"We may begin by noting that sociologists increasingly fail to ask what is worth knowing and what is not (Moore 1998). Instead they either plunge headlong into highly specialized and methodologically sophisticated investigations of matters of moderate significance or pursue zealously and with an apparently satisfying sense of resentment the political-ideological issues bequeathed to us by the 1960s." ~ Paul Hollander
"Sociology threatens to join phrenology as a pseudo science and to share the fate of the occult studies in being viewed more as a privileged language of dedicated elites than as a field of investigation broadly reflective of public needs." ~ Irving Horowitz
"A quite probable future for sociology is gentle decline into an atmosphere of nostalgia. As the realm of "the market" expands, the realm of the "social" shrinks." ~ R.W. Connell
"In fact, for various reasons, academic sociology has largely been transformed from the applied science envisioned by the founders into what is essentially a literary pursuit. The journal article, especially, has become the essential product of one's labors, and with good reason. For it is the article, and the article alone, that, if published in the right place, can secure a good job, win tenure, ensure promotion, and -- if widely cited -- gain one a sort of immortality (or at least 15 minutes of fame). ~ Jay Weinstein
"The early years were shaped by Christian projects of social reform, the settlement house movement, and other currents in the development of social-welfare institutions; efforts to integrate and provide what we would now call social capital to both African-Americans and immigrants; and concern for the depopulation of rural America and the problems of urbanization." ~ Craig Calhoun and Troy Duster
Sociology is the scientific study of human social behavior, interaction between humans, social institutions, and social organization/structure. Sociology examines the relations between all aspects of social life {social facts and problems} in modern industrialized society, but with some special emphasis on class, race, and gender. Because of this broad scope, it is the most inclusive of the social sciences. In fact, if sociology is the "systematic study of collective human behavior," it would be THE social science.
Perhaps unique in the social sciences, sociology is concerned with the character and dynamics of modern, industrial society. Like anthropology, sociology focuses on culture-- ways of thinking, feeling, and acting learned from others as members of a group (here the social relations are the focus). Micro sociologists look at particular interactions. Macro sociologists look at the pattern of interactions, usually in larger groups. Norms or rules or models of conduct are of particular interest to sociologists. Norms and expectations vary from group to group as does social structure which is the pattern of recurring interaction among individuals with different roles.
Given its birth with the industrial age, sociology has a long history of interest in solving the problems associated with urbanization and industrialization. Such problems might include:
This problem orientation has led to a focus on the "victims" of modern industrial society. Women, racial and ethnic groups have received considerable attention.
The American Sociological Association has a list of sections that illustrates the major interest areas.
One critic argues that there are really 30 or 40 sociologies, "going off in every direction." toward history, economics, politics, law, rural life, industry, and religion. There is no social activity that does not have its official sociologist." There are many sub fields in sociology. Here are some important ones:
In the late 1990s, sociological theory, research methods, and social organization appeared to be most popular.
Sociological research and teaching may also be topical. Here are some important topics that have or are on their way to becoming separate disciplines in some research universities. Typically, they are problem or mission oriented and thus are more inter- or cross disciplinary. In some places, criminology is seen as more of a separate profession--like social work--than an academic discipline.
As is true of the other social sciences, there could be a sociology of
almost anything. For example, there is a sociology of science and a sociology
of religion. Why not the sociology of model railroading or library sociology?
Sociology may be a discipline, a perspective, or a group of research methods.
"Sociology itself was initially an amalgam of interests in partial reform, total societal reorganization, and theoretical science. Especially in the English-speaking countries, it was markedly associated with programs for ameliorating the condition of the urban poor, and as it become more high toned and theoretical and less interested in immediate and local reform, it left room for [social work]." -- Murray Wax
Sociology has historically been little interested in practical work or solving immediate social problems. Early in the academic history of sociology in the U.S., those who wanted to solve immediate social problems left sociology to found schools of social work. Clinical sociologists, like social workers, may directly help people. Otherwise, sociological research, perhaps like pure research, only indirectly helps society to solve social problems.
Sociology maintains the closest relationship to anthropology. Sociologists are the only social scientists outside of anthropology to use the anthropological literature to any extent. Both disciplines seek to understand human society as a whole. Both use ethnographic field methods. The traditional division based on pre-industrial (anthropology) and industrial societies (sociology) is breaking down as anthropologists spend more time with urban, industrialized societies. Traditionally, sociology was anthropology in an urban, industrial setting.
For some time, sociologists have studied areas slighted by other SS disciplines:
Most of these problem areas are inherently interdisciplinary. For example, how can one study crime without studying the politics that define crime or the economics that create joblessness? It is also important to note that the other social sciences are now more interested in this topics and they are receiving much more attention within each of the social science disciplines and professions.
The evidence suggests that sociology is the social science discipline most likely to lend to other social science disciplines. Methodological material is most likely to be borrowed by the other social science disciplines.
For a variety of reasons, sociologists have tended to be critical of existing social organizations and institutions. Many sociologists have been visible advocates for dramatic social change. Their research has often been interpreted as an attack against the status quo. In the past, many sociologists have favored governmental intervention in order to insure more equity in society. That has enhanced the confusion by some conservatives between "sociology" and "socialism."
A considerable amount of sociological research is done in government agencies, research firms, and think tanks of various kinds. There are also a few large research firms such as Mathematica Policy Research, the Urban Institute, and Abt Associates. Some recent estimates have found that academics account for less than fifty percent of sociologists.
Political arithmetic began in Great Britain in the 1600s. As demographic and census activity increased, data became available on the nature of social problems. From 1815-1848, public hygienists and medical reformers became increasingly concerned with the condition of the working and lower classes in the urban, industrial environment. Moral statisticians could use demographic and other census data to generate theories to explain population and social problems including crime, suicide, and pauperism. As interest grew, there was increased demand for more detailed data sets and for scholars to interpret them. In its beginning, sociology was most concerned with solving immediate, highly visible urban problems.
Between 1830 - 1842, Auguste Comte's Cours de Philosophie Positive gave sociology a name and place among the academic disciplines. Comte, long interested in the history of human society, saw sociology as the master science of human behavior which would discover the laws of human society just as natural science discovered the laws of nature. There was considerable emphasis on morality and moral progress. Scientific thought would guide social planning. Sociology would organize and systematize all human knowledge. Knowledge gained from sociological research would render government and human affairs more efficient. Society was seen as a set of functional relationships. One of Comte's most important colleagues was Henri de Saint-Simon who was one of the founders of socialism.
In the last part of the 19th Century, sociology was increasingly recognized as an academic discipline in Europe. Emile Durkheim became highly visible and promoted sociological research. He established the Annee Sociologique, the first French social science periodical. Increasingly, sociology focused on "human behavior as structure and process," discensus, control and power in human affairs," and society as a "set of functional relationships."
During the same time, sociology emerged in the U.S. Curiously, contemporary sociology is mostly American. The first U.S. sociology course was taught at Yale in 1875. By 1893, the first U.S. sociology department was established at the University of Chicago. This became the center of U.S. sociology until the 1940s. A year later, in 1894, the first U.S. sociology text book was published. The following year, the first issue of the American Journal of Sociology was issued by the University of Chicago. By 1900, some large U.S. universities had sociology departments. In 1905, the American Sociological Society was established. Still, the discipline began with no focused content and some confusion between sociology and social work. There was considerable emphasis on the social determinants of behavior. Many academics believed that society could be changed as social scientific principles were understood and applied. Christian ethics, the social gospel, could be implemented with these scientific-based principles. Some critics suggest that U.S. sociology was really the secularization of American Protestantism's social gospel.
Other disciplines were skeptical and even hostile toward sociology. They saw sociology more as a movement than an intellectual discipline. It lacked a core of scientific method and theoretical content. The association with socialism was also a continuing problem, especially in the conservative American university.
The first sociological research techniques developed outside of the universities by social workers, philanthropists, public health and charity workers, journalists and reformers. Many of these were committed, college educated women. Sociology hoped to be able to explain behavior and tell us what society ought to be. Instead, early sociology was a hodge podge study of poverty, crime, insanity, marriage and divorce, slums and other social pathologies.
Community studies were popular with sociologists at this time. There was considerable emphasis on descriptive sociology (accurate descriptions of social phenomena in the community) via field work. Collecting facts was pain-staking work. Research techniques developed slowly. Later, survey data could be used to develop theories.
The industrialization and urbanization of the U.S. had a profound influence on the emerging sociological discipline. America was changing from an economy of small family farms to one of giant corporations. Many immigrants added to the "melting pot." At the same time, there was a dramatic rural to urban migration. With industrialization came concentration of wealth and economic power and distress among many farmers and workers.
Sociological topics were widely but not always thoughtfully discussed. Some saw sociology as the psychology of society. Sociology was strongly supported by notable Protestant clergy, especially those focused on the "social gospel," municipal reformers, and philanthropists who hoped to translate Christian ethics into "scientifically informed" action. People with a ministerial background were recruited into the field. Reformers were often respectable American, Protestant, with middle and upper middle class backgrounds likely to be agreeable to boards of trustees of universities and colleges. If sociology was a science, American society would be its laboratory. Social engineering, based on solid research, would create a new society.
In the beginning sociologists once did what is now called social work. However, by 1915 there was a notable shift to empirical research. As sociology became less hospitable to practical work in the field, those interested in social service left. In 1920, the University of Chicago established a Graduate School of Social Service Administration and that was the beginning of social work as a profession based upon distinct academic training.
In the 1920s, an increasing number of sociologists decided to become more scientific and objective. The role of the scientist was different from that of the citizen or the reformer. Sociological research methods were more statistically sophisticated. There was more borrowing of method and theory from genetics, economics, and psychology. In the 1930s and 40s, the Federal government became more interested in population statistics. That and increased use of public opinion surveys created more and larger data sets. The Department of Agriculture was interested in sponsoring research in rural sociology (often found in the College of Agriculture and separate from the Sociology Department in the College of Liberal Arts).
During the War, sociologists were active in intelligence and public opinion work. Ruth Benedict's seminal work on Japanese culture had considerable impact on Federal government decisions about the conduct of the War and post-War Japanese government. In 1949, the publication of the The American Soldier (Stouffer et al) showed that sociological research could make a difference.
In the late 1940s and 1950s, more interaction with European sociologists increased interest in using Marxian notions to analyze social problems and relationships. At the same time, large scale research projects, often financed by foundations, encouraged and strengthened large scale survey research and the metrics and statistics that went with it. Quantitative research methods became a test of professionalism. Multi-variate statistics received increasing attention.
In the 1950s/60s, applied fields dealing with social behavior blossomed outside of Sociology. For example, Industrial Sociology became a specialty in schools of business and management as well as some psychology departments. Criminology and Family Studies also experienced substantial growth and became "independent" in some universities and colleges. As more women entered the discipline, there was increased frustration with male dominated departments and professional associations. A feminist agenda arose and received considerable attention.
During the same period, sociologists became increasingly interested in data analysis and statistics. Demography, social organization, and social stratification became popular because more data available was available for research in these fields. Sociology became much more focused on being scientific and there was less interest in social problems.
Sociology had developed strong linkage to the "welfare" state and to the professions that dealt with social problems: social work, social administration, education, and public health. The practical aspects of sociology such as criminology and industrial relations began to distance themselves from the academic sociology department.
The two decades after WW II were a time of great expansion for sociology with more departments established and growing enrollments. By the 1960s, sociology was in a decline.
In the 1960s and 1970s, radical movements added socialist, feminist, and anti-colonial thought to Western Sociology.
Primarily because of the growth in the scope of the Federal government, there has been an enormous amount of data collected about U.S. society. Sociologists have made important contributions in improving the collection and analysis of statistical data. They have created a rich variety of research techniques, especially for survey research.
Sociological research has highlighted the complexity of ordinary social events and processes. We are now more likely to see the complex network of relationships of reciprocity, exchange, power, cooperation, and conflict present in our society. We are more likely to understand that things are almost always more complicated than they seem. Sociological research strongly suggests that simple solutions to complex problems are not likely to work. In particular, sociological research has had a dramatic impact in challenging segregation and promoting racial and ethnic equality.
The American Sociological Association provides a substantial amount of trend data on academic sociology.
There are about 20,000 sociologists and most are male. About 80 percent are employed in an academic setting. Government and nonprofit organizations employ the rest. More than 600,000 students take an introductory sociology course each year so sociology has considerable exposure for those who go to college. More than 1000 colleges and universities offer a BA/BS degree in sociology. There are more than 100 Ph.D. programs. Academic employment is limited to replacement positions. Perhaps because of this, interest in the practical aspects of sociology, such as criminology, clinical, medical and gerontology, are increasing. There is expansion in positions in government, research organizations, and business,especially in social services.. Those with strong research methods skills are likely to be more competitive job candidates. The leading Ph.D. granting institutions are:
In the past few years, some colleges and universities have closed or reduced their sociology departments.
Besides academic teaching, research and public service, "sociologists enter the corporate, non-profit, and government worlds as directors of research, policy analysts, consultants, human resource managers, and program managers. Practicing sociologists with advanced degrees may be called research analysts, survey researchers, statisticians, urban planners, community developers, criminologists, or demographers. Some MA and PhD sociologists obtain specialized training to become counselors, therapists, or program directors in social service agencies."
Sociology has had a tendency to recruit reformers from the beginning when sociology emerged from moral philosophy in the late 19th century. Sociologists were, and many remain so today, often concerned with reform and are frequently critical of the status quo. This may irritate legislators and board of trustee members. In some circles, sociology has the reputation of being a "pusher of unpopular causes" and the sociology department may be seen as a "center of radicalism." As one authority noted, "sociology tends to prosper during surges of public concern with social problems and to languish in conservative periods."
The pursuit of social justice may also lead researchers into advocacy research where objectivity and scientific method may not be as important as justice. If sociology becomes the study of "victims," cause and effect may become less important than a crusade on behalf of the victim.
Still, it seems true that academic sociology is much more concerned with graduating researchers than reformers.
While almost any social science research my seem trivial to some one, sociological research has obvious problems. Sociologists frequently study those on the margins of society and topics such as the study of boredom or why people drink may seem especially trivial to the critic.
Given the complexity of the social relationships studied, there are conflicting findings on many critical questions. This further strengthens the notion that sociological research is trivial.
Sociology has not been especially successful in guiding government decisions about social problems. Even if sociological research was well and articulately packaged, it seems doubtful that decision-makers would act upon that research. Critics suggest that sociologists seem more interested in causes than consequences. Sociological research has been weak in predictive power. There seems to be some continuing tension between those who believe that social behavior is caused by the environment and those who believe in more individual responsibility.
Sociology, in several countries, has been the enemy of the status quo. Much misinformation is well-entrenched. Because people "know" what sociologists study, they don't take it seriously. For example, everyone "knows" that many people on welfare live very well and that capital punishment deters violent crime even though the evidence disagrees.
Sociological literature is often difficult for the lay person to understand. "What do you get when you cross a sociologist with a Mafia member? An offer you can't understand."
Respectable, empirically-oriented sociologists and others in urban planning, demography, criminology, public health, and family studies have left to form their own disciplines or professions. Far more academics are involved with town planning than urban sociology.
The host of sub disciplines often fail to communicate between themselves. As is true of other academic disciplines, relatively few sociologists identify with the discipline as much as with their research area. It is difficult to develop discipline-wide generalizations and insights.
As sociology has become more scientific and quantitative, there is less interest in applied work or solving social problems. Too, sociological research has become much less accessible to the lay person. There is substantial tension between those who do qualitative and theoretical research and those who focus on quantitatively analyzed survey research.
Sociology is very much a creature of a national culture. Orientation and approach tends to very by nation/country. Obviously, this weakens the claim of sociology to be a science (sciences are universal).
Ethnocentrism is a problem. Too much of sociology is based on Western, urban industrial societies and their values, especially the adult, middle class, white, urban/suburban male.
U.S. sociology has long been dominant, but European sociology has become much more important and visible in the last few decades. Some argue that the "centre of gravity has shifted elsewhere, particularly to Europe." This may create more pressure for collection developers to include more European periodicals.
"The intellectual techniques on which sociology is based, and which one must master to become a good practitioner of sociology, were developed by Western intelligentsias and passed on within Western university systems." It will be interesting to see if this culture is affected by views from those who live in other societies and hold different views.
Academic sociologists study problems where funding exists. This means that external agencies determine the sociology research agenda. Money used to support graduate students determines their research agenda, perhaps for their career. For example, sociology of medicine became popular when federal and foundation funding became available.
There are several studies of gangs, prostitutes, gamblers, medical students, etc. but few relatively few studies of those occupations where many Americans work, especially service ones. Historically, sociology may have appealed to those most interested in studying those outside the mainstream. This and a tendency for sociologists to be politically left of most academics has created tensions with academic administrators and boards.
Periodical articles are the most favored mode of publication with monographs second. Leading periodicals are [ranked]
Data archives, including collections of public opinion surveys are popular. Reports, especially government publications dealing with social problems may be heavily used.
Frequently published researchers are most likely to have graduated from a prestige school and to have presented a preliminary oral report at a national conference. About 40 percent of sociological authors collaborate, and this percentage is growing. Interestingly, multiple authored works are more likely to be cited.
About 60 percent of the literature is to sociology. Political science is the external discipline most frequently cited, followed closely by psychology and medicine. Attitude and perception studies are frequently cited. Political scientists are more likely to borrow from sociology than any other discipline. Although many sociologists use the psychological literature, few psychologists use the sociological literature. Typically, sociologists use material less than 10 years old. Most citations are to English language items. It is curious that there is little evidence of government publications being used.
Sociological Abstracts [now includes Sociofile] is issued six times per year. The hard copy edition began in 1952 while the digital one began in 1963. Abstracts first appeared in 1974. This title covers about 2000 periodicals from 35 countries under 29 broad topics [including social work]. Appropriate items from related disciplines are included. Coverage includes periodical articles, conference papers, books and book chapters, dissertations, and reviews. More than 35,000 items are added each year.
Sociofile was the complete Sociological Abstracts from 1974 plus all of the items in the SOPODA database. It too is updated six times per year. Sociological Abstracts focuses on theory and method. Social Planning/Policy Development Abstracts (SOPODA) focuses on applied and social problems. The Thesaurus of Sociological Indexing Terms is important and should be consulted before series use of the data base.
Social Planning/Policy Development Abstracts (SOPODA) began in 1979 and is available only in a digital edition. The print edition ceased at the end of 1996. It has a practical, applied, problem-oriented emphasis. It contains article abstracts and book reviews.
The Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) covers linguistics, literacy, speech and hearing, language acquisition, and language research. It is available in a digital edition and is issued five times per year. About 2000 periodicals world-wide are covered. Inclusions are articles, books, book chapters, occasional papers, technical reports, dissertations and book reviews. A subset of LLBA focusing on applied linguistics is Second Language Instruction/Acquisition Abstracts (SLIA) is issued twice per year.
Thorough searching will begin with use of The Thesaurus of Sociological Indexing Terms which identifies the descriptors to be used.
SocINDEX and SocINDEX with Full Text are marketed by Ebsco and is the newest sociology database. It contains more than 1.3 million records, a new sociological thesaurus, abstracts for over 600 core periodicals with some going back to 1895, and selective coverage of additional titles. Some books and conference papers are also included.
Another relatively new database, but more limited in coverage since many of the periodicals covered are published by Sage. About 30 periodical titles are covered with full text. The CSA interface is well done and the collection has received positive reviews. Still, the notion of databases limited to one publisher's list is an awkward one for libraries who would strongly prefer larger, integrated collections.
On the average, the academic sociologist publishes one article every other year, but the median is close to zero. Most academics are teachers and not researcher - teachers. Teachers need popular, synthetic articles and monographs. Video material is increasingly popular. There is continuing interest in "hot" problem areas. The review periodicals are important for collection development:
Here are a few examples of the type of data that might be useful for one sociology specialty -- criminology:
As sociologists become more interested in ethnic issues, a full-text database such as Ethnic NewsWatch can become quite useful. It contains articles from about 200 ethnic, minority, and native publications. Content analysis here can provide some insights.
Specialized data handbooks such as the Statistical Handbook on Adolescents in America, the Statistical Handbook on Aging Americans, or the Statistical Handbook on Women in America, can be very useful but date much more quickly than the Statistical Abstract.
Federal government agencies provide this data and much more. The Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice, the the FBI, the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data and the University of Albany, Justice Research Center provide a wide variety of related data on crime and justice.
Again, popular, synthetic, well illustrated and clearly written works that summarize the state of the art are needed. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks should be available to define and clarify topics. Not all sociological terms are intuitive so dictionaries often represent a good beginning place. Specialized encyclopedias and handbooks answer many questions and are the next logical step for many users. Most students will prefer to find periodical articles in the popular full-text data bases rather than in Sociological Abstracts. Although Sociological Abstracts is a comprehensive source, there are important complementary sources for such topics as social gerontology and criminal justice.
Students looking for topics or interested in current awareness will find these to be the core periodicals:
Biographical sources, such as American Social Leaders and Activists, are useful for answering queries about reformers and academic notables. Directories, such as the Directory of Members of the American Sociological Association, provide quick access to contact information.
Collection development note: Choice misses many notable sociology books and places many sociology books under other subject tags. Contemporary Sociology is the best review source for building a selective collection.
Social workers here include counselors, psychotherapists, community organizers, human service agency administrator, and welfare workers. Most social workers are employed in governmental and nonprofit agencies. Major fields are:
Popular social work topics include:
Social Work Abstract Abstracts Plus , created by the National Association of Social Workers, is the standard for the profession. Covers about 450 periodicals dealing with social work and the human services professions. Covers the period from 1977 to present. The hard copy edition is issued quarterly with about 450 abstracts in each issue. All abstracts are in English. The classification scheme will prove useful to searchers. Note that social work covers a wide variety of subjects including: aging, alcohol abuse, crime, gerontology, public health, social issues, and welfare.
A newer title, Social Service Abstracts, is created by Sociological Abstracts and provided by Cambridge Scientific Abstracts [CSA]. It covers the period from 1980 to present and is updated monthly. Topics covered include: community development, social welfare, crisis intervention, evaluation research, family and social welfare, gerontology, policy, planning and forecasting, poverty and homelessness, social work education, violence, abuse, neglect, and welfare services. About 1500 periodicals are monitored. Search aids include a sociological terms thesaurus and a social services classification scheme. Monthly updates with about 400 records added each time. Abstracts are reasonably full.
Sage Family Studies Abstracts is issued quarterly and includes about 1000 records per year. It covers family and marriage issues including abuse, a wide variety of problems, sexuality and several other related topics.
Social work as an academic discipline focuses on developing knowledge. About 80 percent of all research articles are produced by academics.
Social work as a profession focuses on "how to do it good." Few practitioners read research periodicals or use their findings. There is little connection between "theoretical knowing and practical doing." Information that characterizes and summarizes what is known about a particular type of client is needed. Information about regulations, laws, and licensure is crucial. Funding opportunity information is particularly important to managers of social work agencies.
Social work borrows information from a variety of social science and allied disciplines:
One study found that the RC class (internal medicine), the HV class (social pathology, welfare, and the HQ class (family, marriage, woman) are especially important for the social work student.
Although most practitioners do not use databases, those involved in instruction and research do. These databases are most often used for social work:
Few practitioners read research periodicals or use research findings. Thus, there is little connection between social work research and practice. One critic notes that most practitioners are women who reject the values and "predictability of empirical science in favor of the practice wisdom of the practitioner which includes the intuitive, creative, and imaginative talents of the social worker." Social workers rely heavily on informal communication. "Practice wisdom" is rarely shared with academics.
Many important sociological concepts are not represented or are poorly represented in the DDC schedules. DDC terminology is often dated and does not reflect descriptors found in the literature.
There is relatively little interest in sociology as a discipline. Problem areas much in the news, such as gangs, addictions, teen sexuality, and the like may appear in health education classes.
Non-profit agencies and advocacy organizations often lack a library or an information center. A larger public library may choose to help with a collection oriented toward problem identification and solving literature on a variety of social problems. Material needs to be clear and straight forward. Funding/fund raising is an important topic. There may also be some interest in governmental regulations and laws as well as other state and Federal government publications dealing with social problems.
As with psychology, there is considerable interest in problem solving literature with a step by step format. There will be some interest in local sensational social problems that receive vigorous media attention. Since popular media and books may mingle myth, stereotype, and a little science, careful selection is required. Many popular topics--crime, race relations, sexual behavior, and the like--have reader appeal. Since I & R services are mostly devoted to social concerns, providing I & R services involves both sociology and social work. Creating and maintaining a current, informative community organization database would be an major contribution to the community.
What similarities to you see between sociology and the other social sciences we have discussed? Differences?
What do you see as the major differences in providing information to members of a discipline such as social science in contrast to members of a profession such as social work?
In a public library, what do you see as the major problems faced by the collection developer in selecting and weeding a collection that deals with "popular" social problems?
Both psychology and sociology may have situations where information seeking is related to problems that might be embarrassing if shared with the public. What, if anything, might reference librarians do to make it easier for users to ask for help in finding information about personal and family problems?
In the olden days, some academic and many public libraries clipped and filed articles from local newspapers. This then provided access to information about social problems in the local community, for example. Does this seem to be a reasonable expenditure of scare resources? Digital alternatives to such a vertical file collection?
