Geography

Purpose

The Collection Development policy is used as a guide to shape relevant collections and to ensure consistency in collection development. The decision to purchase library materials is primarily the responsibility of the Collections Librarian in consultation with faculty in the Department. This policy has been developed by Michael Skelton, the Collections Librarian, in cooperation with and endorsed by Mary Louise Byrne, the Department Faculty Library Liaison and the Department Chair.

Focus

• To support teaching, study and research up to the graduate level, as well as to support faculty research
• Areas of special interest must include: cultural/historical/regional geography, physical geography, resource management, urban/economic geography and spatial data handling. Within each specific area individual faculty members may make recommendations for items to be included in the collection.

Scope

• Language: primarily English language materials are collected. Important publications primarily in French, German, Spanish and Russian will also be considered either in their original language or in translation if available.
• Place of Publication: emphasis is placed on Canadian or American publishers first, then British and European
• Dates of Publication: emphasis is placed on recently published works. Works, both serial and monograph, already in the collection and have a publication date older than ten years may be selected for transfer to the Annex for long term storage.
• Chronological Period: both contemporary and historical works are acquired Geographical Areas: no area is excluded, but priority is given to works with a North American focus, with a secondary emphasis on Africa, British Isles, China, Europe, Japan, Russian Federation and South America. Other areas of the world will be considered as the need arises.
• Publishers: works from scholarly and academic publishers are emphasized

 Types, formats, and readership of materials collected

• Materials with academic-level readership are selected. Titles such as “Annual Review” and “Recent Advances” should be continued along with “occasional” publications. Donations from private collections may be considered if they fill a gap in the collection.
• Web-based formats for reference sources, journals and indexing sources are preferred. Print and microform are considered for reason of cost, availability, expected use or long term access.
• Single copies of books in print formats are generally selected. Web-based formats are selected on a title by title basis, especially if the title is of interest to users at multiple Laurier campuses. Duplication of print across Laurier campuses is generally avoided.
• Excluded types include textbooks, abridgements, study aids, limited editions, juvenile works, pamphlets, works by vanity presses, obsolete formats, reprints and partial contents (eg. single issues of journals, electronic versions of single chapters of books). Titles already held by the Universities of Waterloo and Guelph may be excluded.
• The following items, as they apply to Geography & Environmental Sciences, will only be considered for inclusion in the collection upon the request of the Geography & Environmental Science faculty:
  • Proceedings of conferences, symposia, international congresses, etc.
  • Selected Canadian and American theses
  • Reports of non-governmental organizations such as research centres, university departments, etc
  • Numeric and/or spatial data
  • Electronic formats

Subjects collected and collecting priorities 

Collecting priorities are categorized into 3 levels:

A - highest emphasis

The collection includes major published materials required to support the core teaching and research at the highest degree level offered by the Department.

B - secondary emphasis

The collection includes a selection of materials to complement the discipline as a whole, although it may not be a primary focus for courses.

C - selective emphasis

Materials, including reference materials and basic journals and indexes are collected to introduce and define an area.

Related programs and support 

Consortial purchases with the TriUniversity Group of Libraries (Guelph, Waterloo, Laurier university libraries), with the Ontario Council of University Libraries, and on a national level, are pursued.

The Laurier archival collection has a number of collections of personal papers from local academic dealing with the environment and the Great Lakes. These documents may be of value to Geography & Environmental Science students.