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:

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

• McMicken College of Arts & Sciences

• College of Allied Health Sciences, School of Social Work

• College of Education, Criminal Justice & Human Services (CECH)

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

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.