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Have you ever needed to know:
A gateway to this world of data (besides dropping by with your request or sending it by email) is the Statistical Sources link on the library home page; here you will find sources of data and statistics arranged by broad subject area, for both Canada and foreign sources. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list, but a way to satisfy the majority of questions that have come up over the years. Besides the resources available through the DLI, York Libraries also subscribe to a variety of commercial databases (e.g., CRSP, SourceOECD, Global Insight, World Development Indicators) that provide literally millions of tables and time series.
YUL also subscribes to ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research), a source for international surveys and polls that are useful for many disciplines. A recent subscription to the SDA Microdata Analysis and Subsetting service (housed at the University of Toronto) provides online access to most Statistics Canada microdata files, as well as a selection of U.S. and international datasets. (SDA has not yet been fully incorporated into the YUL website; once it has been, a Research Seminar is being planned to allow faculty and students to fully utilize the service. ) All of these data are, of course, licensed for use only for academic teaching and research purposes.
Besides answering individual questions from students and faculty, Walter is also available to give classes on data sources for both undergraduate and graduate courses (course instructors should contact him (walterg@yorku.ca, or ext. 77551), as well as act as a consultant on potential data sources for graduate and faculty research projects. Potential users of business and/or economics data should consult Elizabeth Watson (watson@yorku.ca) first; as the librarian responsible for Economics and business data sources, she can provide guidance in the use of specialized resources such as WRDS (Wharton Research Data Service) and Datastream that are only available at the Bronfman Business Library. In short, if you need numbers (mostly social sciences data or statistics), Walter will be a key contact at the Libraries. |
York Authors and Artists Celebrated at Annual YORKwrites Reception On November 7, 2007, York University Libraries and York University Bookstores hosted the University’s second annual campus reception to recognize and celebrate the publication achievements of York faculty and other York community members. The event, in the second floor atrium of Scott Library, brought together about 150 attendees, including many of the authors and artists whose achievements were being celebrated. We were honoured to welcome as well Mario Sergio, our newly re-elected MPP for York West. This year, YORKwrites organizers received over 800 notifications of books, articles, DVD’s, CD’s, and more this year, making the YORKwrites website listing the most comprehensive available anywhere on campus. As the guests were enjoying some wine, delicious hors d’oeuvres (provided by the Underground), live jazz, and the company of their fellows, a number of speakers praised the accomplishments of York’s authors and artists. President Shoukri congratulated our faculty members, graduate students, staff, and alumni who published this last year. In addition, Vice-Presidents Sheila Embleton (Academic) and Stan Shapson (Research and Innovation) each addressed those gathered. Their comments focussed on the important links between research and teaching, publishing and libraries, and publishing and university reputation. Professor Seth Feldman (Faculty of Fine Arts) who spoke as a faculty member and author, reflected on the labours and satisfactions of producing a work, adding a note of humour to the remarks. As the event is under the formal sponsorship of both the Libraries and the Bookstores, Cynthia Archer (University Librarian) and Steven Glassman (Director, Bookstores and Printing Services) welcomed the attendees, noting the many York-authored works sold at the Bookstores or available for use through the Libraries. Their remarks also provided an opportunity to highlight the new Print on Demand publishing service offered by Printing Services, and the Libraries’ York Digital Journals publishing service.To see some photos from the event, go to http://www.yorku.ca/yorkwrit/yorkauthors.html By “publications”, the YORKwrites organizers mean not only books, but also chapters, articles, published conference papers, and other written works that York people would like their community to know about. The “publications” recognized were both print and non-print works: video and film productions, musical recordings, artistic works, dramatic and dance productions, all represented in the YORKwrites listing. While the vast majority of the publications recognized through this initiative are those of faculty, a number of publications by students (mainly graduate students), staff, and alumni are also in the listing. So that the YORKwrites list of publications might be as up to date as possible, we invite members of the York community to advise us about any publication, but especially those from the last year. Use the online form on the YORKwrites webpage, or send an email to yorkwrit@yorku.ca. |
