Collection Development Statement
Engineering

Written by
Connie Wu
Engineering Resource Librarian
Library of Science and Medicine
September 1994

A. SYSTEMWIDE SUBJECT OVERVIEW

A.1. Type and Level of Programs

Bioresources Engineering: BS, MS (Cook) Biomedical Engineering: MS, PhD Ceramics Science: BS, MS, PhD Chemical & Biochemical Engineering: BS, MS, PhD Civil & Environmental Engineering: BS, MS, PhD Electrical & Computer Engineering: BS, MS, PhD Industrial & System Engineering: BS, MS, PhD Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering: BS, MS, PhD Mechanics & Materials Engineering: MS, PhD

A.2. Selectors

Primary Selector: Engineering Resource Librarian at Library of Science and Medicine, New Brunswick is the only selector who has specific responsibility for selecting library materials for all the fields of Engineering.

Related Selectors: Appropriate librarians at Alexander Library, New Brunswick collect selectively related materials in Telecommunications.

Appropriate librarians at Dana Library, Newark and Robeson Library, Camden collect selectively related materials in the fields related to academic programs on their campuses.

A.3. Academic and Research Programs

The College of Engineering on Busch campus, New Brunswick offers academic programs leading to B.S., M.S. and Ph.D in Bioresources Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Ceramics Science, Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Industrial & Systems Engineering, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, and Mechanics & Materials Science. There are approximately 2,600 undergraduates, 800 graduate students (including full time and part time students) and 220 full-time and part-time engineering faculty members at the nine departments in the College of Engineering. As of March 1993, there are 19 engineering related research centers at Rutgers as follows:

• Advanced Technology Center for Surface Engineering Materials
• Center for Advances Biotechnology & Medicine (Associated)
• Center for Advanced Food Technology (Associated)
• Center for Ceramic Research
• Center for Computer Aides for Industrial Productivity
• Center for Digital Signal Processing
• Center for Energy Storage and Battery Technology
• Center for Hazardous & Toxic Substance Management (Associated)
• Center for Materials Synthesis
• Center for Packaging Science & Engineering
• Center for Plastics Recycling Research
• Energy Analysis and Diagnostic Center
• Environmental & Occupational Health Science Institute (Associated)
• Federal Aviation Center
• Fiber Optics Materials Research Program
• Interfacial Molecular Science Laboratory
• Laboratory for Nanostructural Materials Research
• Microelectronics Research Laboratory
• Wireless Information Network Laboratory

A.4. Purpose

To support the undergraduate through Ph.D instructional and research programs of the College of Engineering. The College consists of eight departments (see A.2. for specialties) on Busch Campus and the Department of Bioresources Engineering on Cook campus. Besides 19 research centers mentioned in A.2., the College also has numerous engineering laboratories.

In addition, the engineering collection at LSM serves the entire Rutgers University community and users outside of the university who are interested in this area of knowledge.

A.5. Resource Sharing Arrangements or Limitations

No special arrangements. Engineering disciplines overlap with almost all the basic science fields, therefore, the engineering collection users also utilize resources in the Mathematical Sciences Library, Chemistry Library, Physics Library, Douglass Library, and Newark and Camden campus libraries.

A.6. History

Engineering courses at Rutgers date back to the founding of the Rutgers Scientific School. The first engineering courses were taught in 1864. As the first professional college of Rutgers, the College of Engineering was established in 1914. The engineering collection was housed in Voorhees Hall first, and then moved to Alexander Library in 1956 when the library was built. The Library of Science and Medicine(LSM) has served as the principal collection for the College of Engineering since its opening in 1970.

A.7. Location of Materials

40,000 monographs, 3,000 reference materials, 1,000 active periodical and standing order titles and 4,000 microforms are located in LSM. In addition, the U.S. patent collection from 1969 to date is also placed in LSM. Since 1991, the Engineering Index on CD-ROM has been acquired for LSM.

Numerous journals and monographs which related to engineering are located in the Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematical Sciences Libraries on Busch campus.

22,000 monographs are scattered at Dana, Douglass, Robeson. Kilmer and Alexander Libraries, for instructional needs.

Number of back volumes of engineering monographs and periodicals are stored in Annex.

B. COLLECTION GUIDELINES

B.1. Language Guidelines

Collect extensively English language materials. Collect selectively translations of foreign language materials. Exclude all other languages except on faculty request.

B.2. Chronological Guidelines

Collect extensively latest engineering materials. Collect selectively all other periods. Minimal retrospective purchasing.

B.3. Geographical Guidelines

Collect extensively materials published in North America, Europe and Japan. Collect selectively materials published in any country with a well-developed technology.

B.4. Treatment of Subject

Engineering is a field with both theoretical and applied aspects. It is highly interdisciplinary, particularly in the physical sciences. The primary focus is on research literature appearing in scientific journals and conference proceedings and monographs summarizing research on or emphasizing applied mathematics, physics and chemistry, biotechnology and computer technology. LSM is attempting to build a research level engineering collection (level 4). The collection covers all the subjects mentioned in A.2., with emphasis on Electrical & Computer Engineering, Ceramics and Materials Science and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering because of the large number of students and research projects in those fields.

B.5. Types of Materials

Since engineering information changes rapidly, the collection demands research journals, proceedings/symposia, transactions, research level monographs, handbooks, technical publications of professional associations. Important trade publications will be also included.

Acquisition of relevant electronic resources, especially indexes, abstracts, reference books and the important full-text in electronic formats should always be considered.

General technical reports from corporations and universities, and standards and codes should be collected very selectively because of the high costs.

Materials for undergraduate level should be collected only for the academic purposes.

B.6. Strengths and Weaknesses

Compared with the monograph collection, the engineering journal collection at LSM is relatively strong. Holdings of abstracting and indexing series are fairly comprehensive. LSM has better collections in the fields of Ceramics and Materials Science, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Industrial and System Engineering than other engineering fields. On an average, there are about 18.18 journal titles per faculty for a particular engineering discipline. General speaking, the engineering collection at Rutgers provides a basic support for undergraduate and graduate academic programs as well as research projects for the College of Engineering.

The overall collection is at an inadequate level resulting from budget cuts and lack of a full-time engineering librarian before 1988. The collection needs considerable strengthening. Conference proceedings and technical publications of professional associations should be emphasized. There is a need to continually strengthen the journal collection and to purchase back issues for certain important journal titles.

C. SELECTED LC CLASSES, COLLECTING LEVELS AND RESPONSIBILITIES