The following is a summary of University of Waterloo Library information resources and services in support of the proposed graduate program in Master of Climate Change, prepared by Margaret Yuen, Liaison Librarian for the Department of Geography and Environmental Management.
Material is collected to support learning, teaching and research to the Master’s level in Climate Change with emphasis on:
The decision to purchase Library materials for Climate Change is the responsibility of the Liaison Librarian, 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 the Department of Geography and Environmental Management. 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. 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’s collection includes approximately 650 current electronic and print journals that will be of interest to Climate Change. The collection also includes approximately 9,500 monographs in the subject areas of interest to Climate Change.
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 Climate Change. Guelph has a strong collection on the effects of climate change on plant and animal life.
Print Collections
The Library’s print collections for Climate Change are housed in the Dana Porter Library for the social sciences and humanities, and the Davis Centre Library for the sciences and engineering. Access to the entire Library collection, as well materials held by UG and WLU, is available through the Web accessible tool known as 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 materials in the Library’s collection circulate. Faculty, graduate students and staff may borrow most monographs for a term at a time.
The Library also delivers to faculty, graduate students and staff copies of print journal articles from any of the uWaterloo library locations, and from the libraries of the affiliated and federated colleges and universities. Faculty, graduate students and staff may also place holds on books from any of these libraries for pickup at any of the libraries’ circulation desks. Books and journal articles not owned by the Library, but held by UG or WLU, may be requested by faculty, all students and staff through Primo. Items will be delivered to uWaterloo within three working days. The cost 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 is absorbed by the Library.
Electronic Resources
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 Climate Change:
Geospatial Data and Cartographic Collections
The geospatial resources and the cartographic collections are available in the University Map Library. Geospatial datasets include topographic data, census data, municipal planning data, and orthoimagery for Southern Ontario. Web access to selected geospatial data will soon be available through Scholars GeoPortal. The Library also has climatic data such as the GHCN (Global Historical Climatology Network) Global Daily for 2008 and 2010. Also included in the collection are airphotos in print and electronic formats; and maps and atlases in print format.
Statistics and Numeric Data
Also available to members of the UW and WLU academic communities are the data holdings of the TriUniversity Group Data Resources (TDR) (http://nesstar.tdr.uoguelph.ca/webview/index.jsp) and <odesi> (http://search2.odesi.ca/), which provide Web access to resources such as the Statistics Canada surveys, including the Canadian Census. Access is also available to the data holdings of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/).
Resources from Institutions other than TUG
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. 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 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).
Information Literacy: Research Skills, Critical Appraisal, Ethical Use
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 Geography and Environmental Management develops information literacy-related activities and materials, in consultation with faculty. These include the development of online modules, research guides and screencasts as well as the seminars and outcomes-based workshops for students in the program. These sessions support graduate students completing their literature reviews, comprehensives and graduate information research endeavours as part of their degree requirements and complement faculty mentoring in the same areas.
Additional Information Services
The Liaison Librarian for Geography and Environmental Management 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 if a personal visit to the Library is not convenient. The Librarian also develops and maintains an online subject guide for Geography and Environmental Management.
Reference assistance is available in person or by telephone at the Library's Information Desks, which are staffed by professional librarians and specially trained library associates. Alternatively, 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.
Table 1. Summary of Expenditures– Geography and Environmental Management
Year |
Journal Expenditures |
Book Expenditures |
Approval Plan Support |
Total Expenditures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2004/05 |
$18,695 |
$16,850 |
$9,635 |
$45,180 |
2005/06 |
$18,460 |
$13,170 |
$7,865 |
$39,495 |
2006/07 |
$19,230 |
$14,880 |
$8,050 |
$42,160 |
2007/08 |
$17,910 |
$17,755 |
$12,320 |
$47,985 |
2008/09 |
$17,270 |
$ 4,580 |
$9,785 |
$31,635 |
2009/10 |
$18,660 |
$15,935 |
$13,020 |
$47,615 |
2010/11 |
$15,835 |
$14,305 |
$4,570 |
$34,710 |
TOTAL |
$126,060 |
$97,475 |
$65,245 |
$288,780 |
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. The drop in approval expenditures in 2010/11 was the result of the new profile system from our vendor. To address the low number of titles received, the new profile has been adjusted several times and the number of books received on approval is beginning to substantially increase for 2011/12.
What appears to be a decline in journal expenditures deserves comment. In recent years, there have been no cancellations of journals, but many journals previously paid for by the Geography and Environmental Management library fund have been transferred to the Electronic Resources fund. In fact, additional journals have been added to the Library’s collection as a result of purchasing publishers’ packages, often through consortia agreements.
Electronic resources, such as Geobase, Scopus, and Web of Science are purchased from the Electronic Resources library fund. Materials acquired for other departments, such as Environment and Resource Studies, Planning, Earth & Environmental Science, Civil Engineering and Physics are also of interest to Climate Change.
I believe that a high level of support can be provided for Climate Change by the Library, both in information resources and services. More detailed information, including lists of print and electronic journals and the number of monograph titles in subject areas of interest to Climate can be provided on request.
I would be pleased to discuss the Library's holdings and services with the appraisers at the time of a campus visit.
Margaret Yuen, Liaison Librarian for Geography and Environmental Management.
Reviewed by Susan Routliffe, Associate University Librarian, Information Resources and Services 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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