PROGRAM & COURSES

In the Brooklyn College Children's Studies Program are involved eleven faculty members including the Director Professor Gertrude Lenzer (Sociology) and Professors Margaret-Ellen Pipe (Psychology), H. A. Carrasquillo (Puerto Rican and Latino Studies), Gail B. Gurland (Speech Communication Arts and Sciences), Louise Hainline (Psychology), Lindley P. Hanlon (Film), Margaret L. King (History), Carol Korn Bursztyn (Education), Régine Latortue (Africana Studies), Betty Wolder Levin (Health and Nutrition Sciences), Roni L. Natov (English). For changes see at http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/childrensstudies/csf6.html. Gertrude Lenzer is the library representative for the program.

The Children's Studies Program offers an undergraduate minor, and Children's Studies concentration for majors in the following programs: early childhood education teacher (birth-grade 2); childhood education teacher (grades 1-6). There are five courses offered to students: Perspectives on Childhood, Special Topics: Issues in Children's Studies, The Human Rights of Children: a Transnational Development, Children in Crisis, The Professional Performing Child: Past and Present Issues. Special topics, seminars, and independent studies courses require advanced research.

FUNDING

The Children's Studies Collection is funded through state-levied money that comes through the annual budget of the Library. There are no gift funds devoted to Children's Studies.

GENERAL APPROACH TO MATERIALS SELECTION

A. ACQUISITIONS STRATEGY

Print and non-print resources are identified through review resources with broad subject area coverage including printed resources Choice, Library Journal, Booklist, online resources including Books in Print, Amazon, and specialized journals in the Brooklyn College Library collection that include book reviews. Publisher catalogs are checked for recent publications in the field. The online catalogs of other university and research libraries are checked for appropriate resources in specific areas. Books are also identified in the Strand Bookstore.
Electronic Web-based resources identified for subscription access will be recommended to the Children's Studies Program for consideration. Items that may be of interest to the entire City University of New York (CUNY) will be brought for consideration before that CUNY Electronic Resources Advisory Committee. Web resources that are available at no cost will be identified through their mention in other printed and electronic publications (including Web sites, listservs, and e-mail correspondences). These sites will be evaluated for appropriateness and, if accessible, added to the subject guide for Children's Studies on the Brooklyn College Library home page.

B. LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY

Materials will be collected on a college level to support undergraduate and to a lesser degree graduate course work through the master's level. Faculty research is supported as resources are available.

C. LANGUAGE

Materials will be collected in English.

D. GEOGRAPHIC AREAS INCLUDED/EXCLUDED

Collection includes primarily the United States issues as well as the rest of the world.

E. CURRENT PURCHASES

Current publications are of primary importance and account for most ordering activity.

F. FORMAT OF MATERIALS COLLECTED/EXCLUDED

Printed and non-printed resources will be collected. Videos will be ordered if requested by the program for classroom use. CD-ROMs may be ordered on a limited basis if they offer information not readily available in some other format. Electronic resources requiring a subscription for access as well as free electronic resources will be included.

G. REFERENCE POLICY

Bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, indexes and abstracts, standard reference tools, and materials that would normally circulate but are in "high" demand because of their importance should be included in the reference policy. All formats will be considered including paper, microform, CD-ROM and online.

H. DUPLICATION:

As is generally the policy of the Library, books will be not ordered in duplicate. Exceptions are made, however, for titles that will be in heavy demand.

I. WEEDING POLICY

Weeding should be done on a yearly basis to replace lost or stolen items and to remove popular materials that can be replaced by scholarly materials. Inventory should be made when organizations publish lists, or bibliographies are published, of core collections.

J. SELECTION ACTIVITY

The subject bibliographer for Children's Studies alerts the program library representative when funds become available for purchase and will encourage him/her to inform department colleagues of the availability of the budget. The bibliographer's goal is to balance with faculty requests.

SELECTION ACTIVITY/PROBLEMS

At this time, there appears to be no problems with selection.

COMMENTS

A system for alerting library and classroom faculty of important new acquisitions in Children's Studies and all areas could be beneficial. An alerting system may be integral with the newer version of the library catalog, as well as the newly constructed database of its uncatalogued electronic subject resources.

Updated: December 17th, 2006
Prof. Paraskeva Dimova-Angelov