Environmental Studies Collection Development Policy
- General Scope
- Audience
The Environmental Studies Program began in 1970, the year of the first Earth Day and the founding of the Environmental Protection Agency. It was one of the first such programs in the country. Dartmouth had a long history of interest in environmental issues, fueled partly through the activities of the Dartmouth Outing Club. The program was founded "to create an institutional base where different viewpoints and kinds of knowledge about the environment could be brought together," (Environmental Studies at Dartmouth, Environmental Studies Program., n.d.) and "to provide an opportunity for undergraduates to assess the seriousness and complexity of the environmental problems and to understand how to search for solutions to these problems." (Organization, Regulations, and Courses, September, 1987, p. 307)
A hallmark of the program, the Environmental Studies 50 course in which groups of students work on local area environmental and land use planning problems, was begun in 1973. The ENVS 50 project reports are in the Environmental Studies Program Library, a small reading room in the department. The program sponsors a field study program to Africa.
Originally, undergraduates could either receive a certificate for completing the Program's course of study, or modify a major with Environmental Studies. The class of 2000 is the last one able to earn the certificate. An interdisciplinary graduate program, Earth, Ecosystem, and Ecological Sciences Program (EEES), was established in 1993. The doctoral degree from the EEES Program is granted by either the Biology or Earth Sciences departments. Starting in 1994, undergraduate have the option to major in Environmental Studies, or minor in either Environmental Studies or Environmental Sciences, and there is an Honors Program for undergraduates. In 2010, a Sustainability Minor Track was instituted within the Environmental Studies Program.
When the Program began, most faculty had their primary appointments in other departments. Currently, Environmental Studies has nine full-time faculty, many with joint appointments in other departments, and 16 adjuncts, postdocs or visiting professors. The interests of the full-time faculty range from literature to Economics to Native American Studies to Biogeochemistry to Governance. The number of courses offered during a typical term have doubled in the last ten years.
Laboratory facilities have grown considerably in the last few years. Laboratories currently include the Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML), an analytical chemistry lab shared with Earth Sciences, a Soil Sciences teaching lab, a GIS lab for ecosystem modeling, and a Remote Sensing facility which is shared with Earth Sciences. Environmental Studies uses a shared GIS research laboratory for all the science departments in the Fairchild Center.
Several institutes are associated closely with the Environmental Studies Program, including the Dartmouth Sustainability Project, the Dickey Center's Institute of Arctic Studies and the Global Security Fellows Institute. At the initiative of an Environmental Studies 50 class, the Dartmouth Organic Farm was begun in 1996, and is actively used in coursework and research.
- Boundaries
Environmental studies involves a wide range of subjects, and indeed emphasizes the synthesis of many subject areas in order to bring a social, political, scientific, and global perspective to environmental problems. There is an emphasis on integrating sustainability across the curriculum and research programs at Dartmouth. This includes, but is not limited to, science, engineering, policy, agriculture, and design. Therefore, most of the libraries at Dartmouth collect some material that is relevant, and several libraries have materials in the same subject areas. For example: geography, sociology, government, anthropology and African studies materials are in Baker; conservation biology, ecology, toxicology, botany, forestry, wildlife management, and agriculture are in Dana; environmental engineering, waste disposal, green business, environmental impact analysis, and sustainable design are in Feldberg; atmospheric science, soil science, water resources, and acid rain are in Baker-Berry Library. Sustainability science across the curriculum is evident, and materials supporting this can be found in many libraries. Popular reading on sustainability and the environment is generally in Baker but may be found in Dana as well. Collection development policies in biology, chemistry, earth sciences, engineering, climatology, and government documents all indicate that there are environmental aspects to those collections.
Environmental Studies materials may fall into the following class numbers; however, none of these are solely for Environmental Studies materials. Other class numbers may also be relevant.
BJ, G, GB, GC, GE, GF, HC, HD, NA, PN, PS, PT, Q, QC, QD, QE, QH, QK, QL, RA1190-RA1270, S, SB,SD SH, SK, TD,TK,TP
- Partnerships
Borrow Direct provides access to other strong collections of monographs in Environmental Studies. NERL provides a collective means of negotiating for better pricing and access models for resources, such as the very important journals.
- Specific Delimitations to collecting in this subject area
- Languages
Although no language is excluded, English is the primary language of the materials collected for Environmental Studies.
- Geographical Areas
While North America is the primary geographic area covered by the collection, no area is specifically excluded. The Polar Regions are of particular interest, both historically and currently.
- Types of Materials Collected
Monographs, serials, indexes and abstracts, videos, and statistical and other reference works are routinely collected, with a preference for digital formats to make access across Dartmouth easier. Digital journals are critical resources for the program. Conference proceedings are purchased selectively. Subscriptions to online databases in specific subject areas are important. Examples are Arctic and Antarctic Regions, Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management, and Web of Science.
- Format of Materials Collected
No format is excluded. There is a strong interest in video material for courses. The Jones Media Center houses videos, and streaming video services are important for teaching in Environmental Studies. The Evans Map Room in Berry Library has a large collection of digital and print maps.
- Collective Collections
Information relating to the environment is also found in the Stefansson Collection on Polar Exploration and the White Mountains collection, both of which are maintained by the Dartmouth Rauner Special Collections Library. Rauner also includes the papers of prominent environmentalists such as Donella Meadows. Government publications, which include both general and technical information ranging from local to global are critical to research and teaching.
The digital and print resources from the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory are important to Dartmouth College researchers. The Environmental Studies Program maintains the Hornig Library of Environmental Studies in 108 Fairchild Hall, which includes newsletters, textbooks, special bibliographies, popular books, and both technical and popular level journals. The collection is available to Dartmouth users, but as it is only available when that building is open. The collection of the Vermont Law School Library is an important supplementary resource for legal materials relating to environmental studies. Resources of government depository libraries are also important.
Subject specific libraries, such as the National Agricultural Library, and those available through the EPA National Library Network, are also useful resources.
- Revision History
- September 1992, (Jon Brown, Barbara DeFelice, Robert Jaccaud, Connie Rinaldo)
- March 1999, (John Cocklin, Barbara DeFelice, Janifer Holt, Connie Rinaldo)
- 2009-present Policy updated as needed Barbara DeFelice
- Current Selector: Tricia Martone