Guidelines for Social Work
Table of Contents
1. Purpose2. General Collection Guidelines
A. Language
B. Chronology
C. Geography
D. Publication Date
E. Treatment of Subject
F. Types of Materials and Formats
3. Area Resources
4. Related Subject Policy Statements
5. Subjects and Collecting Levels
6. Methodology
1. Purpose.
To support research and teaching in the undergraduate social work program and in the graduate professional master's and doctoral program in social policy and social work. Study in the MSW program combined with study in other programs or subjects can lead to students earning special certificates, i.e. a certificate in aging; a school social work certification; dual degree study in law; and dual degree study in Christian education. Specific areas of undergraduate and introductory master`s program concentration are: (1) social work practice; (2) the patterns of individual, group, and community behavior as they interact with each other and the social milieu; (3) the development, organization and operation of social welfare programs and policies; (4) the methods of scientific inquiry in social work; and (5) the needs of special populations. Advanced master's level study includes micro and macro social work practice in health, child welfare (includes families and children), mental health (includes substance abuse), and justice (includes juvenile justice).
2. General Collection Guidelines.
A.
Language.
English is the primary language of the
monograph collection. Foreign journal titles are acquired only if the majority
of the articles are in English or have English summaries.
B.
Chronology.
Primary emphasis is on the late nineteenth
and the twentieth centuries. Social work has developed from a group of
private charities and "friendly visitor" associations into a profession.
Private and public social work agencies have come into greater prominence
since the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935 and the 1960s "War
on Poverty". Social policy and social legislation with its codification
at a local, state and national level has increased significantly from the
1960s to date.
C.
Geography.
Major focus is on the United States and
Great Britain. Other areas of interest include Western European countries,
although developments in other areas, especially India and southeast Asia,
may result in attention to those areas in the future.
D.
Publication Date.
Emphasis is on materials published during
the last thirty years from the Johnson Administration to date. Retrospective
purchasing is selective and may involve microform, reprints, and photocopies
rather than the original format.
E.
Treatment of Subject.
Histories of social work and public welfare
programs are collected broadly; biographies of historical figures in the
field of social welfare are also collected. Compendiums of cases are of
great interest as are the texts of social legislation and general treatments
of the legal aspects of social work. Materials on social work research
and its statistical measurement and interpretation are collected widely.
All materials related to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (in its various editions), casebooks, and training guides,
are collected.
Annual proceedings and reports of professional associations are very valuable and are collected widely. Works written on a popular level are purchased selectively. Lower undergraduate textbooks are not purchased. Professional texts and anthologies containing reprints are considered for purchase. Because students in the School of Social Work, in conjunction with the Department of Gerontology, School of Allied Health, may earn a Certificate in Aging Studies, some materials are duplicated in the Cabell Library and the Tompkins-McCaw Library.
F.
Types of Materials and Formats.
Acquired materials may be in various formats:
monograph, reprint, periodical, microform, continuation, occasional paper,
irregularly published material, film, videocassette, filmstrip, audio-cassette,
database, data set, laser disc or software. Proceedings and reports of
conferences, reports of social welfare agencies and organizations and annual
reports of private or quasi-public societies and foundations are collected.
Much of the current material in a social work collection is in pamphlet
format. Pamphlets do not stand the test of time well, and that necessitates
constant pruning of the materials collection.
Government documents from social, medical and human resources and services agencies in the United States and the state of Virginia are collected by the Government Documents Department. University Library Services is a partial depository for US Government Documents and a depository library for Virginia State Documents. Documents from other state and local governments are purchased selectively on the basis of their availability and relevance to the curriculum. Dissertations may be added on a highly selective basis. Undergraduate textbooks are not collected.
Data bases such as Psychological Abstracts, ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, Inventory of Marriage and Family Literature, Social Science Citation Index, Index Medicus, Alcohol Use and Abuse, American Statistical Index, Child Abuse and Neglect, Criminal Justice Periodical Index, Drug Info, GPO Monthly Catalog, Health Planning and Administration, Legal Resources Index, Mental Measurements Yearbook, National Criminal Justice Reference Service, National Technical Information Service, Science Citation Index, Social Work Research and Abstracts, Social Welfare, Social Planning/Policy and Social Development are available to students and faculty in Social Work.
3. Area Resources.
Students and faculty have access to the State Library, the Supreme Court Library, and libraries at Union Theological Seminary, the University of Richmond Law Library and Virginia Union University.
4. Related Subject Policy Statements.
Social Work faculty and students share interests with related academic disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, psychiatry, public administration, criminal justice, urban planning, gerontology, substance abuse, health, economics, and law. In addition to covering these substantive areas, primary consideration is given to the method or process used in providing services. Therefore, a significant amount of the collection covers direct services, community organization and development, and social administration as methods of intervention with society.
5. Subjects and Collecting Levels.
| Subject | Call Number Range | Present | Desired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Work (General) | |||
| Social Work Practice and Research | HV10-HV520.5 | B | B |
| H61-H62 | C1 | C1 | |
| Human Development and Social Environment | HN | C1 | C1 |
| HT1501-HT1595; HM126-HM136; HM251-HM299 | C2 | B | |
| Social Welfare Policy and Services | HV70-HV696 | B | B |
| KF1-KF395 | C1 | C1 | |
| Field of Practice | |||
| Family and Child Welfare | HV697-HV803; HQ1-HQ1091; HV1450-HV1493;LB1101-LB1139; BF721-BF724 | C1 | B |
| Health | HV1551-HV3024; HV5001-HV5840; RA790-RA790.7 | C1 | B |
| Justice | HV680-HV684; HV6001-HV7428; HV9051-HV9230.7; KF9701-KF9710 | C1 | B |
| Mental Health | BF637 | B | B |
| HV3004-HV3009 | C1 | B | |
| HV891; RC689; RC321-RC576 | B | B | |
| RJ499-RJ506 | B | B | |
6. Methodology.
ULS' collection was assessed quantitatively by "list-checking" the following general and specialized bibliographies:
- Mendelsohn, Henry Neil.
A Guide to
Information Sources for Social Work and the Human Services. Phoenix
Az: Oryx Press, 1987.
Videka-Sherman, Lynn. Studies of Research on Social Work Practice: a Bibliography. Silver Spring, Md: National Association of Social Workers, 1986.
National Association of Social Workers. Encyclopedia of Social Work. 18th ed. Silver Spring, Md: National Association of Social Workers, 1986.
Matson, Margaret B. and Sheldon R. Gilman. Building the Undergraduate Social Work Library: an Annotated Bibliography. New York, NY: Council on Social Work Education, 1980.
Davis, Lenwood G. The Black Aged in the United States: a Selectively Annotated Bibliography. 2d ed. rev. and updated. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1989.