SUBJECT AREA: J - POLITICAL SCIENCE
Purpose:
To support the work of students in the
political science program. In addition, generally support the work of students
in the social sciences and humanities.
It should be noted that the discipline
of political science has strong interdisciplinary relationships with philosophy,
women's studies, history and Canadian studies. Thus as a consequence of this,
political science material frequently falls outside the "J" classification.
Existing Collection Strength:
J - General Legislative and Executive papers:
Canada and in particular the Maritime
Provinces - Advanced (4) (because of government documents)
United States and Great Britain - Selective
(3)
Europe - Representative (2)
Other Countries - Basic (1)
JA - General Political Science:
Selective (3)
JC - Political Theory:
Selective (3)
JF - Political Institutions and Administration -
General:
Selective (3)
JK - Political Institutions and Administrations -
U.S.:
Selective (3)
JL - Political Institutions and Administrations - North & South
America except U.S.:
Canada - Advanced (4)
NAFTA - Selective (3)
South America - Representative
(2)
Other Countries - Basic (1)
JN - Political Institutions and Administrations -
Europe:
European Union - Selective (3)
United Kingdom, France and Germany - Selective
(3)
Rest of Europe - Representative (2) /
Basic (1)
JQ - Political Institutions and Administrations - Asia,
Oceana:
Japan - Representative (2)
The rest - Basic (1)
JS - Local Government and Municipal government:
Basic (1) (except for the Bell Collection's
histories of Maritime municipalities prior to WWII, which is Advanced (4))
JV - Colonies, Colonization, Emigration and
Immigration:
Canada - Selective (3)
U.S., Western Europe - Representative
(2)
JX - International Law:
Basic (1) - except for Foreign relations
of the U.S. and Canada which is at the Selective (3) level.
JZ - International Relations:
Selective (3)
Current Collecting Intensity:
As above but with increasing emphasis
on feminist political theory, women in politics, globalization and
nongovernmental organizations.
Geographic Focus:
Predominantly North America and Western
Europe. Secondary focus on Japan, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Chronological Focus: All periods.
Languages Collected: Primarily English.
Formats Collected:
Primarily books and journals in print.
Occasional purchase of video recordings. The Internet is very useful for
political science sources. Relevant web sites are noted on the Library's
political science subject web page
http://www.mta.ca/library/polisci.htm
Access to Journal Articles:
The useful indexes by subdiscipline are:
Political theory:
• Philosophers Index
Political systems
Canadian government and politics:
• Canadian Business
and Current Affairs (CBCA)
• Canadian Periodical
Index (print).
US government and politics:
• ProQuest
• Public Affairs
Information Service (PAIS)
European Union:
• Public Affairs
Information Service (PAIS)
International relations:
• Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS)
• ProQuest
International Bibliography of Political Science (print).
This is a useful index for political science
literature. However, the fact that it is in print and is slow to publish
has meant that it has fallen out of favour with students and faculty. It
is occasionally used for more advanced research in the field. Also utilized
as a selection tool by the librarian.
To a lesser extent, general indexes and indexes from other disciplines also contain information relevant to political science. Of particular use are Social Sciences Index, America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts.
Date: May 1996 (Revised July 2001)
Selector Responsible: Emma Cross