Format decisions follow the General Collection Development Policy by default, but allow for considerations of requester preference, curricular needs, and other factors. In general, print is often preferred for monograph purchasing. Serials are almost exclusively purchased as online resources, as are collections reproducing primary source materials.
Journals are acquired in digital format, with perpetual access whenever possible, and include the offerings of all the major scholarly publishers in the field. Electronic journal backfiles are purchased to augment available content or replace print, based on requests, usage data, and space considerations. Generally, these are funded by End-of-Year funds as available, and are one-time purchases.
Monographs are generally purchased in print, but e-books may be acquired for those situations where wider access is a priority. Conference proceedings published as monographs are selectively purchased.
Anthologies should be prioritized with e-copies when possible.
Literature Databases provide access to the extensive scholarly output of the field, and are acquired, like serials, in electronic format to make use of cross-searching, linking and full text delivery. The major general databases for History as a broad discipline, indexing articles and book chapters, are Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life. The number of databases focussed on subsets of the discipline and delivering imaged primary source material, are innumerable and are regularly acquired.
Digital Special and Archival Collections: these collections are acquired for faculty research and to meet curricular needs for primary source material. Preference given to purchasing perpetual access.
General-audience History publications: Some general interest/ popular history books are acquired, largely to support and engage the significant set of undergraduate users. Textbooks are selected only in rare cases where a defined aspect of the discipline is addressed or in areas new or less-represented in the collections.
Comics should be prioritized in print for the O’Neill comics collection.
Data Sets are purchased infrequently and then only at faculty request or in connection with other bibliographers.
The majority of monographs purchased are English language, though French, German, and Spanish, may also be collected. Acquisitions in other languages are made based on faculty request or a specific need.
Selection focuses on current scholarship; materials covering historical research are acquired on a very limited basis.
