Collection Development Policies: Religious Studies

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Subject: RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Program Description

The Religious Studies program has an interdisciplinary and world religions orientation, as opposed to a theological one. Students are trained to explore the nature of religion and its impact upon human culture, past and present. Courses are academic in nature and non-sectarian.

The Religious Studies Collection intends to support three core courses which cover: an introduction to religious concepts, sociology, phenomena, and ideas; exploration of the relationship between ethics and religion; philosophy of religion; history of religion in the East and the West; study of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and other major world religions; and special topics on Religious Studies. In addition, the collection intends to support the day to day research interests of the faculty in the religious studies department.

Faculty research interests are in works that deal with connections between religion, particularly Christianity and biblical studies, and British literature; world religions, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, religion and gender, and religion on the border.

Description of Existing Collection
NCIP Code: 2b monographs; 2a periodicals

Religion materials are catalogued in the following Library of Congress classification areas:

BL 1-2790 (Religion); BM 1-990 (Judaism); BP (1-610) (Islam, Bahaism, Theosophy, etc);

BQ 1-9800 (Buddhism); BR 1-1725 (Christianity); BS 1-2970 (The Bible); BT 10-1480 (Doctrinal Theology); BV 1-5099 (Practical Theology); BX 1-9999 (Christian Denominations).

The Religion collection currently contains approximately 12,900 monographic titles and 35 periodical titles, 18 of which are current, largely in the BL-BX classifications. Subject access on the Library online catalog is adequate and see and see also references are provided when necessary. Most of the monographs on Religion are held in the Main Stacks.

The monograph collection adequately supports the Religious Studies program. The Library is currently collecting monographs at level 2b. Represented in the collection is material on all the major religions of the world with an emphasis on Christianity and biblical studies. Included is material which explain basic religious concepts and ideas, history of religion, theology, general and individual works on: Judaism; Islam; Buddhism; Christianity; The Bible; doctrinal and practical theology; Christian denominations; Eastern Christian Churches; Roman Catholic Church; and Protestantism.

The Library is currently collecting periodicals at level 2a. The Library holds 35, 18 of which are current, of the most representative religion periodicals, and complete back issues are held for the majority of these. The journal collection is not as strong as it should be. Only a small number of the major international religion journals indexed in Humanities Index are in the collection. The last two years of periodicals are housed in the Current Periodicals and Microforms Department. Older issues are bound and are intershelved with the monograph collection in call number order on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors of the Library.

The Library does not hava a database that is devoted exclusively to religion, nevertheless, access to various multidisciplinary databases that provide information on different areas of religion is provided. Full-text documents are accessible through some of these databases and other sites on the Internet. These databases may also be accessed with modems from home.

The Reference collection includes most of the major reference works on religion. The collection includes a wide selection of reference tools such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, bibliographies, handbooks, atlases, bibles, and directories of religion. Reference material is non-circulating, but patrons are allowed to photocopy material if desired. Publications of societies, proceedings of religion congresses and conferences, and university departments are also acquired.

Current Collecting Intensity
NCIP Code: 2b monographs; 2a periodicals

The library will continue to collect monographs at level 2b to support the Religious Studies program and faculty research interests in the department.

The current collecting practice is to acquire current material. Retrospective buying will be done when necessary to purchase classical works not owned. English will be the primary language of collection; but Spanish material will also be included; and selective works in other languages if not yet translated. All chronological periods are of interest.

Faculty periodically recommend titles that are purchased directly from publishers. Since our Religious Studies program has an interdisciplinary and world religions orientation, as opposed to a theological one, faculty are interested in adding to the collection books that deal with contemporary and historical issues relating to the major world religions. Also desirable are books that approach religion from perspectives such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, and literary criticism, gender, and border studies. Biblical studies are also a central concern of the program. Faculty also have a strong interest in purchasing material that deals with their research interests. What we probably need not worry about are standard reference works, since our library already has a very solid collection.

When possible we will strengthen our periodical collection to better meet the research needs of students.

Types of material excluded are textbooks, works about religion written on a popular level, and theses and dissertations from other institutions.

Desired Collection Level (Needed if different from CCI)
NCIP Code: 2b periodicals

The major goal is to develop the journal collection to level 2b from a level of 2a. At present, there is no specific amount allocated for the acquisition of serials. When funding permits, the journal collection will be reviewed and steps will be taken to develop the journal collection to include all key journals on primary topics.

Other Resources

Items not owned by the Library are available via the Interlibrary Loan Department.

Last updated: 3/20/03