Political Science Librarian: Patti Ryan
Policy Written By: Elizabeth Watson
Programmes Supported and Description of Current Collection
The collection in political science supports teaching and research from the undergraduate to the doctoral level. M.A. programmes either by thesis or research paper and supervised doctoral dissertations in the following fields of study and specialization: Canadian Politics; Comparative Politics; Political Theory; International Relations; Empirical Theory and Methodology; and Women and Politics, are offered by the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
The diversity of the discipline is evident in the interdisciplinary courses offered in a number of Departments and Faculties at York University as well as in interdisciplinar y programmes such as Social and Political Thought, Canadian Studies, Public Administration, Urban Studies, Law and Society and Women’s Studies. Organized research units, in particular, the Centre for International and Security Studies, the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean, the Centre for Refugee Studies, the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies, the Centre for Feminist Research, the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution, the Institute for Social Research, the Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, and the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, are also indications of the scope of the research and teaching related to political science.
Description of Current Collection
Major areas of concentration are political theory, empirical theory and methodology, comparative politics, Canadian government and politics, international relations, political economy, and security studies. The Libraries make an effort to acquire all relevant academic current publications issued in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. An approval plan is used to acquire university press publications and scholarly works from selected publishers. The Political Science Librarian monitors publishers catalogues, alert services, journals, and Web sites for p ublications not covered by the Approval Plan. In the area of Canadian politics and government, York has an in-depth collection of source materials, reference works, monographs, journals and electronic data files.
Subscriptions are placed for most major journals. The journal collection is monitored closely and possible cancellations are listed annually in Library Memo for faculty input. The library endeavours to maintain a representative sample of journals from developing countries. Periodical indexes such as PAIS International and International Political Science Abstracts and government publications indexes such as as AccessUN, Microlog and the GPO Catalog, are available on the Libraries Web site. Newspaper subscriptions have been reduced due to budget restraints but access to online newspapers via NewScan has helped to alleviate this loss.
The Libraries are a member of the Data Liberation Initiative and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research and these memberships, along with the recent acquisition of an economic database (DRI), provide support for empirical research and teaching.
The recent addition of a number of electronic full text products, such as Columbia International Affairs Online, Political Risk Yearbook, JSTOR, Project Muse, and Expanded Academic Index have strengthened the political science resources available to the York University community.
Related Collections at York
Students and scholars in the field of political science rely, to a great extent, on government publications and legal sources. The Business and Government Publications Library and the York University Law Library acquire materials in these two areas. Please refer to Government Documents and Law Library Collection Policies for more detailed information. The Reference Librarian selects reference works. There is some overlapping with Environmental Studies, Sociology, Economics, Geography, Health, History, Law, and Women’s Studies. In addition, there are some materials related to Canadian politics in the Archives and Special Collections Department of the Scott Library.
Organized research units, in particular, the Centre for International and Strategic Studies, the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean, the Centre for Refugee Studies, the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies, the Centre for Feminist Research, the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution, the Institute for Social Research, the Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, and the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, maintain political science resources as well.
Languages
English is the primary language of the collection. French language, Quebec imprints, are acquired selectively. German, Russian, Spanish, and Italian language publications are rarely acquired unless specifically requested.
Geographical Coverage
Publications are acquired primarily from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, and to a lesser extent from India via our Shastri membership. English language books published in Scandinavia, Africa, Asia and Commonwealth countries are acquired on a limited basis. Areas of study include Canada, United States, Great Britain, Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, South Asia, and the Asia Pacific region. However geographic breakdowns such as these are becoming less important as the impact of globalization increases.
Chronological Coverage
The academic programmes concentrate, for the most part, on the contemporary period. The emphasis is on the 19th, 20th and now the 21st centuries. One exception is political thought and theory which ranges from antiquity to the present day, as well as historical concerns such as political philosophy and the historical development of states and other entities.
Date of Publications
The budget allows for current purchasing only. Selection is systematic for current English language publications. Retrospective titles in English and foreign-language titles (current and retrospective) are selected, for the most part, on a request basis or to build collections in new areas of teaching, where necessary, and as funds permit.
Duplication
Paperback copies of books are preferred. Multiple copies of Canadian titles are regularly ordered and additional copies may be purchased for Reserves. There may be up to 3 copies of a popular title of a non-Canadian imprint.
Gifts
Gift material is evaluated, using the same criteria that applies to the purchase of new materials.
Relegation and Weeding
Due to time constraints, this is not being done, except on a very ad hoc basis.
- Microforms — Microform copy is p urchased for heavily used periodical titles. This occurs, usually, with Canadian newspapers and journals. Theses are acquired in microform copy.
- Monographs — Paperback and hardback monographs are selected, with the default choice being paperback.
- Textbooks — Current editions textbooks are only purchased at the specific request of faculty, or occasionally if the author is well known in the field or if the publication is at the advanced level and it is a standard text without sections of questions. The Reserve Collection in the Scott Library, also acquires a limited number of undergraduate textbooks.
- Theses and Dissertations — Completed Canadian Ph.D dissertations are selected as funds permit. Other titles are selected on a request basis.
- Ephemera — The library does not attempt to acquire ephemeral political materials due to lack of staff to acquire and process these materials.
- Electronic Data Files — Indexes, full-text products and numeric data files are acquired as funds permit. Access, via the Internet, to Web sites that contain the full text of government documents and political science e-publications are linked from various library Web sites. Selected full-text e-publications are catalogued in Yorkline.
- Films, Videos and Recordings — see Films, Film and Video Studies Collection Policy
Resources Elsewhere in the Toronto Region
York students and scholars make extensive use of the resource centres on the campus and the important libraries and research institutions located throughout the Toronto area. On campus, researchers have access to the specialized collections held by research centres such as the Centre for International and Strategic Studies, the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean, the Institute f or Social Research, the Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies and the Nellie Langford Rowell Library. Off campus, scholars have access to the Robarts Library at the University of Toronto and the Toronto Reference Library. The holdings of other libraries with strong political science collections may be accessed via the Internet.
Last updated May 2006