Health Collection Development Policy

Subject Librarian: Thumeka Mgwigwi

Academic Programmes Supported and Description of Current Collection

There are health related courses in many areas of the University. These include the Faculty of Administrative Studies; Faculty of Environmental Studies; the departments of Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Anthropology, Geography, Philosophy, and Social Sciences in the Faculty of Arts; Osgoode Hall Law School; and various departments in Atkinson College, particularly the Health Administration option in the Department of Administrative Studies. The Health Studies option is providing administrative and other professional courses for individuals who already have basic qualifications and courses in nursing. These courses deal with research methods in health studies, sociology of health care, health care law, the Canadian health care system, as well as the issues of professionalism of health care personnel, ethical concerns of health care personnel, and the role of professional organizations.

A new organized research unit was approved by the Senate. The impact of the Centre for Health Studies is yet to be known. The focus of the Centre is applied social research in the field of health promotion. It will investigate an individual's knowledge, attitudes and behaviour; public policy; the environment; and community organizations as determinants of health promotion or disease prevention. This emphasis is intended to counteract the dominant emphasis in health studies upon biomedically defined sickness and in the medical care delivery system.

Description of Collection

The parts of the collection which support Health Studies vary in their depth. The strongest parts are psychiatry, sports medicine and paediatrics. Materials relating to the social aspects of nursing are limited in number but steadily being increased.

Related Collections at York

The activities of the Social Science Bibliographer, the Environmental Studies Bibliographer, the Economics Bibliographer, and especially the Government Documents Bibliographer have an impact on the Libraries' total support for the Centre for Health Studies as well as support for the courses currently being taught.

Languages

English is the language collected.

Geographical Coverage

Canada, United States, and Britain are the main sources for material; other locations are added very selectively.

Chronological Coverage

The collection focuses on modern and very current topics. However, the history of medicine section is not limited to the contemporary.

Date of Publications

Current imprints are emphasized with retrospective purchases made for the history of medicine.

Duplication

Heavily used titles are duplicated.

Types of Materials

The collection is primarily monographs and paper copy of periodicals. Some back runs of periodicals are purchased in microform.

Resources Elsewhere in the Toronto Region

Since the course work and research relating to health studies at York University focuses on the social aspects of health studies, hospital libraries and the Science and Medicine Library at the University of Toronto can provide limited supplementary support for students and researchers from York.

Collecting Levels

Last updated 1990