The following is a summary of University of Waterloo Library information resources and services in support of the undergraduate and graduate programs in the School of Public Health and Health Systems, prepared by Jackie Stapleton, Liaison Librarian, SPHHS and updated by Rebecca Hutchinson, Liaison Librarian, SPHHS.
Material is collected to support learning, teaching and research to the Undergraduate, Masters and PhD level with an emphasis on:
The decision to purchase Library materials for SPHHS is the responsibility of the Liaison Librarian for the School of Public Health and Health Systems in consultation with the Faculty Library Representative. Selection is guided by the Collection Development Policy, which is developed by the Liaison Librarian in consultation with faculty members in SPHHS. Materials are obtained in a variety ways including firm orders, open orders, approval plans, and subscriptions.
The Library obtains resources in electronic format whenever it is possible and practical to do so. This includes purchasing e-books, specifically to support students at a distance and increase accessibility. Some electronic resources are obtained directly by the Library and some are obtained through membership in the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). Access to and use of electronic resources is generally governed by licence agreements with the publisher or vendor.
The Library, along with the libraries of the University of Guelph (UG) and Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU), is a member of the Tri-University Group of Libraries (TUG) consortium. Collections from the University of Guelph and Wilfrid Laurier University enhance the depth and breadth of local materials available in subject areas of interest to SPHHS.
The Library’s print collections for SPHHS are housed primarily in the Davis Centre Library. Access to the entire Library collection, as well materials held by UG and WLU, is available through the web accessible search tool, Primo (http://primo.lib.uwaterloo.ca).
The Library's automated circulation system allows users to charge out materials during the hours that the Library is open (every day most weeks, with some closures between terms and during the Christmas break) and to renew items online anytime. With the exception of the current issues of print journals and reference materials, most of the material in the Library’s collection circulates. Faculty, graduate students and staff may borrow most monographs for a term at a time. The usual loan period for undergraduates is two weeks.
The Library also provides its services to students in programs or courses delivered in an online format. Books and copies of articles from print journals will be sent, upon request, to students living, some distance from the campus. With the exception of return postage for books, the cost is absorbed by the Library.
Books and journal articles not owned by the Library, but held by UG or WLU, may be requested by faculty, students and staff through Primo. Books will be delivered to uWaterloo within three working days and articles will be emailed when possible. The cost of these services is absorbed by the Library.
In partnership with UG and WLU, the Library owns a facility, known as the Annex, which is used to house low-use research material. In keeping with the University’s research intensive status, the TUG libraries ensure that a last copy is maintained in perpetuity, through the Preservation of Last Copy Agreement. Items housed in the Annex will be delivered to uWaterloo within three working days. The cost of these services is absorbed by the Library.
The primary tool for accessing electronic resources selected by the Library is its Web site (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca). This site organizes and provides access to licensed resources available to only uWaterloo faculty, students and staff, as well as select Internet resources freely available to anyone. The site also provides access to electronic resources hosted by the OCUL Scholars Portal program (http://www.scholarsportal.info/index.html) and available to the uWaterloo community through the Library's participation in consortia purchasing through OCUL.
In addition, many of our electronic resources can be found through a search of Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/).
The Library uses linking technology (SFX) to enable users to link directly from research databases to the Library’s full text electronic journal subscription or to the catalogue record for holdings and call number information. The Library also provides access to bibliographic management software (RefWorks).
uWaterloo faculty, students and staff may access electronic research databases and full text electronic journals from off-campus via the Library’s Proxy Server / Connect from Home feature.
The Library has purchased, or subscribes to, a range of electronic resources including research databases, full text journals, monographs, numeric data, and government publications. In addition, the Library identifies and provides access to select material freely available through the Internet. Such material includes open access journals, catalogues of libraries around the world, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and style guides.
The following are some of the electronic resources of particular interest to SPHHS:
Also available to members of the uWaterloo academic community are the data holdings of <odesi>, OCUL’s digital repository for social science data (http://odesi.ca ). <odesi> provides web access to resources such as the Statistics Canada surveys and datasets, including the Canadian Census, through the Library’s membership in the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) and Canadian public opinion polls.
The Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery (ILL) service provides faculty, students and staff with books, copies of journal articles, theses, and government documents from libraries within Canada and elsewhere. Delivered electronically when possible, the Library uses OCUL’s RACER Web based interlibrary loan system (http://racer.scholarsportal.info/vdx/index.html) to facilitate ILL access and service for users. With minor exceptions, the cost for this service is absorbed by the Library.
Most Canadian university libraries extend, at no charge, in-person borrowing privileges to faculty, students and staff from across the country. Faculty, students and staff are entitled to borrowing privileges at participating libraries (http://www.coppul.ca/rb/rbindex.html).
Drawing from the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents’ Guidelines for University Undergraduate Degree Level Expectations and the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, the Liaison Librarian for SPHHS develops information literacy-related activities and materials, in consultation with faculty. These activities include in-class lectures, online modules and research guides implemented in courses through the undergraduate curriculum. It is intended that the sessions and workshops may complement, or take the form of, assignments students complete as part of their course requirements. Depending on the nature of the assignments and the instructors’ expectations, these activities focus on introducing, reinforcing, or mastering key aspects of information research.
Similarly, drawing from the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents’ Guidelines for University Graduate Degree Level Expectations and the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, the Liaison Librarian for SPHHS develops information literacy-related activities and materials. Each fall, the Librarian offers a library orientation session to all new graduate students during the SPHHS Graduate Student Orientation program. The Librarian also offers individual consultations for graduate students to support completing their literature reviews, comprehensives and graduate information research endeavours as part of their degree requirements and complement faculty mentoring in the same areas.
The Liaison Librarian for the School of Public Health and Health Systems is available for consultation with individuals or small groups of students. He or she may be contacted directly in person, by phone, and by e-mail. The Librarian also develops and maintains an online subject guide for health resources (http://subjectguides.uwaterloo.ca/health). Also, faculty, students and staff may get reference assistance via e-mail and online chat available through the Ask a Librarian service (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/asklib/index.html).
The Library also offers general orientation programs including tours, workshops on research skills, and seminars for students. In addition, each fall, the Library participates in a campus-wide orientation program for incoming students, including programs specific to international students and students with disabilities.
Faculty, students and staff may keep abreast of new services and developments in the Library by reading news @ your library (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/newsatlib/), an electronic newsletter prepared periodically.
Library support for this program would come from existing allocations for the School of Public Health and Health Systems (formerly Health Studies and Gerontology) as well as from a central Electronic Resources fund which is used to support all programs. During the past seven years, the Health Studies and Gerontology Library Funds have spent the following on information resources:
Table 1. Summary of Expenditures – School of Public Health and Health Systems
Year |
Journal Expenditure |
Book Expenditure |
Approval Plan Support |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2004/2005 |
$39,181.59 |
$12,271.12 |
$3,467.83 |
$54,920.54 |
2005/2006 |
$50,202.79 |
$20,028.43 |
$4,621.75 |
$74,852.97 |
2006/2007 |
$52,302.35 |
$17,394.92 |
$3,134.92 |
$72,832.19 |
2007/2008 |
$44,337.15 |
$16,958.94 |
$5,914.59 |
$67,210.68 |
2008/2009 |
$49,054.46 |
$6,512.29 |
$2,588.09 |
$58,154.84 |
2009/2010 |
$46,158.24 |
$11,482.53 |
$5,375.72 |
$63,016.49 |
2010/2011 |
$40,279.97 |
$16,838.81 |
$1,850.77 |
$58,969.55 |
2011/2012 |
$46,278.42 |
$18,652.87 |
$2,171.01 |
$67,102.30 |
2012/2013 |
$46,144.78 |
$13,377.24 |
$3,825.16 |
$63,347.18 |
Total |
$413,939.75 |
$133,517.15 |
$32,949.84 |
$580,406.74 |
The drop in book expenditures and approval plan support for 2008/09 was the result of a temporary, and partial, freeze on monograph purchasing imposed because of the significant decline in the value of the Canadian dollar in the fall of 2008, and the consequent drop in the Library’s purchasing power. The freeze was lifted in May 2009.
Electronic resources, such as MEDLINE and Scopus are purchased from the Electronic Resources library fund. Materials acquired for other departments, such as Kinesiology, Recreation and Leisure Studies, and Psychology are also of interest to SPHHS.
I believe that a high level of support for SPHHS has been provided by the Library, both in information resources and service. More detailed information, including monograph counts and lists of journals that would support the program are available upon request. I would be pleased to discuss the Library's holdings and services with the appraisers at the time of a campus visit.
Submitted by Jackie Stapleton, Liaison Librarian for the School of Public Health and Health Systems, and Rebecca Hutchinson, temporary Liaison Librarian for the School of Public Health and Health Systems.
Reviewed by Annie Bélanger, Associate University Librarian, Information Resources and Academic Excellence for Mark Haslett, University Librarian.
Collection Development Policies can be found online on the Library Web site (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/staff/irmc/collectionsmanagement.html).
The Preservation of Last Copy Agreement is available online (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/staff/irmc/last_copy_agreement_sept06.html).
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