1. Purpose of the collection

The collection supports the teaching learning and research needs of staff and students in the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law and the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences

2. Primary user groups served

The library acquires materials primarily to support the undergraduates, postgraduates and staff of the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Business Economics and Law (except for Law) and the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences.

Historically, the Library has also supported the School of Human Movement Studies (Faculty of Health Sciences) the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Faculty of Health Sciences) and supported some of the teaching and research areas of the School of Geography, Planning and Architecture (Faculty of Engineering, Physical Sciences and Architecture).

The Social Sciences and Humanities Library helps to support the general information needs of the University with collections of reference materials, statistics, current information, government publications, workplace information and information on the tertiary education sector.

3. History of the collection

The social sciences collections in general do not show any sustained periods in collecting, but the journal holdings still reflect very substantial growth in teaching in those fields from the late 1950s onwards. However, voluminous collections of official documents from Great Britain, U.S.A., United Nations, and (to a lesser extent) Australian states, which particularly distinguished collecting in the social sciences in the 1950s through to the 1970s and early 80s, have now been much reduced, as user-pays pricing replaces gift and nominal pricing of government publications.

The collections of source materials in the humanities are best in the area of Australian studies, with the collection in Australian literature being particularly notable. Nowhere else in the collection have many first and variant editions been collected as such. Microfilms of newspapers, including retrospective sets, have been steadily acquired since the early 1960s, but the Australian newspaper collection is still substantially one from Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. There are many substantial microform sets of source material from English literature and history for the 16th, 17th, and 19th centuries, and in its overall selection policies (and provision of research funds) the School of English, Media Studies amd Art History followed very wide ranging selection policies for roughly three decades (mid 60s - mid 80s). In many areas in the humanities more attention has been given to source material than to academic commentary, particularly as funds have been constricted.

4. Description of existing collection

Over 620,000 books, 193,000 journal volumes, and 11500 current journal subscriptions are held in the Social Sciences and Humanities library. It also houses over 12,000 videos.

Undergraduate study is supported by purchase of materials, duplication of highly used materials, adjustment of loan rules to allow sharing of highly used materials and the provision of electronic resources to allow flexible use from the Library web site.

The strengths of the Social Sciences and Humanities Library are in Australian studies, Britain in the 16th and 17th, and 19th centuries and Psychology. A strong collection of reference materials supports the subject areas and is now enhanced by access to electronic information resources.

Databases of particular interest:
ABI/INFORM; Psycinfo; Australian Public Affair Information Service; Expanded Academic Index; Sociological Abstracts ; ERIC (Education); MLA Bibliography; Business Source Premier ; EconLit; Sport Discus; Art Index; Philosophers Index; Social work Abstracts; LLBA (Languages).

The library also has electronic access to collections of full text journals including: Project Muse; JSTOR; Academic Press Online library (IDEAL); Science Direct; Infotrac's Expanded Academic ASAP; Proquest education ; Proquest religion ; ABI/Inform (with full text).

5. Interdisciplinary relationships

Other University of Queensland branch libraries supplement the resources of the Social Sciences and Humanities Library. For example:

  • Psychological studies are also supported by the Health Sciences Libraries.
  • Geographical studies are also supported by the Dorothy Hill Physical Sciences and Engineering Library, the Architecture/Music Library and the Biological Sciences Library.
  • Business and Economics studies are also supported by the Economics/Business Library, the Gatton Library, the Biological Sciences Library, the Ipswich Campus Library and the Law Library.
  • Australian studies are supported by all other libraries (depending on the subject), but particularly by the Fryer Library.
  • Human Movement Studies and Speech Pathology and Audiology are also supported by the Health Sciences Libraries.
  • Many subjects within the core Faculties of Arts, Social and Behavioural Sciences and Business, Economics and Law have some overlap with the Ipswich Campus Library.

There is a formal policy in place, which is designed to minimize duplication of monographic titles and to rationalise the serial collection across the various branches of The University of Queensland Library.

6. Scope of current collecting

  1. Languages collected or excluded: The bulk of the collection is in English. In some topic areas there are important collections in other European languages - particularly German, French and Russian. There is a collection of classic texts in Japanese and Chinese.
  2. Geographical areas collected or excluded: Australian material is collected in most topic areas, Materials for European and United States studies are widely collected. South East Asian materials are being collected - particularly in European languages. African and South American areas are least collected.
  3. Chronological periods collected or excluded: No chronolological periods are specifically excluded. Primary and secondary materials prior to the modern period are collected to support historical, religious and anthropological studies.
  4. Types (forms) of material collected or excluded: The library has large collections in print, microform, video and audio formats. There is now a focus on building collections in electronic format.
  5. Publication dates: The emphasis is on collecting recent publications. Formed collections in print, electronic and microform format are collected to cover all publication periods.
  6. Conspectus: The detailed Conspectus ratings (1996) for collections for each school are included in the chapter on those schools.

    Collections in the Social Sciences and Humanities Library rated at Level 4 (Research):
    Australian literature; Australian history; Australian aboriginal languages; Australian aboriginal religion; Australian art - Prior to 1940; Australian national politics - 1945-; History - England Tudor and Stuart; History - England - 19th Century; Literature - English - Renaissance prose and poetry; Literature - English – Shakespeare; Literature - English - 19th Century; Production Economics – Australia; Women's Labor – Australia; Statistics for Australia and Queensland; Government - Official Documents - Australia and Queensland; Psychology - Theories - Behaviorism, Neo-Behaviorism, Functionalism; Methodology and Research; Statistics; Individual Psychology; Neurophysiology and Neuropsychology; Senses and Sensation; Consciousness, Cognition, Perception, Intuition; Learning and Cognition; Nature and nurture; Environmental psychology; Memory; Thought and thinking; Motivation; Feeling and Emotion; Developmental Psychology.

    Collections in the Social Sciences and Humanities Library rated at Level 3b (Advanced study):
    Australian art; History - World War I; World War II; Great Britain British Empire; England; England - 18th century; Rome to 476 B.C.; Ancient Greece; Greece - Bronze Age, Momeric, Archaic; Greece - classical Period, 479-323 BC; Italy - Ancient; Language - English Language (approaches 4); English Philology and language - (approaches 4); Anglo Savon, Old English, Middle English, Early Modern, Modern, dialects and provincialisms; Language - German; Greek; Greek - Hellenic dialects; English literature - general; history and criticism; literature by period, literature by form; collections, Anglo-Savon; Sanglo-Norman, Early Middle English; anonymous plays English Renaissance drama; English literature - 1900-1960; English literature - Provincial, colonial; Theatre in Western Europe; Literature - Greek literature; Greek drama, theatre and stage; Greek literature - papyri and papyrology; Latin Language; Latin Literature; Philosophy - Philosophy of language; Logic; Logic - Symbolic and Mathematical; Epistemology; Cosmology; Aesthetics; Ethics; Political Sciences - Political theory, theory of the State; Nationalism, Minorities, Geopolitics; Forms of the State; The State the the Individual, Liberty; Psychology - most sub categories of Psychology are rated at 3b; Religion - Study of comparative religion; Philosophy and psychology of religion; Natural Theology; Religious doctrines (Nature worship, etc.); Worship, cults; Mysticism; Anthropological studies of religion; Classical religion and mythology; Judaism - Ancient history; Christianity - Early Christian literature; Christianity - Church history - early and medieval; Puritanism; Buddhism; Buddhist literature; Sociology - Periodicals; Sociology - Environmental influences on man; Human Ecology (General); Sociology - Theory, Methodology; Sociolinguistics; Social psychology (approaches a 4); Economics Theory; Production Economics; Agricultural Economics; Education - Special Education; School administration and organisation; intelligence tests; statistical methods; literacy; educational history and research; educational psychology; educational research; developmental; processes, neuropsychological; Government - Great Britain to mid 1980's ; Constitutional history and administration; Immmigration and emmigration, Australia; United States treaties; Political Theory, Theory of the State; Nationalism, minorities, Geopolitics; Forms of the State; The State and the Individual, Liberty; Journalism and the Law; Management periodicals; Social Work - Australian material.