Section VIII - Reference: Social Sciences (300)

This extremely heterogeneous collection provides materials concerning the social sciences, political science, economics, law, public administration, social problems and services, education, commerce, communications, transportation, customs, etiquette, and folklore.

Development Plan

In this large collection, with heavy United States emphasis, the following areas receive particularly strong focus:

career and job opportunities
political science (with special focus on the U.S. Congress)
economics and business, receiving diverse coverage
American law (with special focus on the Constitution)
public administration (with special focus on the federal government)
grant writing
education, receiving diverse coverage

R 300 Social sciences. A small collection with social sciences overview sources as well as various ratings criteria and results for U.S. cities is developed and maintained.
R 310 Statistics. A small collection of basic, general sources providing both U.S. and international statistics is maintained. (The government documents collection houses most of the library's statistical sources.)
R 320 Political science. Sources with a primary emphasis on U.S. Congress are maintained.
R 330 Economics. Sources with a strong emphasis on diverse aspects of American business, including corporate directories, a variety of business/economic dictionaries, employment and career development guides, handbooks, form books, and other financial information, including some loose-leaf formats for greater currency are developed and maintained. A well represented real estate section is maintained. Information on energy/natural resources is minimally developed.
R 340 Law. Primarily sources with a U.S. emphasis are maintained, though basic international sources are also represented. Sources emphasizing U.S. constitutional law are maintained. Books containing reproducible legal forms are developed and maintained.
R 350 Public administration and military science. Sources focusing on the U.S. federal government are maintained. The military science collection emphasizing terminology and weaponry requires future development.
R 360 Social problems and services, associations. A collection of grants directories is developed and maintained by virtue of the Library's membership in the Foundation Center program. Since these sources are costly, some are updated biennially and in alternating years. Sources with a focus on insurance are maintained. Also developed and maintained are sources on health care, substance abuse, and children's services.
R 370 Education. An extensive collection of directories and guides to many types of schools is developed and maintained. Also developed and maintained is an extensive collection of financial aid information sources and guides for standardized test taking.
R 380 Commerce, communications, and transportation. Sources that will assist patrons with domestic commercial ventures are developed and maintained. Postal employment test guides are minimally developed. Computer communications and telecommunications sources are developed and maintained. Sources on wireless communications are minimally developed. Transportation sources are minimally developed.
R 390 Customs, etiquette, folklore. Maintained is a small, solid collection of fashion histories, etiquette books by major authors, and general holiday sources. (In these areas, the nonfiction and reference collections in some measure duplicate each other.) A small collection of books of proverbs and selected folklore sources is maintained.

Influencing Factors

Purchases and buying patterns are determined in large part by:

electronic/Internet sources availability.
new works.
budget constraints.
patron requests.
present and potential relevance to the community.
shelf space.

Retention/Weeding

Career and job information is weeded as new titles are added.
Other topics are weeded as significant changes occur in the field.