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CRIS Collections: Collection Development Policy for Social Sciences & Humanities
UCLA's Charles E. Young Research Library (YRL) Collections, Research, & Instructional Services (CRIS) houses a non-circulating general collection of over 40,000 volumes, primarily in the social sciences and the humanities. The main purpose of the reference collection is to support the present and anticipated educational and research goals of its primary community -- UCLA faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and staff.
- Research and Instructional Programs and Users Served by CRIS
- Subject Scope of the Collection
- Format of Materials
- Types of Materials Included in the Collection
- Retention, Archival/Preservation, & Replacement Guidelines
Collection Development Coordinator: Norma Corral (ncorral@library.ucla.edu)
- Research and Instructional Programs and Users Served by CRIS
- College of Letters and Science, their faculties, students and staff, particularly those in the social sciences and humanities
- Professional Schools
- Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
- School of Public Policy and Social Research
- Research Centers, Labs, and Institutes
- Library Staff
- Faculty and students from other UC campuses
- Faculty and students from other colleges and universities
- Local professional and research institutes
- International scholars
- General public
- Subject Scope of the Collection
- CRIS collects extensively, from basic to research levels, in the social sciences and the humanities.
- CRIS collects, depending on budgetary considerations, on a basic level in areas covered by the Arts and Management Libraries to provide support and service in YRL for the interdisciplinary nature of research in the social sciences and humanities.
- CRIS collects in the subject areas of pure and applied sciences, engineering, law, and medicine on a very minimal level, including some fundamental dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories, bibliographic guides, and biographical information.
- CRIS collects indexes and guides to government information according to the Government Information Collection Policy.
- In general, CRIS does not collect popular material or how-to guides and does not collect genealogy except for general guides to sources.
- Format of Materials
- Types of Materials Included in the Collection
- Almanacs and Yearbooks - CRIS collects current editions of major publications for the United States and foreign countries.
- CRIS collects atlases and geographical sources according to the Map Collection Development Policy.
- Bibliographies
- General bibliographies with broad topics are collected by CRIS. Bibliographies with a narrow subject scope such as those devoted to a single author or a single work are not collected by CRIS, with the exception of major bibliographies on Shakespeare, the Bible, or those of considerable current interest to researchers. Bibliographic guides to the literature and research sources in the disciplines of the social sciences and humanities are collected.
- National bibliographies are collected by CRIS on a country-by-country basis in consultation with Bibliographers. Some national bibliographies may be housed in the YRL Stacks on a Building Use Only basis. CRIS will keep bibliographies of countries whose publications are not well represented in national library bibliographies or other bibliographic utilities.
- Trade bibliographies - CRIS collects books in print or its equivalent for major countries, and other selected trade bibliographies that complement or supplement national library catalogs and bibliographies.
- Incunabula bibliography - Major bibliographies are selected, including catalogs of holdings of national libraries and major institutional libraries.
- Archives and Manuscripts - CRIS collects bibliographies of bibliographies of manuscript and archive collections. Catalogs of manuscript collections are not normally collected.
- Biography - CRIS comprehensively collects international, national, and professional biography, both retrospective and current. Some titles are split between CRIS and YRL Stacks because of space considerations.
- Concordances - CRIS has concordances for Shakespeare and the Bible.
- Dictionaries - CRIS collects unilingual and polyglot dictionaries in major languages, as well as bilingual dictionaries where English is one of the languages. Emphasis is given to languages and literature taught at UCLA. CRIS also collects specialized dictionaries (e.g., slang, idiomatic expressions, and historical aspects of language) for English and, selectively, for a few other languages. Subject dictionaries are also collected.
- Directories - The collection includes current directories in the social sciences and humanities listing "persons, associations, institutions, or organizations, systematically arranged, usually in alphabetic or classed order, giving address, affiliations, etc. for individuals, and address, officers, functions, or similar data for organizations." (ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science). City directories are not collected. [See also below, "P. Telephone Books"]
- Encyclopedias - CRIS acquires major general encyclopedias in English, both single volume and multivolume. There is a separate encyclopedia policy which describes the rotation agreement CRIS has with the College Library for ordering new editions of the major encyclopedias and the disposition of older sets. CRIS also collects major foreign language encyclopedias and authoritative encyclopedias in specialized subject areas.
- Handbooks - CRIS collects current and authoritative handbooks in all fields of the social sciences and humanities.
- Indexes and Abstracts - As many services as possible in the social sciences and humanities are collected, based on budgetary limitations and CDL (California Digital Library) resources, with Internet access preferred whenever possible.
- Legal Resources - CRIS very selectively collects a few general bibliographies, dictionaries, and research guides in law but primarily relies on the Law Library. Reference has some general works on the Constitution and the Supreme Court.
- Library Catalogs - CRIS collects catalogs of major libraries that are not available online or that provide unique access to research collections, including the [UCLA] Dictionary Catalog of the University Library, 1919-1962, and the National Union Catalog.
- Sacred Books - CRIS maintains a small collection of major translations of the Christian Bible in English, as well as English language translations of sacred works significant to major world religions.
- Statistics Sources - CRIS collects specialized commercially published statistical resources, which complement government publications. [Also see: Government Policy]
- Style Manuals - The collection includes major style manuals for the social sciences and humanities.
- Telephone Books - We have Phonefiche which is a microfiche collection of telephone books for major U.S. cities with population > 1,500,000. We receive superceded Phonefiche from College Library for California cities with population > 100,000. There are major print directories for the Los Angeles area and major cities of the world. Criss-cross directories are not collected.
- Theses - CRIS collects bibliographies of theses
and dissertations written at foreign universities. The major online
resources are ProQuest Digital
Dissertations and Center for Research Libraries' Foreign
Doctoral Dissertations.
- Retention, Archival/Preservation, & Replacement Guidelines
- Retention Policies vary from title to title. Some items are kept permanently, some for five years, some "current year only," etc. [See: Retention Policy] For electronic formats, we adhere to the CDL's policy on Archiving and Perpetual Access in the license agreements. See: CDL Model License
- Preservation of brittle or damaged items. When
brittle or damaged items are identified, it is necessary to evaluate
whether or not the title is still needed in the working reference
collection.
- If a title is no longer needed in the working CRIS collection but is still worth keeping in the library's collection, it can be sent to SRLF. If it is no longer needed, then the title can be deselected.
- If we want to keep a brittle or damaged item,
then one of the following preservation practices can be used:
- Try to get a replacement copy
- Photocopy on acid free paper and have it bound
- Photocopy damaged pages and tip-in to volume
- Encase brittle book in a preservation box
- Digitize (or utilize new technologies), to make it available via web or CD-ROM
- Replacement for missing items
- Evaluate title's importance to the working reference collection
- Try to replace it
- If there is a second copy available at another campus library and CRIS is not the archival copy, we will not replace. If we are the archival copy, we will replace. [Also see: Archival Retention Agreement for Serials]
- If a title is available online, evaluate the online version to determine if it is comparable to the print version. If it is, then we will rely on the online version.
Primary clientele for Reference Collection Development:
Other clientele that use the library but for whom CRIS does not collect:
CRIS collects in all appropriate formats -- print, electronic (Internet, CD-ROM, DVD, etc.), microform or emerging technologies. When an electronic version of a resource exists, every effort will be made to acquire the electronic format within the limitations of usability, comprehensiveness, space, equipment requirements, and cost.
The scope of the collection is not limited by language, geography, or chronology. To a great extent the collection is in English and Western European languages, but there are no language restrictions and the emphasis is on appropriate material in any language which supports the subjects and languages taught and used at UCLA.
Specific publication types include: