Washington University in St. Louis
Collection Development Policy
Library: Olin
Subject: History of Science, Medicine, and Technology
Collection: General
Date Revised: March 2014; June 2016
Subject Librarian: Ruth Lewis
1. General purpose:
Support for research and teaching at Washington University Danforth Campus. This is not a department or even a program, major or minor, but there are relevant classes and interested faculty and students in several departments at the university, including Philosophy, PNP, Biology, Physics, History, Romance Languages and Literatures, and probably others. There is a presence in the College of Arts and Sciences, see http://pages.wustl.edu/hpbm . There is also a Center for History of Medicine at the School of Medicine. A Minor in Medical Humanities was added in fall, 2015.
2. Collection strategy:
Prior to fall 2015: There was no firm order budget line or automatic shipment profile for history of science. It appears that adequate coverage for recent monographs comes via profiles that are active in history and other fields. The subject librarian reviews “slip” titles on YPB and occasionally consults about a particularly well-reviewed title with a faculty member, but almost all book orders are placed in response to a request from a faculty member or student. The Neureuther fund is used for that purpose. [In fy 13 there were 5 book titles ordered plus another 6 titles paid from a small gift designated for history of science. In fy12 10 books titles were ordered.]
In fy16 a budget line was assigned for firm order acquisitions. Selections are still primarily by request from faculty and graduate students.
3. Journals and databases;
(This is not a comprehensive list.)
