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1. Purpose of the collection
The library collects in the field of Psychology primarily to support the teaching and research needs of the School of Psychology. Resources in this area are also utilised to a varying extent by other schools in the University.
2. Primary user group served
The School of Psychology offers subjects in the following undergraduate courses: Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. Honours may be accomplished by completing an additional 100 credit points from the psychology subject list.
First year psychology examines introductory contemporary psychology, research methodology and data research including statistics.
Second year core subjects include cognition, learning, social, developmental, applied psychology and psychological research methodology.
Third year electives are chosen from the following areas (applied/professional, social, developmental, biological and cognitive), in addition to a fourth elective from any area, or PY371 (Psychological research: Interpretation and evaluation).
Undergraduate psychology alone deals with more than 60 different courses.
Advanced psychology subjects are divided into the main branches of developmental psychology, physiological psychology, experimental design and analysis, social and organisational psychology and human associative psychology.
A program in cognitive science was introduced in 1991. This program comprises subjects in computer sciences, linguistics, philosophy and psychology plus core cognitive science subjects.
The school offers the following postgraduate courses:
Master of Clinical Psychology, Master of Clinical Psychology (Neuropsychology), Master of Organisational psychology, Master of Educational Psychology and Master of Sport and Exercise Psychology, PhD.
The School also offers a Doctor of Clinical Psychology program and two combined research and coursework PhD programs:
PhD (Clinical Psychology), PhD (Organizational Psychology)
Areas of research have been grouped into the broad categories of :
- clinical
- cognition and perception
- developmental
- evolutionary
- organisational
- social
- sport and exercise.
The library also acquires material to support the school's Centres of Teaching and Research.
3. Description of the collection
Main collecting areas in the past few years have been Psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, human environment, intergroup relations, physical disability, organisational behaviour, sports psychology (Sport and exercise psychology was introduced in 1996, and is run in conjunction with the School of Human Movement Studies), child psychology and habituation. Recent collecting centred on the areas of Gestalt, interpersonal, person-centred and reality therapies.
The Library subscribes to the major indexing services including the central title PsycInfo. Other indexes such as Medline and Social Sciences Index complement PsycInfo for stronger coverage of areas such as physiology and sociology.
4. Interdisciplinary relationships
Psychology is the basis for much research and teaching in the Social Sciences and the collection supports those schools.
5. Scope of current collection
1. Languages collected
The bulk of the collection is in English, though no languages are excluded.
2. Geographical areas collected
No geographical area is specifically excluded.
2. Chronological periods collected
No chronological periods are specifically excluded.
4. Types (formats) of material collected
No types of material are excluded. The emphasis is on journal and monograph literature.
5. Publication dates
The emphasis is on collecting recent publications. Older publications may be purchased to support teaching and research.
6. Special considerations
None.
7. Conspectus
The library has an extensive collection in the area of psychology. Resources inneuropsychology, neuropharmacology and genetic psychology are very strongly supported by the university's general collections in physiology and medicine. A substantial part of these collections were assessed as being of research level when the library undertook an assessment of its collections by the Conspectus method in 1993-94. One of Psychologys greatest strengths lies in its collection of academic periodicals. The monograph collection is adequate to support all undergraduate and most postgraduate coursework, as well as the more advanced independent study needs.
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