audio-visual materials or numeric data files.

Date of Publication:
Current materials published within the past five years will receive priority. Older materials may be selectively acquired in order to fill in weak areas of the collection or as the research emphasis of the department changes.

Other General Considerations:
 

1. Interdisciplinary Relationships / Related Policy Statements: Related collection development statements are criminal justice, anthropology, women's studies, political science, geography, urban studies, and international studies.

 
2. Local/Regional/Consortia Resources: Christopher Newport University, Hampton University and Virginia Wesleyan College offer Bachelor's degrees in sociology. Norfolk State University offers the Bachelor's degree and the Applied Sociology Master's degree jointly with ODU, and operates the Social Science Research Center on the NSU campus. The College of William and Mary offers both the Bachelor's and Master's degree in sociology. Social work programs are also available at Christopher Newport University and Norfolk State University.

The library offers web-based access to Contemporary Women's Issues, PsycInfo and Criminal Justice Abstracts through Silverplatter.
 

3. Center For Research Libraries: The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) offers a variety of sociology related material. This collection is especially useful for historical materials, foreign monographs and periodicals, and doctoral dissertations.
   
   
4. Virtual Library of Virginia: OCLC Firstsearch, IAC Infotrac, and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (Sociological Abstracts), provided through the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA), offer access to a variety of sociology-related materials. Social Science Research, International Journal of the Sociology of Law and several other sociology-related journals are available through Academic Press IDEAL.

 
5. Government Publications: Government publications received through ODU Library's participation in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) are particularly useful in sociology. The United States Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor and Education all produce a wide variety of material related to sociology and social welfare. The Library offers access to many of these documents in print, CD-ROM, or through the Web.

 

6. Distance Education: Sociology degrees are not currently offered through the university's distance education program. However, sociology courses have been offered through TELETECHNET in support of the criminal justice degree and other programs.


 
7. Additional Considerations: An increasing amount of sociology related material is available on the Internet. A good starting point is socioweb (http://www.sonic.net/~markbl/socioweb/)

Discipline: Sociology
Bibliographer: Stuart Frazer (sfrazer@odu.edu)
Date: 1/15/99
 

LC Class	Subject Descriptors	Collection Code	Comments
GN495.4	Ethnic Groups	3b
GN510, HQ783	Socialization	3a
HB848 - HB3697	Demography	4	Includes areas of faculty research
HB848 - HB3697	Population	4	Includes areas of faculty research
HD4903 - 4903.5	Discrimination in Employment	4	Includes areas of faculty research
HM	Sociology	3b
HM19 - HM22	Sociology - History	3
HM24	Sociology - Methodology	4
HM24	Sociology - Philosophy	3a
HM48	Sociology - Research	4
HM101	Social Change	3a
HM131	Organizational Sociology	3a
HM131	Social Groups	3a
HM132	Interpersonal Relations	3b
HM141	Leadership	3b	Relevant to business programs
HM146	Equality	3a
HM251-HM291	Social Psychology	4	Relevant to psychology programs
HN	Social Problems	3a
HQ503 - HQ1064	Family	4	Includes areas of faculty research
HQ1101 - 2030.7	Feminism	4	Area of faculty research
HT101 - HT395	Sociology, Urban	4	Relevant to urban studies program
HT601 - HT1455	Social Classes	3a
HT1501 - HT1595	Race Relations	3b
HV701 - 1420.5	Child Welfare	3a
HV4997 - HV5840	Substance Abuse	3a
LC189 - LC214.53	Educational Sociology	4	Relevant to education programs
P40	Sociolinguistics	4	Relevant to linguistics program
RA418	Social Medicine	3b