Subject Librarian: Peter Duerr
Policy Written By: Elizabeth Watson
Academic Programmes Supported and Description of Current Collection
The government documents collection consists of the publications of government, government agencies and international governmental organizations. Emphasis is upon Canada and its provinces and territories, Great Britain, the United States, the United Nations (including the UN family), the International Labour Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and the European Communities. The collection includes both hard copy, microforms and electronic data products. There are extensive research materials for both current and retrospective materials .
Government documents are defined as:
"Publications, regardless of physical form, issued or published by authority of a government body. Specifically: those issued or published by the executive, legislative and judicial functions of governments at all levels – international, national, federal, local governmental bodies and intergovernmental bodies.
This definition is further refined by the following:
- Canadian crown corporations and Canadian boards and commissions (including royal commissions) shall be considered to be governmental bodies… this will include briefs submitted to commissions, boards and task forces which function in a similar manner to boards and commissions. (Canada Yearbook 1970/71 ed. p. 152)
- The international government bodies included shall be the United Nations family, the European Communities, the European Free Trade Association and other "Inter-Governmental organizations established by agreements to which three states or more are parties." (Yearbook of International Org anizations, 14th. Ed. p. 15: list pp.714-715)
The government documents collection supports a wide variety of research and teaching. Support is provided up to the research level in the areas of the Social Sciences such as History, Political Science, Sociol ogy, Urban Studies, Women's Studies, Economics, etc. Additionally, there is research level support for Administrative Studies, Education, Environmental Studies and Law as defined by York's various faculties.
Description of Current Collection
The subject coverage is extensive and includes the following: aboriginal peoples, architecture, communications (including telecommunications and broadcasting), culture, defence, demography (including emigration and immigration), development (local, regional and developing countries), earth sciences, economics (macro and micro), education (particularly special education and curriculum), environment, ethnic studies and heritage, foreign affairs, geography (particularly physical), geriatrics, health, housing, human rights , justice (including crime), labour, land use, leisure, management (this is in the broad sense covering finance, auditing, research and development, small business, insurance etc.), municipal governments (particularly official plans), natural science, planning (urban, social, political, environmental), psychology (including studies on child development, behavioral and similar topics), political and governmental structures, recreation, refugees, technologies (particularly technology transfer and innovation), transportation, urbanization, waste management, and women.
There are some limitations: Pure sciences are collected at Steacie as are atmospheric sciences, fisheries, forests and wildlife; Fine arts, such as galleries and museums, are collected at Scott; Maps are collected only if they are integral to another publication, otherwise they are sent to and/or acquired by the Map Library. Other exclusions are Libraries, Academies of Science, Associations, Schools and Universities, Research Institutions, Hospitals, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Only policy statements and annual reports are collected from government bodies who either fund and/or regulate these bodies. UNESCO publications are acquired by the appropriate subject bibliographer. Related Collections at York
Many other York University Libraries collections policies refer to government documents collection. There is some overlapping with the Osgoode Law Library.
Languages
The language of emphasis is English. It should be pointed out, however, that most Canadian federal documents, especially Parliamentary documents, are bilingual. When materials are available separately in both official languages, English is chosen. Materials in other languages are acquired when there is no choice such as documents from foreign countries such as France, Germany, Japan etc.
Geographical Coverage
It is somewhat easier to isolate areas of geographic limits than coverage. There are few materials from the Middle East except for documents of regional groupings such as Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The collection for the Far East, is limited and concentrates on countries of the Pacific Rim. The European collection is heavily weighted to the European Communities, and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. Latin/Central America and the Caribbean is mostly limited to those materials which can be obtained from the Organization of American States (OAS). Materials from individual countries are generally difficult to locate and acquire but are done so, when possible, for major documents, development plans and statistics. There are similar problems with acquiring publications from Africa and Eastern Europe.
Chronological Coverage
The paper collection's imprints date from 1867 and onward. Earlier materials are generally only available in microform. These are collected according to faculty members' needs and availability and budgetary considerations.
Date of Publications
Preference is given to the purchase of current materials. Purchases of historical collections are limited to teaching needs, compatibility with collections strength, and availability of funds.
Duplication
There is considerable duplication of Canadian materials with Frost Library. There is, however, an attempt not to duplicate French language Quebec material when Frost has the publication.
There are some materials that are collected both in Law and Government Documents. A rationalization has been worked out that materials are only duplicated in York libraries where necessary. These duplicates may include multiple copies of such materials as Canadian federal and Ontario bills, debates, committee minutes of proceedings and evidence, royal commission reports, and other major reports including some foreign and international documents.
Other materials in Scott, Steacie and Maps are duplicated if they are integral to policy statements as mentioned above.
Gifts
Gifts are accepted selectively. Duplicate materials of Canadian federal documents and Ontario documents are regularly acquired from 2 sources who provide the desired gifts on a regular basis. Other gifts are only encouraged or accepted if they provide a retrospective completion to sets currently held or if they are of value to the subject areas collected. Even these are sometimes limited by the space available to house them.
Relegation and Weeding These two functions are carried out on an ongoing basis. Many materials when they are updated or become superseded are weeded regularly. Multiple copies of high use items are relegated when no longer needed. The practice has been to maintain only one copy in the collection generally and three copies for major Canadian federal and Ontario documents.
Ephemera and pamphlets are not retained. Those that have long standing interest such as speeches, communiqué, policies and explanations of government programs, are kept and catalogued as regular monographs or serials.
Most diskettes and CD-ROMs are relegated when updates are received. The only exceptions are those that have historical material and data which will not be updated, ie the Canadian System of National Accounts 1926-1976.
Types of Materials
Almost all types of materials are purchased; books, journals, microforms, CD ROMs, and diskettes. Some exceptions are theses, recordings, films, videos and maps. These are collected at or sent to the relevant areas in Scott. The government documents collection does have some of almost each type of these materials but only when these are integral to the use of other materials, i.e. maps are needed in order to use the Census of Canada.
Manuscript and archival material are not collected as a general rule. These would be primarily pre-1867 materials. There are a few minor exceptions; materials that are needed for study with other materials are kept in the government documents collection but are held under tight security, ie the Statutes of the Dominion of Canada.
Resources Elsewhere in the Toronto Region
The University of Toronto, Robarts Library, Government Documents Section has large collections in many areas where little material is acquired at York. They are also referred to for non-published materials from the United Nations family.
For municipal information, there has been a reliance on local special collections such as the North York Central Library which houses a large collection of documents from that city. The Metro Urban Affairs Library has been most helpful for information dealing with Metro cities and the borough of East York. Also, the City of Toronto Planning Department has relevant materials in planning. All the above continue to be most cooperative in helping our faculty and students.
Last updated 1994