A Select Survey of Criminal Justice Administration and Criminology Resources for Research, Reference, and Collection Development
Neal Wyatt, Richard A. Stoddart, Brett Spencer, Adrienne McPhaul · Reference & User Services Quarterly · 2008
This column illustrates the best of outcomes when colleagues assist one another in developing subject expertise and in building collections.As all of us in the collection development world know, crafting well-developed collections in subject-specific areas is a constant challenge.Taking up this challenge in a subject specialty you do not know well is, to put it lightly, a daunting prospect.When Rick Stoddart found himself in that position, he turned to Brett Spencer and Adrienne McPhaul for assistance.Spencer and McPhaul have almost ten years of criminal justice collection liaison experience between them, and both agreed to help Stoddart get up to speed on critical materials for his collection.The result of their collaboration was a list of core resources as well as several tables of comparisons between resources that can be used not only to build collections but also to quickly see the scope and capabilities of each relevant database and resource.As we are called upon to work more frequently in areas we do not know well, it can only be hoped that we will follow the model of Stoddart, Spencer, and McPhaul and work collaboratively to build both our collections and our expertise.As editor of "The Alert Collector," I hope that this space can serve not only as a place to publish the fruits of those collaborations but also to aid librarians in sharing their specialty subject knowledge with the widest range of colleagues.-EditorT he field of criminal justice administration/criminology (CJAC) plays a vital role in American society, and many colleges include CJAC departments.CJAC professors perform research that informs the nation' s law enforcement policies, and their contributions are gaining increasing importance with the rise of terrorism, identity theft, and new cybercrimes.CJAC is also attracting more and more