DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Subjects covered:  The sociology collection primarily supports the instructional and research activities in the Department of Sociology.  The collection represents all the traditional areas of sociology as well as many special research interests of the faculty.  The following table identifies areas of coverage.
 
 

Departments and users served:  The primary users of the sociology collection are undergraduate and graduate students and faculty from the Department of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences.  However, the sociology collection is heavily drawn upon by students and faculty from the following colleges, departments and programs: African American Studies, Anthropology, Business, Economics, Criminal Justice, Marketing, Political Science, Psychology, Social Work and Women's Studies.  Further, many colleges and academic departments across the campus offer courses that draw upon the sociology collection, particularly materials related to demographic research, survey literature, gender research and social psychology.

(The University of Cincinnati course descriptions for all colleges are available as PDF files.  Searching these files with the Acrobat [Find] feature using selected sociologically related terms reveals a wide range course offerings that suggest usage of the sociology collection.)

These colleges also offer majors or significant course work in sociology:

• College of Evening & Continuing Education (Major in sociology)
• School of Social Work
• University College (major in pre-sociology)
• College of Education, Criminal Justice

Approximate number of students & faculty
 
• Undergraduate students: 100
• Graduate students:  20
• Full time Faculty:  12
• Associate Faculty:      5

• Baccalaureate:    40
• Master of Arts in Sociology:    3
• Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology:   0

• Bachelor of Arts in Sociology
• Master of Arts in Sociology
• Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology

Research focus, grants, special funding:  The primary research focus of the Department of Sociology is in the area of work and family.  The Kunz Center for the Study of Work & Family operates out of the Department of Sociology and serves the community by conducting research, providing educational programs and serving as a communications network between scientists and professional practitioners.  Additional areas of research focus include conversation analysis, children affected by war, disasters, gender & social inequalities, migration, social psychology and stratification in education.
 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF COLLECTION

Location of collection:  The sociology collection is housed in the Langsam Library, primarily on the fifth floor, east stacks.  Selected older materials and duplicate copies of books are housed in SWORD (Southwest Ohio Regional Depository).

Other collections supporting program

Internal:  Sociology students and faculty frequently use other social science collections, particularly those in anthropology, criminal justice, geography, political science and psychology.  They also on occasion will use the Health Sciences Library and DAAP collections.

External:  Sociology students and faculty also utilize collections represented by the OhioLINK consortium of libraries.

Collection history:  The sociology program was founded in 1925.  From its inception, sociology was part of the Department of Anthropology.   After forty-five years together, sociology and anthropology became independent departments in 1969/70. 

The sociology collection has been housed in three libraries.  For a short time the sociology collection resided in the Van Wormer Library. The collection then was moved to the newly constructed Blegen Library in 1930.  The collection remained in Blegen until 1978 when it was moved into Langsam Library.

Since the late 1970s funding for sociology materials had been modest. However, in the 90's sociology received two permanent funding supplements.  In the early 90's sociology became eligible for the Taft general endowment fund and in 1997 sociology began receiving income from the Arthur Hinman Book Fund.  Several serials cancellation projects, the result of spiraling inflation in the 1980s and 1990s, seriously eroded the sociology collection.  Additions of serial publications during this time frame were isolated and rare.  However, recent years have brought the prosperity of OhioLINK and its Electronic Journal Center (EJC).  The sociology collection has benefited significantly by the emergence and growth of EJC and by the addition of several other electronic journal service contracts. 

General level of collecting :   Most areas of sociology are covered at least at the "advanced study" level.  Collection activity for areas of graduate and faculty research is attempted at the "research" level.
 

SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF COLLECTION

Call numbers:
 
 

Current & retrospective collecting:  The focus of the collection is predominately on current materials.   Some retrospective collecting is attempted in the areas of the history or schools of sociology and for reproductions of older materials relevant to research on demography and social movements.

Time period collected:  The emphasis of the collection is on the study of contemporary society and contemporary sociological phenomena.  However, for many areas of sociological inquiry, e.g., sociological theory, social movements, and institutions, materials are collected that may reflect all periods of  human history.

Level of material:  The collection predominately supports the instructional and research needs of upper level undergraduates, graduate students and faculty.   However, since 1998 purchases for undergraduates have increased, particularly for specialized, lower level texts and anthologies.  General textbooks are not purchased, but are selectively accepted as gifts.

Languages:  Most acquisitions are of English language materials, and English translations of significant works in sociology from other languages are purchased.

Geographical areas:  The majority of acquisitions of sociology materials have a North American focus.  However, significant amounts of materials represent the study of foreign cultures, particularly Europe and the former Soviet countries.   Foreign publications with a very narrow focus on local phenomena are usually purchased only when said studies are of general sociological significance.

Special aspects:  Popular materials in the discipline are generally not purchased with sociology funds.  These materials are sometimes recommended as Cohen purchases.

Types of resources:  Books and journals constitute the most frequently used resources for sociology students and faculty.  Additional materials collected include proceedings, society publications and data sets. 

Resource formats:  The collection is comprised of a variety of  resource formats.  Most journals and books remain in paper format.  However, a significant proportion of the journal literature is available in electronic format, e.g. EJC and JSTOR .  An increasing number of books contain electronic media, e.g., floppy disks or CD-ROMs.  Video materials are collected occasionally, largely to support instructional activities.  Most of the major sociological indexes now are available electronically via the web.

Endowed areas:
The Department of Sociology receives endowed funding from the following sources:

• Taft Endowment Fund
  • General purchases: <$1,000 per item
  • Special purchases: >$1,000 per item (requires Taft Committee approval)
• Arthur Hinman Book Fund

ACQUISITION PROCESSES

Approval plans:  The majority of the sociology monographs are acquired via the YBP approval plan.  The profile for this plan is available through the GOBI web site .

Firm orders:  Approximately 40% of sociology monograph purchases are firm orders.  These orders include YBP slip orders, direct orders to society publishers and other non-approval publishers.  A modest amount of orders are generated via special requests from faculty and students.

Standing orders:  The sociology collection is supplemented by standing orders for journals, monographic series, databases and society publications.

Document suppliers:  The OhioLINK document delivery service provides convenient, patron initiated document delivery for book requests.  The venerable ILL service continues to provide document delivery for photocopies of articles, microforms, dissertations, books (those unavailable through OhioLINK) and miscellaneous other materials.

Special vendors:  Sociology does not use special vendors outside of those normally used by the Acquisitions Department.
 

Randall L. Roberts
Bibliographer for Sociology
May 7, 2001