GENERAL STATEMENT

1. Description of Department and Programs

An environmental education requires a solid foundation in the scientific, ethical, economic, and policy aspects of environmental issues. This premise lies at the heart of the undergraduate program in Environmental Studies. The Environmental Studies Program is a liberal arts program based on the fundamental objective of providing students with a deep as well as broad background in the language and methods of the social and physical sciences as they are applied to the study of the interdependencies between the natural and human environments.

Graduates of the program, who will be able to communicate across disciplines, will be thus equipped to bridge barriers between the worlds of science, business, government, and community. Students may elect to pursue graduate programs in such diverse fields as business administration, journalism, environmental science, law, public health, and public policy. Environmental career opportunities include environmental law, environmental management and accounting, environmental journalism, environmental science, public policy, and community activism.

The Environmental Studies major draws on the resources of two-thirds of the departments at Brooklyn College. The departments whose courses are included in the environmental studies program are: Biology, Chemistry, Computer & Information Science, Economics, Geology, Health & Nutrition Sciences, Mathematics, Physical Education, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology. The Major and the Minor require students to take approximately half their credits in the Social Sciences and Humanities and half their credits in the Physical Sciences. Environmental Studies students (Majors and Minors) are required to take Environmental Studies 1 and Environmental Studies 75. The program is developing a paid internship component, which will be coordinated with community service, industry, and on-campus research activities.

The Environmental Studies Program aims at educating students to be fluent in the languages of the social and physical sciences in the range of areas related to the environment, broadly construed. The program includes a major in Environmental Studies that currently has two concentrations: Environmental Studies and Environmental Management. The program includes a minor for students that do not choose to major in Environmental Studies but wish to complement their major with environmental education.

The Environmental Studies Concentration is designed for students who are interested in a broad training in environmental science and policy. This degree prepares students for career opportunities in community activism, state and federal government regulatory agencies, journalism and technical writing; and graduate programs in environmental science, journalism, and law.

The Environmental Marketing and Management Option is designed for students who would like to apply their interest in the environment to the business world. Environmental regulation has created new opportunities for business, which include the opening up of new markets (green marketing) and the need to reduce the costs associated with waste disposal (environmental management). This degree prepares students for jobs in government and business, and graduate programs in business and law.

Environmental studies is useful preparation in combination with a second major for careers in teaching, journalism, politics and business, or for those who plan to enter graduate or professional school in fields such as environmental science, biology, geography, public policy, law, public health and other related fields.

2. Library Resources in Environmental Studies

An adequate collection in this discipline should provide students with materials covering a holistic perspective on the environment with the relevant scientific, social, cultural, and political aspects pertinent to the 14 departments described above. The issues change and expand rapidly as new knowledge regarding Planet Earth and the universe are revealed.. One of the important elements of the environmental debate is sutainability. That is, the ability of the natural universe to continue to exist and replenish its resources for future generations and the balance between the needs of living things, particularly humankind, in conserving resources and maintaining the balance. Library resources in Environmental Studies should consist of books, periodicals, grey literature, and online resources that supplement course work and keep undergraduates up to date with relevant information. These scholarly materials provide both research and popular information to meet requirements for term papers, theses and dissertations, oral presentations and current awareness. Since environmental studies has broad parameters, the bibliographer will consult with other bibliographers regarding materials in their disciplines that have environmental components relevant to the curriculum at Brooklyn College. The strength of the collection is evident by the diverse array of materials dealing with environment in all its manifestations of outdoor and indoor pollution, health and environmental pollution, toxins, industrial and agricultural pollution, plant and animal conservation, and sustainability.

The online resources in particular have considerably increased the range of scholarly materials available to the faculty and doctoral students. The library has a large number of science, social science, and humanities databases that offer patrons access to world literature in their areas of environmental interest. These contain references to both scholarly and popular works that will provide an overview of the discipline. Nevertheless, one of the major databases in environmental sciences not currently available is. Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management. This database, issued by Cambridge Scientific Abstracts covers over 4000 scientific journals and thousands of other sources including conference proceedings, reports, monographs, books and government publications.

The addition of subscriptions to online periodicals from major publishers (e.g. Wiley, Academic Press, Elsevier, etc.) has expanded the availability of environmental studies materials to all students and faculty. As the online resources continue to expand, electronic books are entering the online world giving patrons the opportunity to read the text of a book from computer terminals. Net Library, the e-books program at Brooklyn College, includes titles covering the environment and the number of titles is expected to increase in the future.

GENERAL APPROACH TO MATERIALS SELECTION

A. Acquisitions Strategy:

Sciences Bibliographer is responsible for collection development in Environmental Studies. The bibliographer maintains ongoing contact with the Environmental Studies Program Coordinator regarding the resources suitable for the collection. In addition, the bibliographer regularly scans review publications, publishers catalogues, web sites, newspapers, and other sources to find materials for this multi-faceted discipline. The bibliographer examines and assesses the material for relevancy, price, and anticipated use and makes a decision accordingly. Others come to the bibliographer's attention via interlibrary loan requests, and patron requests. The bibliographer also consults with other bibliographers for advice on environmental aspects of their disciplines.

B. Level of Difficulty

Materials acquired for the library range from the general materials used by undergraduates to the more scholarly technical and research publications used by graduate students and faculty. In all cases, the works should be well written, accurate, and suitable for the academic environment.

C. Languages:

Materials are collected primarily in English. Resources in other languages may be acquired based upon the bibliographers assessment of need and possible use.

D. Geographic Areas Included:

Resources on environmental issues are produced worldwide in many countries. Geography is generally not a criterion for acquiring or rejecting a work. Works devoted specifically to environmental issues in a particular region or country will be acquired if it is deemed relevant to the needs of BC students and faculty.

E. Current and Retrospective:

The international public discourse on the environment brings new knowledge and new research findings to the world community on a regular basis. Thus, with exception of classical works that introduced major theories and practices that are now common knowledge, emphasis will be placed on acquisition of materials issued within the past five years.

F. Format of Materials Collected:

The library collects primarily monographs, conference proceedings, and periodicals in both print and electronic format. Audiovisual materials related to the Environment are acquired when requested by a faculty member for use in courses.

G. Reference Policy:

Reference materials in print and online include dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and other works are generally used for looking up small amounts of information and not read or perused in entirety. The library has an extensive collection of reference materials to meet the needs of all areas of environmental studies students. They cover scientific, social, ethical, political and economic aspects of the disciplines. These are heavily used by our students who find them essential for the facts and data they are seeking.

H. Duplication:

One copy of each resource is usually acquired. For heavily used materials that are checked out or consulted frequently, the bibliographer will make a decision regarding acquisition of additional copies if budgets allow.

I. Weeding Policy:

Outdated materials and earlier editions of revised works deemed obsolete or no longer applicable to course work or research will be withdrawn. As budgets permit, new editions will be acquired to ensure that users are receiving contemporary information.

Updated: March/2001
Prof. Irwin Weintraub