The Department of Economics provides a range of courses on economic theory, economic history, economic development, econometrics, and various other branches of economics such as natural resource economics and monetary economics. Research by the faculty is similarly varied: examples of topics include the economics of crime and punishment, the impact of environmental regulation on the economy, the regulation of financial institutions, public policy towards business, and developing/transition economies. The SFU Library collects materials to support the courses, research, and goals of the Department of Economics.
Economics Degrees are offered at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels. Students may choose to study toward a minor in economics, or they may pursue a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in either the major or honours programs. Joint majors are available with business, geography, political science, and Latin American studies. Moreover, there is a joint honours program with business administration. Above the undergraduate level, the Department offers Master of Arts (MA) and PhD degrees with courses in all major branches of economic research and discourse.
The Department is also involved with research centres of the Canadian Institutes for Advanced Research Program in Economic Growth and Policy, and of the Research on Immigration and Integration in the Metropolis (RIIM) group.
Collection development is the responsibility of the Economics Liaison Librarian. Liaison with the Economics Department is maintained through the Departmental Representative as well as with other faculty members when required. Regular contact with other liaison librarians and teaching departments is nurtured through the sharing of relevant review material.
SFU Resources
The W.A.C. Bennett Library is the major location for the University's economics collection. In addition, due to the multidisciplinary nature of the field, there is a wide overlap with other SFU Library collections such as business administration, political science, and mathematics.
Regional Resources
The University of British Columbia also has a large economics collection comprehending many branches of the discipline.
Consortia and Document Delivery
SFU belongs to three consortia (Electronic Library Network; Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries; and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries). Document delivery agreements exist with all three of these consortia which allow delivery of journal articles and books from these libraries in a timely manner. Holdings and direct requesting from over 40 libraries are accessible through the Interlibrary Loan Web page and from many databases.
General Collection Guidelines
Languages: the emphasis is on the acquisition of materials in English.
Chronological guidelines: as the collection supports both historical and current research, materials covering all chronological periods will be collected.
Geographical guidelines: the international nature of economics coursework and research mandates that materials dealing with all countries and regions be collected. There will, in addition, be specific focuses on materials that concern British Columbia and Canada.
Treatment of subject: all available treatments of the subject will be collected to varying degrees. These include statistical, social, historical, practical, legal, etc.
Types of materials: collecting is split between books and journals. Most common types of books such as symposium proceedings and bibliographies are collected, with the exception of items likely to be redundant (collections of previously published materials) or non-academic (hardware/software specific manuals). There will also be a growing emphasis in the future on ejournals and Web resources.
Date of Publication: emphasis is on current publications. Retrospective acquisitions are normally reserved for the replacement of important titles which have deteriorated or disappeared.
Coordination and cooperation with other campus resources: to properly support the interdisciplinary field of economics, coordination with such related areas as resource and environmental management, business administration, mathematics, and political science is important to ensure that broad information needs are met.
Other factors for consideration: none at this time.
Subjects and Levels of Collecting
The following table lists the main subjects collected by the SFU Library in support of the Economics teaching areas and research interests. Subjects listed are collected to varying depths. The method in which the library selects books on each subject is listed in the second column of the table. A designation of “Books” in this column means that items which fit the General Guidelines (above) for the subject in question are sent on an approval basis to the library. In such cases, a significant portion of the books on that topic will be acquired for the collection. A designation of “Forms,” on the other hand, means that only brief descriptions of the books on the subject in question are sent to the library. The liaison librarian, often with the assistance of the department or faculty representative or other faculty members, then selects the relevant items for acquisition by the library.
1. Humanities Division | |
a. History division | |
i. Economic History | Books |
ii. Science & technology history division | |
(1) Transportation history | Forms |
2. Law division | |
a. Environmental law division | |
i. Environmental law - general | Forms |
ii. Natural resources law | Forms |
iii. Natural areas law | Forms |
iv. Mining law | Forms |
v. Environmental impact statements law | Forms |
vi. Oil & gas law | Forms |
vii. Public lands (Law) | Forms |
viii. Water (Law) | Forms |
ix. Water rights | Forms |
x. Ocean bottom (International law) | Forms |
xi. Pollution law | Forms |
xii. Other environmental law | Forms |
3. Social sciences division | |
a. Economics division | |
i. Economics - general | Books |
ii. Economic conditions | Books |
iii. History of economic thought | Books |
iv. Economic analysis/theory division | |
(1) Economic analysis/theory - general | Books |
(2) Prices and price theory | Books |
(3) Capital & wealth | Books |
(4) Economic crisis | Books |
(5) Interest & usury | Books |
(6) Income & profit | Books |
(7) Consumption (Economics) | Books |
(8) Theory of production | Books |
(9) Poverty | Books |
v. Macroeconomics | Books |
vi. Microeconomics | Books |
vii. Econometrics & statistics | Books |
viii. Economic growth & development | Books |
ix. Public utilities | Books |
x. Government ownership | Books |
xi. Economics of industries | Books |
xii. Privatization | Forms |
xiii. Money & banking division | |
(1) Money & banking - general | Books |
(2) Inflation (Economics) | Books |
(3) International banking | Books |
(4) Savings institutions | Forms |
xiv. Credit management | Forms |
xv. Taxation division | |
(1) Taxation – general | Forms |
(2) Tax reform | Forms |
(3) Tax exemption | Forms |
xvi. Specific types of taxation | |
(1) Income tax | Forms |
(2) Sales tax | Forms |
(3) Property tax | Forms |
(4) Inheritance tax | Forms |
(5) Gift tax | Forms |
(6) Business taxes | Forms |
(7) Other specific taxes | Forms |
xvii. International economics | Books |
xviii. Economic alliances | Books |
xix. Economic planning/policy | Books |
xx. Economic forecasting | Books |
xxi. Comparative economics | Books |
xxii. Public finance division | |
(1) Public finance - general | Books |
(2) Local economics | Forms |
(3) National/local economic relations | Forms |
(4) Regional economics | Books |
(5) Public accounting | Books |
xxiii. Capitalism | Books |
xxiv. Socialist economics | Books |
xxv. Labor economics division | |
(1) Labor economics – general | Books |
(2) Labor supply | Books |
(3) Employment of specific groups | Books |
(4) Migrant workers | Books |
(5) Seasonal & part-time employment | Books |
(6) Employee benefits | Books |
(7) Employment/unemployment | Books |
(8) Brain drain | Books |
(9) Professionalism | Books |
xxvi. Economics of natural resources | Books |
xxvii. Economics of agriculture | Forms |
(1) Economics of food supply | Forms |
4. Applied social studies division | |
a. Education division | |
i. Economics of education | Forms |
(1) Educational costs | Forms |
5. Applied interdisciplinary social studies division | |
a. Hunger | Books |
b. Poverty | Books |
c. Housing/Homelessness | Books |
6. Technology division | |
a. Mining engineering division | |
i. Economic geology | Forms |
(1) Assaying of minerals | Forms |
7. Forestry division | |
a. Forest economics division | |
i. Forest economics - general | Forms |
ii. Forest exploitation & use | Forms |
8. Career books division | |
a. Economics as a career | Forms |
Created by MB. Last updated by TM 09/13/00.