LibGuides: Subject Collection Policies: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Collection Policy

OVERVIEW

subject description and guidelines

Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) corresponds to the College of Engineering’s and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ departments of the same name and covers those fields relating to the department’s own mission statement “…to advance knowledge of Earth's natural systems and history.” The specific sub-fields include geology (including economic geology), meteorology, climatology, hydrology, petrology, paleontology and all allied sciences. Publications by prominent societies in the field including the American Geophysical Union, the American Geological Institute, and the Geological Society of London (especially publications of the Lyell Collection) are collected comprehensively. Journals by other publishers are collected based on quality, relevance, and use, within the constraints imposed by the resources then at hand.

constituencies

The collection seeks to serve individuals at all levels and capacities within the university: undergraduates, graduate students, faculty of all descriptions, and academic staff. The material collected will seek to serve the varied missions of the departments: Teaching, research and extension support.

COLLECTION SCOPE

collection strength

CUL will seek to maintain a level 4—Research Level—collection in each of the aforementioned sub-fields of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

collection level

geographical guidelines

“Geography” will herein be taken to refer to the area of a publications’ treatment and not necessarily its place of publication. In that regard, the EAS collection will focus primarily on the United States and upon whatever geographic areas are being studied by Cornell-affiliated authors and secondarily upon all other geographic areas.

areas of significant geographic coverage

country (self-governing)

language guidelines

Most materials collected will be in English. Materials in languages other than in English will be evaluated individually based on importance to development of the collection’s strengths, affiliation with Cornell faculty, rarity elsewhere within WorldCat, and expense.

language

chronological guidelines

The EAS collection—taken to include portions of the collection kept at the Mann Library and Library Annex—is comprehensive going back well into the 1800s. In its future development, the EAS collection will primarily seek to collect contemporary, newly published materials, collecting older material as backfiles become available, upon request of faculty, staff or students or upon offer as a gift.

material types

With an eye toward longevity of possible use, it is the priority of the EAS collection to collect material in either print-monograph, print-journal or online format, with first preference for electronic, online access with additional preference for “perpetual access”. Print may be preferred, however, for certain materials, such as textbooks, where print materials may be more convenient. In such cases if electronic access cannot be easily secured and in which it is practical, it will be considered acceptable to collect such material in CD- or DVD format.

COLLECTION CONTEXT

housed in

related library subject collection

AFFILIATIONS

academic department

graduate field/program

RESPONSIBILITY

library contact