More Inclusive Collection Development: Considering the Information Needs of Researchers from Outside the Subject Area of Communication

Abstract

More Inclusive Collection Development 163 development; (3) discuss any relevant trends of citation patterns; and (4) address the importance of recognizing the information needs of researchers outside the discipline when managing a scholarly journal collection. The author will assess the relevance of the subject area "communication" to research in other fields using the Web of Science (WoS) database. The data from this study will help inform the collection development decisions of librarians managing communication journal collections.For this study, the author defines "communication studies" as the broad discipline that includes the subject areas of advertising, communication, journalism, media, and public relations. This study focuses on the subject area "communication." The National Communication Association defines communication as a process that "focuses on how people use messages to generate meanings within and across various contexts, and is the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry." 1 Areas of specialization include, but are not limited to: health communication, mass communication, organizational communication, interpersonal communication, political communication, public speaking and visual communication. 2 Scholars and teachers throughout academia acknowledge the value and relevance of the subject area across all aspects of public and private life and advocate for including communication education in numerous disciplines. 3 In addition, the Association of American Colleges and Universities advocates for communication instruction to be a part of the general education curricula. 4 Appendix. List of Journals Included (dates of coverage)