PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Subjects covered
The Department of Sociology offers a BA, MA and a Ph.D. in sociology. The Department specializes in the following areas: social inequality, community and urban sociology, health and medicine, race and ethnicity and gender. Additionally, the University Libraries’ sociology collection represents most traditional areas of sociological study, including the following:
collective behavior |
groups |
social justice |
sociology of families |
criminology |
immigration |
social mobility |
sociology of marriage |
culture |
life changes |
social problems |
sociology theory |
demography |
migration |
social stratification |
work and occupations |
deviant behavior |
research methodology |
socialization |
youth and society |
environmental issues |
social change |
sociology of education |
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ethnography |
social conflict |
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Departments/Users served
The primary users of the sociology collection are undergraduate and graduate students and faculty from the Department of Sociology, McMicken 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.1
These colleges offer majors or significant course work in sociology
Degrees offered
BA in Sociology
MA in Sociology
Ph.D. in Sociology
Research focus, grants, special funding
The Department specializes in the following areas: social inequality, community and urban sociology, health and medicine, race and ethnicity and gender. The Kunz Center for the Study of Work & Family serves as the intellectual hub of the Sociology Department. The Kunz Center supports faculty and student research and develops research related relationships with the community.
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.
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 Anthropology Department. 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 Blegan Library in 1930. The collection remained in Blegan until 1978 when it was moved into Langsam Library.
The funding for sociology materials has been modest. Since 1997 Sociology has received a small endowment 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, particularly in the areas of social inequality, community and urban sociology, health and medicine, race and ethnicity and gender is attempted at the “research” level.
Specific aspects of collection
Call numbers
LC Class. Letters |
Area of Relevance |
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LC Class. Letters |
Area of Relevance |
GF |
Human ecology |
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HM |
Sociology/Social psychology |
H |
Social sciences |
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HQ |
Family/Marriage/Women |
HA |
Statistics |
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HT |
Communities/Classes/Races |
HB 848 -3697 |
Demography |
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HV |
Social pathology, Social & public welfare, Criminology |
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Z 5051 - 7999 |
Relevant subject bibliographies |
Current & retrospective collecting
The focus of the collection is predominately on current materials.
Time period collected
The emphasis of the collection is on contemporary research.
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.
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 are now in electronic format. Books remain in predominantly paper format, though an increasing number of e-books are purchased. Video materials are collected regularly, largely to support instructional activities by faculty. All of the major sociological indexes now are available electronically.
Endowed areas
The Sociology Department receives endowed funding from the following sources:
Taft Endowment Fund
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 20% of sociology monograph purchases are firm orders. These orders include GOBI electronic 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 ILL (Illiad) service provides quick and convenient access for articles and other resources not available via OhioLINK.
Special vendors
Sociology does not use special vendors outside of those normally used by the Acquisitions Department.
Randall L. Roberts
Bibliographer for Sociology
August 4, 2014
University of Cincinnati Libraries
PO Box 210033 Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0033
Phone: 513-556-1424
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