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To search for books by subject heading, use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue, then select Subject browse from the drop-down menu.Belzberg Library welcomes students in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue to SFU Vancouver. This guide will help you to use our library to find research material for this topic. If you have any further questions about library services, please contact Jorge Cárdenas, at or jorgec@sfu.ca.
Research Sources for Social Enterprise for Sustainable Community Development
Library research involves selecting your topic, identifying the best sources and appropriate research tools, accessing the items found and evaluating your results. Start Your Research Here is a brief guide that will help you with this process.
Start your hunt for information "at home" by visiting the SFU Library home page. This gathers all the best research tools, guides and research help in one place.
1. Books, Ebooks, Films, Music, Sound, Slides
Search the Catalogue to find all books, reports and media materials in the SFU Library at all three campuses (Belzberg - Vancouver; Bennett - Burnaby; Surrey - SFU Surrey).
- Searching by KEYWORD is generally the best way to start. Once you have found some good results with your keyword searches, use the subjects on those items to focus your search.
- To search for books by subject heading, use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue, then select Subject browse from the drop-down menu.
- Try the following SUBJECT headings:
- City planning - environmental aspects
- Community development
- Community development, Urban
- Economic development - environmental aspects
- Entrepreneurship
- Environmental ethics
- Environmental responsibility
- Nonprofit organizations
- Social action
- Social capital (Sociology)
- Social responsibility of business
- Sustainable development
- Urban ecology
- Limit your search to items at Belzberg Library by selecting Belzberg Collection from the main search screen. You can also use ADVANCED KEYWORD search. Select Belzberg Library in the COLLECTION field to include online resources. Select Belzberg Library (Downtown/Harbour Centre) in the LOCATION field for items physically at Belzberg Library.
- If the item is not available at Belzberg Library, or is out on loan, please request it!
- Find electronic books, films, dvds, cds or slides on your topic by using ADVANCED KEYWORD search. Select the appropriate format in the FORMAT field.
- For a step-by-step interactive guide to searching the SFU catalogue, see the SFU Library Catalogue Search Guide.
2. Journal and Newspaper Articles
- All print and electronic journals subscribed to by the SFU Library are listed in the catalogue. Electronic journals are also listed in the Electronic Journals Database by title, subject and by the association/organization who publishes the journal.
- Connect to Article Indexes and Databases to find articles in academic journals, trade magazines and newspapers, as well as financial and statistical data. Many indexes provide online access to the full text of the articles or allow you to directly request photocopies of articles through the "where can I get this?" link. Use the appropriate subject lists to identify the most useful databases for your topic.
- Good article databases for Social Enterprise for Sustainable Community Development:
- Academic Search Premier - multidisciplinary index to academic and popular journals.
- Business Source Premier - full text for over 3,700 business journals.
- Canadian Newsstream - full text of major Canadian newspapers and Canwest's small market BC papers.
- CBCA Complete - multidisciplinary index to Canadian journals and magazines.
- ECONLIT - economic aspects of community development.
- Environment Complete - covers all aspects of the impact of people and technology on the environment, as well as remedial policies and technologies used to address these issues
- GEOBASE - geographical aspects of community development.
- Web of Science - excellent multidisciplinary source. Indexes thousands of social science and humanities journals in addition to science journals. Other features include cited reference searches and personal alerts.
- Try the same subject terms as suggested for books, or check the thesaurus or list of subject terms within the database.
- For help with searching databases, check Finding Journal Articles and/or Moving From Citation to Article.
- For books and articles not online or at SFU, request an Interlibrary Loan.
3. Statistics and Government Information
- BC Ministry of Community, Sport & Cultural Development Intergovernmental Relations and Planning Division supports community planning
- BC Regional Socio-Economic Profiles from BC Stats
- Canadian Research Index lists all depository publications of research value issued by the Canadian federal, provincial and territorial governments
- Metro Vancouver includes the Sustainable Region Initiative as well as BuildSmart, a source for sustainable building information.
- National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy Canadian federal government sponsored independent advisory committee with publications such as "Reality Check: The State of Climate Progress in Canada".
- Natural Resources Canada Sustainable Development includes best practices and case studies of corporate social responsibility.
- Statistics Canada allows you to find statistics by subject and community profiles based on the 2001 Census.
- United Nations Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.
- Western Economic Diversification Canada includes a section on Sustainable Development Strategy.
4. Selected Internet Sources
In addition to the library catalogue and article indexes and databases, you will find much good information on the web. Governments, research institutes, non-profit organizations, industry and other associations and companies all have web sites - many with publications freely available. Use one of the web search engines to find additional information, including the web sites of interest groups and other organizations. Use a search engine such as Google or Teoma.
Useful sites for Social Enterprise for Sustainable Community Development:
- Ashoka building a competitive citizen sector.
- CasePlace developing leaders for a sustainable society from the Aspen Institute.
- Centre for Community Enterprise expertise and resources for community economic development.
- Centre for Sustainable Community Development SFU research centre.
- Global Development Research Centre carries out initiatives in the spheres of environment, urban, community, economy and information.
- NextBillion development through enterprise from the World Resources Institute.
- Community Futures is a gateway to a network of Community Economic Development offices across Canada, which includes links to resources.
- Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
- Social Capital Gateway resources for the study of social capital.
- Sustainable Communities Network includes articles on various sustainability topics.
- Sustainable Development WWW Virtual Library meta-site with links to web directories, organizations and projects related to sustainable development.
- Vancouver Social Enterprise Forum evolving thoughts on the state of social enterprise in Vancouver that includes a great set of links.
- World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
5. Research guides for related subjects
- Subject Research guides are produced by SFU liaison librarians to point you to the best external sources as well as providing information about publication available in the library.
- Try the following guides for further suggestions:
Ask Us!
- If you would like any further assistance or information about the library or your research, don't hesitate to Ask Us! in person, by phone, email or interactive reference.