The following is a summary of University of Waterloo (UW) Library information resources and services in support of the Faculty of Environmental Studies graduate program in Local and Economic Development prepared by Margaret Yuen, Liaison Librarian for Geography.
Material is collected to support learning, teaching and research to the Masters level in Local and Economic Development with emphasis on:
The decision to purchase Library materials for Local and Economic Development is the responsibility of the Liaison Librarian in consultation with the Faculty Library Representative for the Department of Geography.
Selection is guided by the Collection Development Policies for Geography, (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/staff/irmc/geography_coll_policy_06.doc)and Economics, (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/staff/irmc/economics_coll_policy06.doc) which are developed by the Liaison Librarians for Geography and Economics in consultation with faculty members in the respective departments. Materials are obtained in a variety ways including firm orders, open orders, approval plans, and subscriptions.
In response to user preference, the Library obtains resources in electronic format whenever it is possible and practical to do so. Some electronic resources are obtained directly by the University of Waterloo Library and some are obtained through membership in the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network. Access to and use of electronic resources is generally governed by licence agreements with the publisher or vendor.
The UW Library collection includes approximately 356 current electronic and print serials in general subject areas of possible interest to Local and Economic Development. Many of the electronic serials are paid from the central Electronic Resources library fund. The collection also includes approximately 53,700 monographs in subject areas of interest to Local and Economic Development. For the most part, these monographs are in print format but an increasing number are in electronic format.
The UW 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 Local and Economic Development. The business collection at Wilfrid Laurier University is of specific interest.
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 Local and Economic Development.
Cartographic and Geospatial Collection
Cartographic material in both paper and digital format is available in the University Map Library. The collection consists of digital geospatial data, electronic maps and atlases, and aerial photographs in digital and print formats. The collection also includes over 70,000 print maps and 40,000 aerial photographs. The digital collection includes some world wide datasets; however the focus is on the local area. Coverage includes national and provincial-level topographic data, Grand River Conservation Authority data, and orthoimagery for the local area including the GTA and South western Ontario.
Electronic Data
Also available to members of the UW academic community are the data holdings of the Tri-University Data Resources (TDR) (http://tdr.tug-libraries.on.ca/), which provides 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/).
Access to Print Collections
The Library’s print collections for Local and Economic Development are housed primarily in the Dana Porter Library. Access to the entire Library collection, as well materials held by UG and WLU, is available through the Web accessible union catalogue known as TRELLIS (http://trellis1.tug-libraries.on.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. Graduate students and faculty 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 UW library locations, and from the libraries of the UW affiliated and federated colleges and universities. Faculty, graduate students, and staff can also place holds on books from any of these libraries for pickup at any of the UW libraries’ circulation desks. Books and journal articles not owned by the UW Library but held by UG or WLU may be requested through TRELLIS. Books and copies of journal articles are delivered to faculty, staff and students within three working days. The cost is 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, an agreement among the TUG libraries ensures that a last copy is maintained in perpetuity. The Preservation of Last Copy Agreement can be found at: http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/staff/irmc/last_copy_agreement_sept06.html. As with material from UG and WLU, books and copies of journal articles housed in the Annex are made available to faculty, staff and students within three working days. The cost is absorbed by the Library.
In addition to the forgoing services, 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.
Access to 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 UW faculty, students and staff, as well as Internet resources freely available to anyone. The site includes links to selected electronic resources available to the UW community through the Library's participation in the OCUL Scholars Portal program (http://www.scholarsportal.info/index.html). In addition, many of our electronic resources can be found through a search of Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/ ) and Windows Live Academic (http://academic.live.com/).
The Library has embedded linking technology (SFX) into research databases which allows users to link directly from the database to the UW Library full text electronic journal subscription or to the TRELLIS catalogue record for holdings and call number information. The Library also provides access to bibliographic management software.
UW 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.
Access to 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 UW 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.
The UW Library also uses the CISTI Source current awareness and document delivery service (http://source.cisti.nrc.ca/index_custom.html) from the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information to provide copies of articles from journals not held by the UW Library or available via document delivery from the University of Guelph or Wilfrid Laurier University. Faculty and graduate students are able to search citations from over 17,000 journals in all subject areas and directly request copies of articles. Articles are generally delivered to on-campus addresses within four working days. The cost is absorbed by the Library.
Canadian university libraries extend in-person borrowing privileges to students, faculty and staff from across the country. Graduate students, faculty and staff are entitled to borrowing privileges at participating libraries (http://www.coppul.ca/rb/rbindex.html).
Information Services
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, UW students, faculty and staff may get reference assistance via e-mail and on-line chat available through the Ask a Librarian service (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/asklib/index.html).
UW campus libraries also offer general orientation programs including tours, workshops on database searching and using the Web, and seminars for graduate students. In addition, each fall the Library participates in a campus-wide orientation program for international students.
The Liaison Librarian for Geography is available for consultation with individuals or small groups of students. She/he may be contacted directly in person, by phone, and by e-mail if a personal visit to the Library is not convenient.
The Liaison Librarian is also available to work with faculty to develop course integrated library instruction in the form of lectures, hands-on instruction, Web pages, or online courseware modules.
Graduate students 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 and distributed to graduate students via the University’s Graduate Studies listserv.
In a 2006 University of Waterloo Library User Satisfaction Survey, 88% of the graduate students responding to the survey indicated that they agreed with the statement that “Overall, the UW Library and its staff meet my expectations for an excellent university library”.
Table 1. Summary of Expenditures– Geography
Year |
Serial Expenditure |
Book Expenditure |
Approval Plan Support |
Total Expenditure |
1999/00 |
79,225 |
13,365 |
10,007 |
102,597 |
2000/01 |
65,850 |
17,000 |
10,921 |
93,771 |
2001/02 |
51,799 |
16,136 |
10,130 |
78,065 |
2002/03 |
46,078 |
9,909 |
10,576 |
66,563 |
2003/04 |
41,112 |
16,645 |
10,116 |
67,873 |
2004/05 |
18,696 |
16,852 |
9,633 |
45,181 |
2005/06 |
18,462 |
13,168 |
7,865 |
39,495 |
TOTAL |
321,222 |
103,075 |
69,248 |
493,545 |
Table 2. Summary of Expenditures– Economics
Year |
Serial Expenditure |
Book Expenditure |
Approval Plan Support |
Total Expenditure |
1999/00 |
52,168 |
12,927 |
47,279 |
112,374 |
2000/01 |
53,972 |
8,544 |
51,629 |
114,145 |
2001/02 |
33,832 |
10,957 |
47,286 |
92,075 |
2002/03 |
33,948 |
13,082 |
43,541 |
90,571 |
2003/04 |
28,822 |
3,898 |
29,666 |
62,386 |
2004/05 |
16,187 |
14,517 |
27,576 |
58,280 |
2005/06 |
13,526 |
11,532 |
32,069 |
57,127 |
TOTAL |
232,455 |
75,457 |
279,046 |
586,958 |
Table 3. Summary of Combined Expenditures for Economics and Geography
Year |
Serial Expenditure |
Book Expenditure |
Approval Plan Support |
Total Expenditure |
1999/00 |
131,393 |
26,292 |
57,286 |
214,971 |
2000/01 |
119,822 |
25,544 |
62,550 |
207,916 |
2001/02 |
85,631 |
27,093 |
57,416 |
170,140 |
2002/03 |
80,026 |
22,991 |
54,117 |
157,134 |
2003/04 |
69,934 |
20,543 |
39,782 |
130,259 |
2004/05 |
34,883 |
31,369 |
37,209 |
103,461 |
2005/06 |
31,988 |
24,700 |
39,934 |
96,622 |
TOTAL |
553,677 |
178,532 |
348,294 |
1,080,503 |
Local Economic Development does not have a separate library fund, but its library resources are purchased from the Economics and Geography library budgets. It is difficult to determine what proportion of these funds would be used to support Local Economic Development.
During the past seven years, the library funds for the Department of Economics and the Department of Geography have spent $586,958 and $493,545 respectively on information resources. This is a combined total of $1,080,503. In 2005/06 $31,988 was spent on current serials and $64,634 for books. What appears to be a general decline in serials expenditures over time and a sharp decline in serials expenditures in 2005/05 deserves comment (Tables 1 -3 provide further details). In recent years, including 2004/05, there have been no cancellation of serials but many current serials paid for by the Geography and Economics library funds have been transferred to the Electronic resources library fund. In fact, additional serials have been added to the Library’s collection as a result of various consortial agreements and database vendor packages.
Electronic resources such as ABI/Inform and Factiva are also purchased from the general fund. Though most of the resources required for Local and Economic Development are derived from the Geography and Economics library budgets, it should be noted that materials acquired for other departments such as Accountancy, Environment and Resource Studies, Planning, and Recreation are also of interest.
I believe that a high level support for the graduate programme in Local and Economic Development has been provided by the Library, both in information resources and services. I would be pleased to discuss the Library's holdings and services with the appraisers at the time of a campus visit.
More detailed information including lists of print and electronic journals, and the number of monograph titles in subject areas of interest to Local and Economic Development are available in the Library.
Prepared by Margaret Yuen, Liaison Librarian for Geography
Reviewed by Susan Routliffe, Associate University Librarian, Information Resources and Services, for Mark Haslett, University Librarian.
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