General Works

Collection Development Policy

Robert Lopresti, Librarian

1. Applicable LC Classes:

Call No.	Subject Heading
AC	Collections, Series, Collected Works
AE	Encyclopedias
AG	Dictionaries, Other General Reference Works
AI	Indexes
AM	Museums. Collectors and Collecting
AN	Newspapers
AP	Periodicals
AS	Academies and Learned Societies
AY	Yearbooks. Almanacs. Directories
AZ	History of Scholarship and Learning

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2. Academic Departments, Programs, etc.:

No particular ones.

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3. Collection Levels:

Call No.	Subject Heading	Present	Desired
AC	Collections, Series, Collected Works	2a	2a
AE	Encyclopedias	2a	2a
AG	Dictionaries, Other General Reference Works	2b	2b
AI	Indexes	1a	1a
AM	Museums. Collectors and Collecting	1a	1a
AN	Newspapers	2b	2a
AP	Periodicals	2a	2a
AS	Academies and Learned Societies	1a	1a
AY	Yearbooks. Almanacs. Directories	1a	1a
AZ	History of Scholarship and Learning	2a	2a

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4. Scope:

	Present	Desired
Geographic:	Mostly American	Mostly American
Language:	Mostly English, Some German (especially in AS), Japanese, etc.	Mostly English US material
Chronological limitations:	About half is published Post 1970	Prefer current material

5. Formats collected/Non-Subject Parameters:

Explanatory Notes: Almost entirely books, serials and old periodicals.

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6. System Coordination and Resource Sharing:

There is no separate fund for this area. Many books that end up here are purchased with Reference funds, including encycopedias and dictionaries. They move into the main collection when they become outdated or are superceded.

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7. Electronic Databases:

Britannica Online, World Book 1998 Multimedia Encyclopedia. See also the Internet Resources Page: http://www.library.wwu.edu/ref/webref.html.

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8. Notable Features:
We have a very good selection of old encyclopedias, which are useful for comparing how thinking on a particular topic (e.g. abortion, evolution, Mormonism) has changed over the last century. We have the famous eleventh editon of the Encyclopedia Britannica, which features seminal articles by Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, John Muir, etc.

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9. Narrative Statement:

This is not so much a category as a place for material that is too general to fit in other categories. So here we find Encyclopedia Britannica, Whittaker’s Almanac, the World of Learning, Harvard Great Books, and the Best of Punch Magazine.

With the exceptions of AP and AZ we are purchasing very little new material in this area, because a lot of the material (for example, compilations of classic literature) is available on the web.