Subjects: | Definition of Collecting Levels | Interdisciplinary Subjects If a collection development policy is not yet linked below, please contact the appropriate selector for further information.
Africana Studies (Africa) Africana Studies (Afro-Americana) American Civilization Anthropology Applied Mathematics Archaeology and the Ancient World Biology Chemistry Classics Cognitive Science Comparative Literature Computer Science Development Studies East Asian Studies Economics Education Egyptology Engineering English Environmental Studies	French Studies Gender Studies Geological Sciences German Studies Hispanic Studies History (Modern European) History (American) History of Art and Architecture History of Mathematics International Relations Program Italian Studies (draft) Judaic Studies Language Studies Latin American Studies Linguistics Mathematics Medicine Medieval Studies Middle Eastern Studies Modern Culture and Media	Modern Greek Studies Music Old World Archaeology and Art Philosophy Physics Political Science Population Studies Portuguese & Brazilian Studies Psychology Public Humanities Race and Ethnicity Religious Studies Renaissance and Early Modern Studies Slavic Studies Sociology Theatre Speech and Dance Urban Studies Program Visual Art

Interdisciplinary & Broad Disciplines

Recognizing the potential for fragmentation in a department-by-department approach, the Library has always set aside funds for interdisciplinary needs.  As recent scholarship has shown an increasing tendency to cross traditional boundaries and as new technologies have made possible scholarly products that serve a wide range of scholarly interests and purposes, there is a need to formally recognize these trends in the Library's collecting practices.  In addition there is a growing recognition that the differences that distinguish scholarship within broad disciplines -  use of different primary materials, research approaches, vocabularies, and methodologies - are reflected in differing needs for monographic vs. serial literature, historical vs. current materials, new vs. traditional formats, access vs. local ownership of materials.  

To meet the challenges of interdisciplinary and discipline-specific needs while continuing to build collections in support of individual departments, centers, and programs, the Library has recently reconstituted its subject specialist and curatorial staff into four broad Discipline Groups - Humanities, History & Area Studies, Social Sciences, and Science & Medicine.  Individual members of these groups continue to serve as liaisons with individual departments; collectively, the groups address issues and develop programs of particular relevance to the students and scholars in each broad discipline area.  Because the Discipline Groups integrate subject specialists from the general collections and special collections curators, maintaining the historic strength of Brown's collections of record and meeting the changing needs of its students and faculty can be addressed in a coherent and complementary approach to the Brown University Library collections as a whole.

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