Wellesley College Library

Collection Development Policy for Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences

Subject Specialist: Deborah Lenares (x3596)
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The collection development policy for Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences guides the development and management of this multidisciplinary collection. This policy is for the use of the selector(s) for this collection, namely those who select in: philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and computer science. The policy will be updated as needed. Faculty and students are encouraged to provide recommendations for library materials.

GENERAL PURPOSE OF THE COLLECTION
The Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences collection primarily supports the undergraduate curriculum for the Cognitive and Linguistic Science major.  The collection supports student research in specific areas of interest.  The Collection serves as both a reference and basic research resource for students and faculty. The Collection is relatively strong in psychology texts on: cognition, linguistics, memory, perception, personality, and ability and cognition in children. It is also relatively strong in philosophy of mind and causation. Collecting in artificial intelligence is selective. Current collecting interests reflect curricular offerings which emphasize: language development, structure, and acquisition; brain and behavior, developmental and evolutionary psychology, memory, cognition; logic, scientific reasoning, speech acts; machine languages, bioinformatics, and visual processing. Particular emphases of this interdepartmental major reflect faculty strengths and include: decision-making, language processing, memory, perception, speech production and speech act theory, the nature of rationality, and language universals.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Types of Materials: Materials are purchased in all formats, with emphasis on the journal literature. Electronic access is the preferred format for journal literature.  Conference proceedings, laboratory manuals and protocols are selectively acquired when their topics support curricular offerings.  Single copies of textbooks are purchased selectively when their content provides a foundation of knowledge in a new or advanced area of science or when a text is so important to a field that its use and acceptance go beyond supporting introductory curriculum.  Materials created for individual use such as lab notebooks, workbooks and problem/answer sets are not purchased for the collection.

Readership Level: Material is collected at the college level, with emphasis on upper undergraduate/early graduate works. Entry level materials are acquired selectively to support courses fulfilling distribution requirements, as are popular materials to encourage reading about the sciences across the disciplines.

Languages Collected: The primary language of the collection is English. Some works on linguistics are available in French and were purchased by the French selector.

Geographical Areas Covered (intellectual content or publication source): Most materials are published in and purchased from the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. Intellectual content tends to be international in focus.

Chronological Periods Covered (intellectual content): Intellectual content of the collection is strongest in later twentieth and twenty-first century works.

Chronological Period Covered (publication dates): Current materials are the focus of almost all purchasing, but a retrospective collection is maintained particularly as it supports current course offerings and student research.

Shelving Locations: Books and journals are housed at the Science Library with the exception of most pre-1985 journal literature, which are housed at an off-site facility and are retrievable by request.  Some materials related to linguistics and philosophy are housed in the Clapp Library.  Online access to collections is provided through the Library website.

Reference: Reference material for the cognitive and linguistic sciences is purchased by the Science Librarian for Research and Instruction, and follows the general subject parameters of the cognitive and linguistic sciences collections policy. The scope includes, but is not limited to, the following types of material: dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and electronic search aids which support curricular programs.  Electronic access is the preferred format for reference works.

RELATED SUBJECTS & INTERDISCIPLINARY RELATIONSHIPS
Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences materials are purchased to support the curriculum, but are used by a variety of disciplines. Following are a few useful distinctions which may assist in the delineation of collecting responsibilities shared by a variety of collection managers.

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Page Created: November 2005
Last Modified: September 9, 2009