SOCIAL SCIENCES LIBRARY
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY
CRIME, LAW AND JUSTICE
SUBJECT SPECIALIST AND PRINCIPAL SELECTOR:
Stephen Woods, Social Science Librarian
The Social Sciences Library
208C Paterno Library
814-865-0665
swoods@psu.edu
Created: 7/07 (SJW)
PURPOSE AND PROGRAMMATIC INFORMATION
The Pennsylvania State University Libraries collect many materials related to the study
and teaching of crime, law, and justice. Among the items that can be found at the libraries
are books, maps, journals, videos, and electronic resources.
The collections reflect the focus of the Department of Sociology and Crime, Law &
Justice, with resources particularly concentrated in criminology, delinquency, social
stratification, inequality, and statistical methods.
In addition, the Libraries have resources related to faculty interests, such as: criminal
justice theory, deviant behavior, juvenile justice, law and society, life course studies,
mental health, networks, occupations and professions, sentencing, social and
environmental psychology, social disorganization, social psychology, social psychology
of violence, and victimization.
SCOPE OF THE COLLECTION
Research in crime, law and justice is cross-disciplinary and may overlap with research in
the following areas:
Anthropology
Women Studies
African, African American Studies
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
Political Science
Sociology
Communications
Law
Information Sciences and Technology (IST)
I. Materials collected
A. Languages Collected. Emphasis is placed on English language materials, with a
small proportion of titles purchased in German and French.
B. Geographical Limits. No region or country is excluded, growing focus on
international aspects of communications. A growing interest in international and
foreign, particularly African sources.
C. Chronological Limits. The collection is developed across all time periods. An
emphasis is placed on current research.
D. Major Publishers
 Lawrence Erlbaum
 Taylor and Francis
 Sage
 University Presses
 Association publications (i.e., The American Society of Criminology,
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, European Society of Criminology,
The National Council on Crime and Delinquency, The Institute for Criminal
Justice Ethics, National Association for Youth Justice)
E. Reference Works. Collect encyclopedias and dictionaries; directories; handbooks
and biographical works.
Periodicals. Include scholarly journals and serials published by professional
organizations. Journals are subscribed to in print and/or electronically. Databases
providing e-journals of relevance to Sociology include and not limited to:
Criminal Justice Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, PsychINFO, and Social
Science Citation Index.
G. Government and International Organization Publications. U.S. government
publications are of some importance to this fund. Publication from the Bureau of
Justice, FBI, and INTERPOL are significant interest.
H. Video/DVD collections. Some videos and DVD are selected, but only those that
are frequently used/shown in the classroom.
I. Generally Excluded
 Textbooks (some exceptions for core textbooks in the field that are used in
introductory and survey courses)
 Reprints of articles or other materials, especially if contained in journals
owned
 Popular works
 Less emphasis on practitioner sources
 Dissertations

Juvenile materials
J. Areas of focus/strength: Resources that concentrate in the areas of criminology,
delinquency, social stratification, inequality, and statistical methods.
II. Electronic Resources







Criminal Justice Abstracts
National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)
Sociological Abstracts
Social Science Citation Index
PsychINFO
Annual Reviews
ICPSR
COORDINATING AND COOPERATIVE EFFORTS
I. Related Funds:
 SOCREF
 SOCIO
 BEHSCI
 BUSGRP
 SOCSCGRP—AV and Mono
 DOCS
 POLSC
 DATA
 MAPS
II. Campus Locations. Because other campuses and the World Campus offer majors,
classes and certificates in crime, law and justice, some duplication of key resources will
be necessary to serve the large number of majors.
III. Data/Statistical Collections. Research in crime, law and justice at Penn State relies
on the use of demographic and secondary numeric data. There is also an increasing
number of emerging researchers at Penn State using geospatial data.