Collection Policies

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Although Criminal Justice is a Division of the College of Education, its collection policy is given separately as it is not usually found in a College of Education.

Subjects covered :  Law enforcement, police, corrections, prisons, crime and criminals, drug control and drug related crimes, addiction treatment, criminal justice administration and procedure, women and minorities in criminal justice, women and crime, minorities and crime, juvenile delinquency, punishment, alternatives to prison, community policing, crime prevention, recidivism, elder abuse, and spouse abuse. 

Departments and users served :  Criminal justice, psychology, sociology, social work, African American studies, women's studies, health education, medicine, and public administration.  Other users include the Cincinnati Public Library, Xavier University, Northern Kentucky University, and OhioLINK Libraries.

For additional information see School of Criminal Justice and Criminal Justice Program Information

Quantitative Information:  Autumn 2000

Number of Faculty:   12
Number of Students:
    Undergraduate:  394
    Full Time Graduate:  84
    Part Time Graduate:  23
    Total:  501

Number of Doctoral Students:

38 Full time
15 Part time
53

Research Dollars:  $3.3  million which is operated by the Center for Criminal Justice Research , founded in 1996.

Degrees granted :

Criminal Justice:  B.S., M.S., and Ph.D.

Special programs :  Master's in Addiction studies which is certified by the State as a Level III Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor-E by the Ohio Credentialing Board and offered jointly by the Division and the College of Evening and Continuing Education.

Research focus and grants :  Community policing, police strategies, corrections, community corrections, court processing, assessment and classification, drugs and crime, domestic violence, juvenile justice, crime prevention, treatment programs, and  substance abuse programs.    In addition, women and criminal justice, elder abuse, and minorities and criminal justice are areas of research.

Special funding :  Criminal Justice received a Provostal Academic Challenge Grant included $10,000 for 5 years to purchase library materials to support its Ph.D. Program which started in 1992.
 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location of the collection :  The collection is housed in Langsam Library with numerical databases available via the Institute for Policy Research.

Other collections supporting the program :

Internal:  Psychology, counseling, social work, sociology, law, government documents, health education, African American studies, and women's studies.

External:  Xavier University, Northern Kentucky University, and Cincinnati Public Library.  In addition, Kent State University and Ohio State University collections.

Collection history :  Criminal justice was originally part of the College of Community Services which included criminal justice, rehabilitation counseling, social work, and urban planning and which was founded in 1970.  When the College was disbanded in the 1980's, criminal justice and rehabilitation counseling went to the College of Education, Urban planning went to DAAP, and Social work became the School of Social Work.  The library allocation for criminal justice was approximately $1500 for library purchases.   Today the library allocation has grown to $3000.   In 1992,  the criminal justice doctoral program was started  with support of the Academic Challenge Grant described earlier.  Criminal justice has continued to supply $5000-$7000 a year to support library purchases of library materials, especially journal subscriptions.  In addition, there was a matching grant from the Division and the Dean of University Libraries to support the recently created Addiction Studies program.  Request for funds are made by the Reference Bibliographer serving criminal justice to the Head of Division and library representative for the Division.

General level of collecting :  Collection level falls somewhere between level 4 (research) to support graduate and dissertation requirements and level 3 (instructional support).
 

SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF THE COLLECTION

Call numbers :

HV6001-end-Criminal Justice
RC563-RC568-Drug Abuse and Addiction Treatment.
RM315-RM531-Pharmacology
KF9000's-Criminal Law

Current and retrospective collecting :  Collecting is primarily current with retrospective occurring primarily with journals and titles missed during the last ten years.

Time period collected :  Emphasis is on the current with selective retrospective purchases of journals and historical and primary source materials because of focus of the Division.

Levels and treatments :  Selection includes purchase of some materials for undergraduates, however, most purchases are at the graduate level.  Some upper level undergraduate and graduate texts are bought.  Purchase of biographies of criminals and for the general reader is limited by funds and whether scholarly or popular.  Purchase of criminal law materials is usually left to law with purchases made in the administration of criminal law.  Selection of criminal investigation is of greater interest to University College and the police academy.  Criminal procedure and investigation are selectively collected at the undergraduate level.

Languages :  Selection is limited to English.

Geographical areas :  Predominantly United States and the tri-state area with selective purchase of comparative criminal justice materials.

Types of resources : Most titles purchased are books, a few proceedings, and journals with an occasional media item as requested by faculty.  Government publications at the state and federal level are well covered by the government documents bibliographer.  Occasionally state, federal, and UN publications are selected.  Society publications like those of the American Correctional Association, the Police Foundation, and the Academy of Criminal Justice are also important since these are not well covered by the approval plan and are useful to undergraduate and graduate students.  Professional standards are also collected.

Resource formats :  Formats selected are print, and an occasional pamphlet and media item.  Electronic resources like full text journals, databases, and Web sites are important.  An increasing number NCJRS (National Criminal Justice Reference Publications) are on the Web, as well as Ohio Publications in criminal justice.  Archiving is yet to be determined.

Endowed Areas :  Criminal Justice has no endowed funds.  Occasionally matching funds are sought through the Dean of University Libraries' program.
 

ACQUISITIONS PROCESS

Approval plans :  Yankee and Blackwell.

Firm orders :  Publisher's catalogs in print and on the Web, plus catalogs and Web sites of professional groups.

Standing orders :  Standing orders are limited to journals, databases, and directories because of limited funds.  Series are selected by individual title.

Document suppliers :  OhioLINK electronic Journals, Criminal Justice Periodical Index , and NCJRS.

Special vendors :  Those available through the Acquisitions Department.

Unique sources :   NCJRS which provides through the former microfiche program and now the Web the full text of Justice Department sponsored research.   Despite the value and convenience of Criminal Justice Periodical Index , which is a good undergraduate and newsletter resource, Criminal Justice Abstracts is the best source for comprehensive coverage of the journal literature.
 

L. Emily Grimm
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