Collection Development Policies: History

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Subject: HISTORY

Program Description

The History Department offers courses in history leading to a Bachelor of Arts with a major in History as well as Master of Arts degrees in History. In addition, a doctorate, concentrating on Borderlands History has been implemented, with 13 students currently enrolled in the program. As of 2000, undergraduate majors number approximately 170 students and graduate enrollment stands at near 40. History minors total about 20.   The Department provides 64 undergraduate and 20 graduate courses with options for independent and directed study. Faculty consists of 17 FTE instructors.

Description of Existing Collection
NCIP Code: 3a (Instructional/Basic Study)

The collection is classed using Library of Congress call numbers C, CB, D, E, F, HC. The vast majority of materials are located in the main stacks. Main stack items circulate, Reference materials are for in-house use. As a government document depository at the 60%+ level, the Library has government documents arranged in a separate location according to SuDoc classification. U.S. government publications used for historical research are integrated within the Documents Collection.

English language predominates in the collection. Spanish language publications predominate among the non-English materials.

A total of 225 journals are designated as history periodicals; 126 subscriptions are currently maintained.

The collection provides world wide coverage of all historical periods from early civilization to the modern era. Special emphasis is placed on the U.S.- Mexico border region, history of Latin America and military history. The latter materials are housed in the S.L.A. Marshall History Collection. The Southwest Collection, located in Special Collections, also contains relevant historical materials. Current Periodicals and Microforms maintains a number of extensive microform sets including the Presidential Papers series.

Access to materials using hardcopy and electronic resources is available. The main access point for UTEP Library monographs is the OPAC. Marcive records added to the catalog allow for searching of government publications. All journals titles are listed in the OPAC. Major topical indexes such as Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life and FirstSearch are available. In addition, all students have access to the Internet and World Wide Web allowing the use of bibliographic and textual resources nationally and worldwide. The Library's ILL services provide materials (monographs & periodical articles) at a small service charge from around the country.

Current Collection Intensity
NCIP Code: 3b (Instructional/Basic Study)
4 (Research) for Regional History

Material is acquired in several ways. A substantial portion of monographic materials are  provided by Library's general book order dealer through an approval plan created from a mutually agreed upon profile. The History Collection Development Officer also uses Choice , subject bibliographies, publishers catalogs and advertisements, which is are shared with the History Department.

The Library's resources in History (number and type of items, bibliographic publications and methods of access) as they relate to the courses offered at UTEP reflect a collection at the instructional support level for the most part. Regional historical materials reach a research level.

Desired Collection Level
NCIP Code: 4 (Research) for regional history

The collections are strong in the history of the United States, Mexico and the borderlands region.  The approval of a doctorate in Borderlands History has necessitated  the ongoing strengthening of collections in that area a research level.

Last updated: 3/20/03