Washington University in St. Louis
Collection Development Policy

Library: Physics

Subjects: Physics & Astronomy 

Collection: General

Date Revised: April 2020

Subject Librarian: Alison Verbeck

1. General purpose:

• Support of instruction and research in physics and astronomy up through the doctoral and faculty levels in the Department of Physics.  The collection also supports teaching and research in other subjects, including math, earth and planetary science, chemistry, biology, and engineering, but the interests of the Physics Department are given the most weight when deciding on acquisitions.
• Overview from April 2020:
  • Faculty and Researchers:
    • 27 full time tenure or tenure track faculty, 7 research faculty, 2 lecturers, 10 postdoctoral research associates.
    • Research is funded by NSF, DOE, NASA, NIH, and other sources.
  • Graduate Students - currently 4 masters students, 2 JPP students, 67 PhD students for a total of 73 
  • Undergraduate Students - currently 89 students majoring or minoring in Physics

​2. Subjects excluded:

• In Astronomy (0):
  • Extraterrestrial Life
  • Geodesy
  • Cosmochemistry
  • Astrogeology
  • ​The Solar System
  • Lunar Eclipses
  • Planets and Planetology
  • Meteors
  • Extrasolar planets (these items are included in the Earth and Planetary Science Library collection)
• In Physics (0):
  • Philosophy
  • Geophysics
  • Meteorology
  • Climatology (the latter three are also included in the Earth and Planetary Science Library collection)
• Minimal Level (1):
  • Popular Works
  • Historical Works
• Basic Information Level (2):
  • Biographies of influential physicists

3. Overlap with other collections or subjects:

• Mathematics
• Earth and Planetary Sciences
• Chemistry
• Biology
• Engineering and medicine
• There are areas of:
  • Chemical Physics
  • Physical Chemistry
  • Applied Physics
  • Biophysics, etc. where it is hard to draw a distinct line between the subjects

4. Languages included and excluded:

The main language included is English.  English is currently the language used for science all over the world.  A lot of the physics literature before World War II was in German, so a considerable amount of German is still in the collection.  Almost all new items are purchased in English.

5. Geographical limitations:

None, although primarily American and European publications are purchased.

6. Chronological limits:

None, although primarily newly published material is purchased.

7. Retrospective acquisition:

Only if specifically requested by a faculty member or to replace lost or missing items.  However, older materials are still used heavily.

8. Types of material collected and excluded:

• Collected:
  • Monographs and Serials primarily
  • Some graduate/advanced level textbooks.
• Excluded:
  • Juvenile Material
  • Dissertations other than the Department of Physics
  • Audiovisual materials unless explicitly requested by faculty
  • Biographies unless about very prominent physicists
  • Conference proceedings unless explicitly requested or donated by faculty who attended.

9. Other factors to consider:

• Items are purchased based on requests from the department – faculty or grads
• Faculty still prefers print monographs over ebook format
• Print and ebooks are not typically duplicate 
• Nearly all new journal articles are available through arXiv or ADS
• Nearly all journals are electronic only other than “magazine” type formats

10. Subjects and Collecting Levels: Except as noted above, most of physics and astronomy is at level 3B or 4:

Level	Subjects
	QB Astronomy
3A	QB 1-139 General. History
0	QB 54 Extraterrestrial life
	QB 140-274 Practical and spherical astronomy
0	QB 275-348 Geodesy
	QB 349-453 Theoretical astronomy and celestial mechanics
0	QB 355-453 Calculation of orbits. Cosmochemistry
0	QB 454-459 Astrogeology
	QB 460-467 Astrophysics (General)
	QB 468-494 Non-optical methods of astronomy
	QB 495-991 Descriptive Astronomy. Cosmology
0	QB 500.5-506 Solar system. Origin of solar system. Physical conditions
0	QB 579-789 Lunar eclipses. Planets. Planetology. Meteors. Spectroscopy
	QB 806 Stellar evolution
0	QB 820 Extrasolar planets
	QC Physics
	QC 1-999 Physics
	QC 1-19.1 General
0	QC 5.56-6.4 Philosophy. Methodology
	QC 19.2-20.7 Mathematical physics
	QC 20.8-71 General
	QC 72-74 Force and energy (general)
	QC 75-80 Curiosities
	QC 81-119 Weights and measures
	QC 120-169 Mechanics
	QC 120-131 General
	QC 132-137 Dynamics. Motion
	QC 138-145.4 Fluids. Fluid mechanics
	QC 145.5-149 Hydrostatics. Floating bodies
	QC 150-160 Fluid dynamics. Hydrodynamics
	QC 161-165 Gases. Pneumatics
	QC 166 Vacuum
	QC 167-167.4 Fluid viscosity
	QC 167.5-169 Gas dynamics
	QC 170-219 Atomic physics. Matter
	QC 170-171 General
	QC 172-173.27 Constitution of matter
	QC 173.28-173.44 Properties of matter
	QC 173.45-173.49 Condensed matter physics
	QC 173.5-173.95 Relativity physics
	QC 173.96-174.6 Quantum theory
	QC 174.7-175.3 Statistical physics
	QC 175.4-175.9 Superfluid physics
	QC 176-176.81 Solids. Solid state physics
	QC 176.82-176.94 Thin films
	QC 176.95-177 Special substances
	QC 178-181 Gravitation
	QC 182-189.4 Special properties of matter (absorption,capillarity, diffusion, viscosity)
	QC 189.5-190 Rheology. Thixotropy
	QC 191 Elastic properties of solids
	QC 192-219 Thermal properties, deformation, Friction
	QC 220 Sound, light, heat as a whole
	QC 221-250 Acoustics. Sound
	QC 221-241 General
	QC 242-242.7 Underwater acoustics
	QC 242.8-243 Sound waves
	QC 244-250 Ultrasonics, nonlinear acoustics, acousticholography
	QC 251-349 Heat
	QC 251-275 General
	QC 276-277.8 High temperatures
	QC 277.9-279 Low temperatures
	QC 280 High pressure
	QC 281-289 Relation between pressure, volume &temperature
	QC 290-300 Calorimetry
	QC 301-310.14 Change of state
	QC 310.15-319.7 Thermodynamics
	QC 319.8-325 Heat transfer
	QC 326-330 Convection
	QC 331-349 Radiation and adsorption. Laws of cooling
	QC 350-473 Optics. Light
	QC 350-449 General
	QC 450-473 Spectroscopy
	QC 474-500 Radiation physics
	QC 474-476.3 General
	QC 476.4-480.7 Luminescence
	QC 480.8-484.7 X-rays
	QC 484.8-489 Cosmic ray physics
	QC 490-493 Other radiations
	QC 494-500 Color
	QC 501-769 Electricity and magnetism
	QC 501-610.8 Electricity
	QC 610.9-611.8 Semiconductor physics
	QC 611.9 Superconductivity
	QC 612-629 Measurement. Force. Thermoelectricity
	QC 630-660.4 Electrodynamics
	QC 660.5-668 Electric oscillations
	QC 669-675 Electromagnetic theory
	QC 676 Radio waves
	QC 677-678 Microwaves
	QC 679-684 Quantum electrodynamics
	QC 685-700 Quantum electronics
	QC 701-714 Electric discharge
	QC 715-716 Photoelectricity
	QC 717-717.5 Ion flow dynamics
	QC 717.6-749 Plasma physics
	QC 750-769 Magnetism
	QC 770-800 Nuclear and particle physics
	QC 770-785.4 General
	QC 785.5-789.6 Instruments and apparatus. Research,nuclear reactors
	QC 789.7-790.8 Nuclear fission
	QC 790.9-791.8 Nuclear fusion
	QC 791.9-792 Atomic energy
	QC 793-794.94 Nuclear and particle physics
	QC 794.95-800 Radioactivity
0	QC 801-850 Geophysics. Geomagnetism
0	QC 851-999 Meteorology. Climatology
	QD Chemistry
3A	QD 901-999 Crystallography
	QH Natural History (General). Biology (General)
	QH 501 Biophysics