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Geography

Policy Last Updated:

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.

Subjects collected

Classification

Collecting priority

Geography (General)

  

General

G1 - G99

 

Toponymy

G100.5 - G100.8

 

Great cities of the world

G140

B

Historical geography

G141

A/B

Aerial geography

G142

 

Travel (voyages and travels) (general)

G149 - G154.7

A/B

Travel and the state; tourism

G154.9 - G180

A/B

History of discoveries, explorations & travel

G200 - G336

A

Special voyages and travels

G369 - G503

B

Adventures, shipwrecks, buried treasure, etc...

G521 - G539

 

Seafaring life, ocean travel, etc...

G540 - G550

B

Arctic and Antarctic regions

G575 - G890

A

Topics (general)

G905 - G910

A

Northern & southern hemispheres

G912 - G922

 

Atlases

  

Atlases of the moon, planets, etc...

G1000.3 - G1000.5

 

World atlases

G1001 - G1046

 

Northern & southern hemispheres

G1050 - G1052

 

Tropics

G1053

 

Polar regions

G1054 - G1055

 

Maritime atlases (general)

G1059 - G1061

 

Atlases by region or country

G1100 - G3102

 

Atlases of imaginary, literary or mythological

G3122

 

Globes

G3160 - G3182

 

Maps

  

Celestial maps

G3190 - G3192

 

Moon

G3195 - G3199

 

World

G3200 - G3202

 

Northern & southern hemispheres

G3210 - G3222

 

Tropics

G3240 - G3241

B

Temperate zones

G3250 - G3251

A

Polar regions

G3260 - G3272

A

Maps by region or country

G3290 - G9804

B/C

Unlocalized maps

G9900 - G9980

C

Mathematical geography

  

General

GA1 - GA123

B

Surveys (general)

GA51 - GA87

B

Cartography

  

General

GA101 - GA108.7

 

Aerial cartography

GA109

 

Cadastral mapping

GA109.5

 

Statistical mapping

GA109.8

 

Projection

GA110 - GA115

 

Map drawing, modeling, printing, reading, etc...

GA125 - GA155

A

Collection of maps, globes, etc.; map libraries

GA192 - GA197.3

 

Globe making; globes

GA260 - GA288

 

World maps, general atlases, etc.

GA300 - GA325

 

Maps (by region or country)

GA341 - GA1776

 

Physical geography

  

General

GA1 - GB110

 

By region or country

GB111 - GB398.7

 

Geomorphology; landforms; terrain

  

General

GB400 - GB445

 

Climatic geomorphology

GB447

 

Slopes

GB448

 

Coasts

GB450 - GB460

B

Reefs

GB461 - GB468

 

Islands

GB471 - GB478

B

Mountains; orography

GB500 - GB555

B

Other natural landforms: flood plains, caves, etc...

GB561 - GB649

 

Hydrology; Water

  

General

GB651 - GB671

 

Hydrology by region or country

GB701 - GB671

 

Hydrological forecasting

GB845

 

Hydrologic cycle

GB848

B/C

Water transplant phenomena

GB850

B

Natural water chemistry

GB855 - GB857.3

C

Ground & surface waters (general)

GB980 - GB1197.84

B

Springs and geysers

GB1198

 

Aquifers

GB1199 - GB1199.4

B

Geothermal resources

  

Rivers, stream measurements

GB1201 - GB1398

B

Floods

GB1399 - GB1399.9

B

Waterfalls

GB1401 - GB1598

 

Lakes, limnology

GB1601 - GB1798

B

Ice, glaciers, ice sheets

GB2401 - GB2598

B

Snow, snow surveys

GB2601 - GB2798

 

Hydrometeorology

GB2801 - GB2998

 

Natural disasters

GB5000 - GB5030

B

Oceanography

  

General

GC1 - GC59

 

Oceanographic research & expeditions

GC63 - GC64

 

Underwater exploration

GC65 - GC78

 

Submarine topography

GC83 - GC87.6

 

Sea level

GC89

B

Estuarine topography

GC96 - GC97.8

 

Straits

GC98 - GC99

 

Seawater

GC100 - GC103

 

Chemical oceanography

GC109 - GC149

 

Physical oceanography

GC150 - GC182

 

Ocean-atmosphere interaction

GC190 - GC190.5

B

Dynamics of the ocean

GC200 - GC376

B

Marine sediments

GC377 - GC399

 

Oceanography (by region)

GC401 - GC881

 

Marine resources, applied oceanography

GC1000 - GC1023

B

Marine pollution, sea water pollution

GC1080 - GC1581

A

Environmental sciences

  

General (including data processing and remote sensing)

GE1 - GE60

A/B

Environmental education (study & teaching)

GE70 - GE125

B

Environmental (conditions, quality, indicators, degradation)

GE140

A/B

Environmental risk assessment

GE145

C

Global environmental change

GE149 - GE160

A/B

Environmental policy

GE170 - GE190

A/B

Environmentalism, green movement

GE195 - GE199

A

Environmental management

GE300 - GE350

A

Human ecology, anthropogeography

  

General

GF1 - GF50.5

B

Environmental influences on man

GF51 - GF71

C

Man's influence on the environment

GF75

A

Ethical, moral and religious aspects

GF80

A/B

Hazardous aspects of the envrionment

GF85

A/B

Survival skills

GF86

C

Landscape assessment

GF90 - GF91

B

Spatial studies

GF95

B

Chronogeography, time-geography

GF98

B

Settlements (general)

GF101

B

Cities, urban geography

GF125

A/B

Rural settlements, rural geography

GF127

A/B

Settlements by region or country

GF500 - GF895

A/C

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.

Page Owner: Peter Genzinger

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