This policy offers guidelines for the acquisition, retention, and scope of the materials housed in the collection. The primary language of the Science Library Reference Collection is English. Materials in other languages are acquired selectively. Due to curricular emphases, the majority of reference materials focus on the United States and Europe. Reference materials treating other areas of the world are acquired selectively as needed.
Older materials are purchases selectively to fill specific needs.
The bibliographer for the University Science Library's Reference Collections makes decisions concerning selection, retention, and location of materials in both hardcopy and electronic format, consulting with other bibliographers as appropriate. Types of Materials Included in the Collection A. Almanacs, Directories, Handbooks, Statistical Sources, and Yearbooks. Curricular specific and selected social sciences and general almanacs, directories, handbooks, statistical sources and yearbooks are housed in the Reference collection. Bibliographies that are either curricular-specific or part of the working collection are housed in Reference. Some bibliographies, such as single-author bibliographies and others that are narrow in scope, may be selected for the circulating collections.