Collection Development Statement
Last updated July 2020
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Last updated July 2020
The collection’s primary focus is to support teaching and research in the Whiting School, related labs/centers/institutes, and across JHU.
Programs of study are a BS, MSE, MSE in Innovation and Design (through the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design [CBID]), dual-degree MSE (from JHU)/MS (from Tsingua University in China), PhD, and MD/PhD.
This collection supports:
This collection supports all patron groups from freshmen through research faculty.
BME is the largest major in the Whiting School of Engineering, and has been one of the top five majors at Homewood since 2014. This is a very sophisticated and wide-reaching topic at JHU, and includes departments, labs/centers/institutes, and other activities such as participation in business plan competitions throughout the U.S., and hackathons to support global medical challenges as well as emergency needs such as Ebola and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because of the importance of the journal literature to research in engineering, serial subscriptions are given collection priority. Online databases and reference works are preferred over print, although some BME undergraduates prefer some of their textbooks and reference books (e.g., anatomy) in print. Monographs are purchased selectively in print or electronic format based on relevance to departmental teaching and research, and user requests.
Some business-related content is also purchased, although for the most part, the business collection supports much of the BME-related research at JHU. A few items are purchased from the Engineering fund, due to the fact that the vast majority of BME/CBID-related coursework and research require market research, health reimbursement information, and related information.
The department generally has a strong preference for online resources. Research periodicals are preferred, and reference works include literature databases, databases of searchable textbooks and handbooks, individual handbooks, and occasional databases which provide special tools such as 3D-anatomical modeling, although these are almost always purchased by Welch.
Individual standards requested by faculty or students are occasionally purchased in print, if they are not held in one of our electronic sources or obtainable through ILL. After several steps, the bound print copy is eventually housed in the Libraries Service Center (LSC), and is available to circulate and be borrowed through ILL. (Standards also support Homewood offices such as JH Lab Safety.)
Preferred formats:
Material acquired by request or selectively:
Material not collected:
English
Emphasis is on current and recent scholarship.
Sue Vazakas
svazakas@jhu.edu
410-516-4153