A Guide to Physics Resources

Washington University in St. Louis Collection Development Policy

Library: Physics
Subjects: Physics & Astronomy 
Collection: General
Date Revised: April 2020
Subject Librarian: Eliot Boden

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 and in the table below, most of Physics and Astronomy is at level 3B (Advanced Study) or 4 (Research):

0 - Out of Scope
1 - Minimal Level
2 - Basic Informational Level
3A - Introductory Study
3B - Advanced Study
4 - Research
5 - Comprehensive