History resources

Abstracts/Indexes
See History Databases http://cufts2.lib.sfu.ca/CRDB/MWUC/browse/facets/subject/1021

America: History and Life
http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/america-history-and-life
Covers material about Canada and the United States only.

Historical Abstracts
Historical coverage of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada).

Online Guides/Pathfinders
General
History – General on the Web
http://libguides.uwinnipeg.ca/cat.php?cid=1421
Additional guides for Canada, Europe, US and World.

BUBL Link: 900 Geography and History
http://bubl.ac.uk/link/linkbrowse.cfm?menuid=11367
Internet resources selected by UK librarians.

Canada’s SchoolNet Learning Resources: Social Studies
http://www.schoolnet.ca/home/e/resources/browse_results.asp?SECTION=0&SUBJECT=46&LangID1&SEARCH=index.asp

History Resources
https://web.archive.org/web/20130103060229/http://www.lib.lsu.edu/sp/subjects/hist
This resource, from Louisiana State University, contains pointers to bibliographies, catalogs, electronic images, electronic texts, electronic journals, electronic discussion groups, and indexes.

The Internet Public Library: History
http://www.ipl.org/IPLBrowse/GetSubject?vid=13&cid=1&tid=6945&parent=6925

Internet Subject Guides: History. Mount Royal College, Calgary http://libguides.mtroyal.ca/history

Kwantlen University College Library Internet Subject Guides: History http://libguides.kwantlen.ca/history

WWW-VL The World Wide Virtual Library History: Central Catalogue http://vlib.iue.it/history/index.html

Canadian
Canada Online: Canadian History
http://canadaonline.about.com/od/history/
From “about.com”. Links to general Canadian history resources and Canadian history maps.

Canadian History on the Web
http://www.oupcanada.com/higher_education/humanities/history.html
Links compiled by Oxford University Press Canada.

Canadiana: The Canadian Resources Page
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/clamen/misc/Canadiana/README.html
An extensive gateway to Internet sites on a wide range of subjects relating to Canada. There are subject headings for history and politics, science and education, news and information, facts and figures and much more. Last updated 2000.

H-Canada: Canadian History and Studies
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~canada/
A discussion group for scholars including publication reviews, calls for papers and resource links.

Library and Archives Canada
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/discover/index-e.html
Provides access to the full list of selected topics available for browsing on the Library and Archives Canada Website.

Genealogy
Genealogy Links
http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/onlineresources/internet/genealogy.asp

Genealogy http://web.archive.org/web/20021218033212/http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/dafoe/internetres/genealogy.html

Our roots/Nos Racines
http://www.ourroots.ca/
Canada’s local histories online.

Family Search
http://www.familysearch.org/
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) website. Links to 1881 Canadian and British census and 1880 U.S. Census.

1901 Census for England and Wales
http://www.1901censusonline.com/

Census of Canada, 1901
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1901/Pages/about-census.aspx

Geography
Encarta Encyclopedia. “Geography”. http://web.archive.org/web/20091028095632/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761552030/Geography.html

Geography on the Web
http://libguides.uwinnipeg.ca/cat.php?cid=1456

Maps
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/index.html
Collection of current and historical maps provided by the University of Texas at Austin.

History

History quotes

“History does not repeat itself. The historians repeat one another.”

-Max Beerbohm

“God alone knows the future, but only an historian can alter the past.”

-Ambrose Bierce

“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?”

-Cicero

“All that has been felt, thought, imagined, said, and done by human beings as such and in relation to one another and to their environment since the beginning of mankind’s operations on this planet.”

-Social Science Research Council

Many consider “history” to be one of the humanities

Developments to note

• Increasing interdisciplinary trend
• Increasing number of specialized areas, e.g. by: time period; geographic area; ethnic, racial, or social group
• Developments in theory and method, e.g. postmodernism; feminist theory
• New technologies, e.g. digitalization and availability of primary sources over the Web, e.g. U of M Archives & Special Collections. The Canadian Wartime Experience http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/canada_war/index.shtml
• see Using Primary Sources on the Web http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources
•  Primary sources: records made at the time of an event (or somewhat later) by the participants or firsthand observers, e.g.
• letters
• diaries
• court records
• wills
• newspaper accounts of those on the scene
• viewpoints may not be accurate
• oral histories and interviews
• data files, e.g. census records
• ephemeral materials important for social/cultural history, e.g. menus, catalogues, playbills, comic books, etc.
• Secondary sources: materials by individuals other than event participants or eyewitnesses which analyze or report on historical subjects 
• Monograph dominates but serial literature growing
• Tertiary sources: information gained “third hand”, or a summary of a summary. Information found from encyclopaedias
• Historians tend to refer to older materials more than scholars in most other disciplines (preservation problems with acidic materials)
• New methodologies esp. use of quantitative sources, e.g. census, tax info
• Social history (Annales School originating in France, 1929)
• study of groups such as women, children, minorities, the poor
• Statistical data used where ever possible, e.g. the Doomsday book
• If those studied were not considered everyday people or the elite, there was likely little to no paper trails
• Historians usually regular library users
• heavy users of ILL
• microform sets of source material important
• Web resources beginning to appear
• Biographies most popular historical genre with general readers
• Local histories: authors often amateur historians, information may overlap with genealogy
• Oral history may fill gap as fewer and fewer record experiences in written diaries and letters
• Historical revision: process of reinterpreting the past, should be based on new evidence or new interpretations of existing evidence not deliberate fabrications of the historical record
• E.g. The Red River Rebellion is now referred to as the Red River Resistance. Louis Riel is now portrayed as a good man, rather than the traitor he was illustrated as.
• Poor teaching of history in K-12, especially when focused on names and dates, has caused many to believe history is boring and irrelevant yet:
• Family history/genealogy extremely popular
• Historical re-enactments popular
• History TV channel
• Numerous popular museums

Political science

From: Herron, Nancy L. The Social Sciences: A Cross Disciplinary Guide to Selected Sources, 3rd ed. Greenwood Village, Colo. : Libraries Unlimited, 2002. pp. 47-50.

Political science
Debra Cheney
ESSAY

Every day, newspapers, magazines, television, and radio bombard us with information dealing with political situations and developments. However, few of us think of this information as falling within the discipline of political science. Similarly, political science questions posed at library reference desks will frequently deal with current events and society, rather than with an analysis of a political theory or ideology. Yet all these questions fall into the arena of political science reference work. 

One difficult aspect of categorizing political science questions is that they are dependent on both the type of the library and the needs of patrons using that library. Each reference question can require different resources and different reference processes. In an academic setting, questions about the availability of foreign newspaper translations, articles about the impact of congressional redistricting on voter registration, and statements and voting records on a wide range of topics are likely to be posed. In addition, questions about political situations in other countries and the activities and publications of international and intergovernmental organizations are increasingly common. With the growing awareness of world events and the greater availability of information about these events, researchers are increasingly expanding their research to include non-U.S. sources. The breadth and complexity of many political science questions illustrate two facts about the discipline of political science: It lacks a clear definition and delineation of the subject from other social sciences, and the range of material covered in the field is very large. 

Einstein once observed that politics was more difficult to understand than physics because of the number of relationships and factors involved. 1 This can be said also about the study of political science. Politics and the governance of human beings have, of course, been in existence since we first organized into societal groups. Yet the study of political science is a relatively new social science, born from the disciplines of history, economics, and government and nurtured by the fields of sociology, psychology, geography, and philosophy. Because of the field’s interdisciplinary nature, political science reference questions often require sources and knowledge beyond those traditionally categorized as purely political science sources. 

Evolution of political science
The birth of this new social science is usually placed at the turn of the twentieth century with the establishment of the American Political Science Association (APSA) in 1903. Before that time, most studies of politics took place within departments of history and economics. However, with the founding of the ASPA, political science departments soon developed in colleges and universities across the country. The founding was also significant to the discipline, because it was a U.S. association and the discipline itself is a uniquely U.S. social science, with more than three-quarters of political scientists being American. 2 The predominance of Americans in the field focused most research in the area of the U.S. politics, a bias that still exists today. However, this is changing not only because the end of the Cold War has placed the superpowers in a relationship of cooperation rather than competition, but also because information about other countries has become more available. 

As the discipline developed, its lack of scientific principles was viewed by all as a primary deterrent in a field claiming the word science. Political scientists consciously tried to develop the principles and theories necessary for a scientific framework for this new field. However, the discipline continues to struggle with the need to define itself and its role. 3 The 1982 International Handbook of Political Science, edited by William G. Andrews (Greenwood Press, 1982), opens with the same sentence that the first article in the first issue of Political Science Quarterly (the first professional journal in the field) did in 1886: “The term political science is greatly in need of definition.” 4 On the surface it would appear that U.S. efforts during the past century have done little to define the discipline of political science. Yet the profession has made a good deal of progress; it has produced a body of classic works, fostered specialization, developed a systematic theoretical structure, and developed models for analysis. 

The discipline has passed through five developmental stages in the past 100 years. The first stage, the study of government, was an outgrowth of the marriage of history and economics. This period produced the great classics in political science, many of which stand up well even by today’s standards of science 5 and were the basis for political organizational theory. However, the search for scientific rules for the discipline continued until after World War II, when the second stage, behaviorism, emerged. Behaviourists sought to scientifically learn why and how people react in political situations, and tried to predict occurrences and political actions. A third stage, the study of comparative politics, began to move political science out of its largely U.S. focus and to compare how nations and states operate. The fourth stage, the study of public administration, dealt with how governments and organizations (e.g., Congress, government agencies, political parties) operate. The final stage, the now-burgeoning field of public policy analysis, seeks ways to quantify and evaluate political decisions to maximize benefits for the public good. Each of these stages reflected the interest and themes of the historical periods in which it was born and effectively added new fields of specialization within the study of political science. 

Fields of specialization
Within political science there are many fields of research, each slightly different from the others and each borrowing from and overlapping to certain degrees with other social sciences. These fields can be grouped into seven broad areas: national governments, comparative politics, international politics, political theory, public law, public administration, and public policy analysis. 

National governments
The study of national governments is the oldest branch of political science, covering many topics and evolving out of the works of Plato and Aristotle. Originally this field dealt with the subjects of power, the state, and political institutions. Due to the U.S. dominance in political science, the field soon grew into the study of the powers and interactions of the legislative, executive, and judicial bodies at the national, state, and local levels. The study of the national governments branched out in the early twentieth century to include the study of voting and electoral patterns and the power of political parties within the U.S. political scene. Today, because of behaviorism and frequent forays into sociology and psychology, the key fields of study are the behavior and motivation of voters and the power of the media in the political process. 

Comparative politics
The study of comparative politics became an area of serious research after World War II with the emergence of behaviorism. Comparative politics research attempts to develop methodologies by which institutions and governments can be compared scientifically. Unfortunately, there has rarely been agreement on consistent methodologies, and, consequently, scientific cross-national comparisons rarely occur. Study in this branch of political science and the resulting literature tend to be primarily descriptive, occasionally crossing into the field of history, areas studies, and economics. 

International politics
The study of international politics examines the interactions of independent political entities within an international sphere. These entities can be either separate nations or intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), such as the United Nations or the Organizations of American States. Frequent topics of interest in this field are the foreign policies of countries or organizations, national defense policies, peace and military research, and diplomatic affairs. The literature of this field of study depends heavily on official government, organization, or intergovernmental documents, including proclamations, resolutions, reports, and policy statements. 

Political theory
The study of political theory seeks ways to explain and predict political phenomena through the philosophical and moral aspects of political ideologies. The field is divided into two major areas of study: normative and empirical. Normative theory concerns itself with analytical, moral, and philosophical issues. Empirical theory tries to predict behaviour through established models and hypotheses. 

Public law
The study of public law is the counterpart to the legal profession. Whereas the attorney researches issues to know how best to represent a client in a court of law, a scholar studies the same material looking for patterns to describe how society places controls on the individual. Research, dominated by U.S. scholars, has focused primarily on the separation of powers, presidential power, and the powers of the courts. However, there is also extensive study of international law, covering the issues of accepted international legal behaviour, both by individuals and nations. This field depends heavily on court decisions (including administrative and appellate courts) and on international agreements and treaties. 

Public administration
The study of public administration grew out of research since the 1880s on the daily operation of governments and bureaucracies and has developed a substantial body of classic literature to serve as a foundation. 6 The primary focus of public administrations research is on governmental operations and the managerial processes associated with the successful operation of any organization, including budgeting, staffing, management, directing, analysis, and evaluation. Governments at all levels--national, state, and local—are studied. The field frequently approaches issues from a comparative politics standpoint, and an important area of recent study involves research on the governments of developing countries. 

Public policy analysis
Public policy analysis, the newest field of study, combines economics, public administration, and national government as it delves into the decisions and actions of governments operating with limited resources. The field attempts to develop methodologies and models through with public policy decisions can be made. Despite its newness, the field has grown rapidly and is now considered a mature field of study. 

Structure of the literature
Information sources for political science fall into two categories: primary sources in either paper or machine-readable format from research or governmental bodies and secondary sources (e.g., accounts from monographs or serials). Each field within political science depends on these two information categories to differing degrees. For example, a study of legislative intent would require the publications of official bodies, such as the Congress or the United Nations General Assembly, to interpret legislative intent; a voting analysis study would require raw data of electoral results to develop a hypothesis concerning voting behaviour; and a study of Chinese national economic policies would require government publications and monographic, serial, and newspaper accounts. 

Reference services in political science is highly dependent on the nature of the question and the type of patron. It should be obvious that a firm grasp of other social science reference sources is requisite. A basic knowledge of current events and American history is also essential in conducting the reference interview. Familiarity with the structure of the United States and key intergovernmental organizations, such as the United Nations, is also essential. Finally, a working knowledge of the organization of government document collections and the characteristics of specific types of government publications, particularly congressional and judicial documents, is helpful. In short, to provide reference service to the field of political science one must be comfortable with the social sciences in general and with collections containing primary source materials. 

The titles discussed in the remainder of the chapter represent the variety of political science reference resources available. The sources are arranged based on the subject and type of question that they could help to answer, in the following categories:

General Information 

Public Administration and Public Policy—General Sources 

U.S. Government—Executive Branch

U.S. Government—Congress

U.S. Government—The Presidency 

U.S. Government—State and Local 

National Governments—Worldwide 

U.S. Politics—General 

Elections and Political Parties—United States 

Elections and Political Parties—The States 

Elections and Political Parties—Worldwide 

International Relations and Organizations 

War and Peace; Terrorism 

Human Rights

Political science resources

Associations
Canadian Political Science Association http://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/home.shtml

American Political Science Association http://www.apsanet.org/

Online Guides/Pathfinders, etc.
Politics Subject Guides http://libguides.uwinnipeg.ca/cat.php?cid=5468

Internet Subject Guides: Political Science. Mount Royal College, Calgary. http://libguides.mtroyal.ca/politicalscience

Canadian Information By Subject: 32 Political Science. National Library of Canada https://web.archive.org/web/20130204040625/http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/caninfo/ep032.htm

Country Studies http://web.archive.org/web/20040829222814/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/find/guides/guideDisplay.cfm?guideID=38
How to find information about countries. Links compiled by University of Winnipeg Library.

Government & Legal Links http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/onlineresources/internet/government.asp
Organized by City Government, Manitoba Government, Canadian Government, and Statues & Legal Links, and International Government Resources.

Canadian Governments http://web.archive.org/web/20051208001912/http://www.library.ubc.ca/poli/cpwebg.html
Comprehensive list of links compiled by UBC Library.

Guide to Information Sources on Political Science. University of New Brunswick. https://www.lib.unb.ca/guides/view/index.php/57
Recommends print and electronic sources available through UNB Libraries.

Politics & Government Campus Guides, York University Libraries. http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/cat.php?cid=36736
Recommends print and electronic sources available through York University Libraries.

Political Science Resources Reference Tools http://guides.lib.umich.edu/content.php?pid=17084
By the University of Michigan Document Center. The site offers a collection of databases and links.

Abstracts/Indexes/Databases
From: OCLC http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org
PAIS International
Provides selective subjects and bibliographic access to periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications, Internet resources, and other publications from 120 countries. The database covers the public and social policy literature of business, economics, finance, law, international relations, public administration, government, political science, and other social sciences – with emphasis on issues that are or might become the subjects of legislation. Includes materials in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish with English language abstracts and subject headings.

PAIS Archive
Contains more than 700,000 records, originally published in the PAIS Bulletin, 1915-1976. Complements the contemporary coverage of the PAIS International database, also available on FirstSearch.

Women in Politics Bibliographic Database http://www.ipu.org/bdf-e/BDfsearch.asp
A searchable bibliographic database of 650 titles, including books, articles, and other governmental publications dealing with women in politics.

Encyclopaedias and Dictionaries
The Canadian Encyclopedia http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/

Glossary of Political Economy Terms. Compiled by Paul M. Johnson, Auburn University. http://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/index

iAmericanSpirit Political Dictionary http://web.archive.org/web/20070103044335/http://www.fast-times.com/politicaldictionary.html
The purpose of a political dictionary is to acquaint the reader with the terms used by policymakers, journalists, commentators, and analysts, in discussing national and international politics.

Glossary of [Canadian Political] Terms http://web.archive.org/web/20120220114648/http://polisci.nelson.com/glossary.html
Glossary provided by: Mark O. Dickerson & Tom Flanagan, authors of An Introduction to Government and Politics, 5th ed.

Almanacs, handbooks, etc.
The World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
From CIA.

Statistics Sources
Statistics and Indicators. University of British Columbia Library. http://resources.library.ubc.ca/?subject=135
Lists print handbooks, yearbooks, statistical compilations on CD-ROM, online or on the world wide web, that might be helpful for political science researchers including:

Canada. Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Trade Negotiations and Agreements: Tools and Statistics http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/index.aspx?view=d
Includes links to trade data, a “Glossary of Terms” and list of acronyms.

Transparency International http://www.transparency.org/
A bibliography which provides a fully searchable database of documents and publications, on corruption and related issues. It has a special focus on gray literature.

Corruption Perceptions Index http://www.icgg.org/corruption.cpi_2008.html
A comparative assessment of country’s integrity performance.

Canadian Government Budgets http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~clamen/misc/Canadiana/budgets.html
Includes links to federal and provincial budgets between 1995 and 2004.

Country Indicators for Foreign Policy http://www4.carleton.ca/cifp/
CIFP is a geopolitical database developed originally by the Canadian Department of National Defense in 1991. In 1997 the project became known as CIFP (Country Indicators for Foreign Policy). The project represents an on-going effort to identify and assemble statistical information conveying the key features of the political, economic, social and cultural environments of countries around the world. Currently, the data set includes measurements of domestic armed conflict, governance and political instability, militarization, religious and ethnic diversity, demographic stress, economic performance, human development, environmental stress, and international linkages.

Eldis http://www.eldis.org/go/home
Provides links and information about the major statistical material available on the web for politics.

Historical Statistics of Canada http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-516-x/11-516-x1983001-eng.htm
An electronic version of the compendium Historical Statistics of Canada - second edition, originally published in 1983 as a paper publication. It depicts the growth and development of Canada from Confederation in 1867 to the modern era in short texts and extensive statistical tables. In addition to time series on employment, housing, health care, education and the national accounts, it includes descriptions designed to aid interpretation and use of the data and draws together references to the many original sources.

International Relations and Security Network http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/
The ISN is a free public service that provides a wide range of high-quality and comprehensive products and resources to encourage the exchange of information among international relations and security professionals worldwide. The ISN works to promote a better understanding of the strategic challenges we face in today’s changed security environment.

The Progress of Nations http://www.unicef.org/pon00/
Provides a descriptive and statistical national comparison for social, economic data. Looks at such factors as water and sanitation, nutrition, health, education, treatment of women, etc. Published by UNICEF. Reports from 1995-1999 also online.

Population Reference Bureau http://www.prb.org/
Provides timely and objective information on U.S. and international population trends and their implications.

Country Reports.org http://www.countryreports.org/
Profiles nation-states and provinces of the world. You can look at maps and flags or listen to national anthems.

Access to Justice Network http://www.acjnet.org/
Canadian law and justice resource materials.

Political science

“Man is by nature a political animal.”

Aristotle

“Political is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

“Political science deals with the nature, the accumulation, the distribution, 

the exercise, and the control of power on all levels of social interaction, 

with special emphasis upon the power of the state.”

Hans J. Morgenthau (1904-1979), American political scientist

Political science is:

“The study of “who gets what, when, and how”.”

H. D. Laswell

“The study of the processes, principles, and structure

of government and of political institutions; politics.”

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, © 2000.

“the study of conflict and cooperation within societies. At its most basic level, 

this entails asking how and why life and property should be protected and how 

cultural and economic aspirations are expressed and accommodated. The study of 

national and international political systems involve investigation of how individuals, 

social movements, groups and parties relate to each other and to government; 

how governmental systems operate; and how and why certain policies work.”

University of Calgary. Faculty of Arts. Department of Political Science. http://poli.ucalgary.ca/undergraduate/prospective-students/political-science-field-study

“Political scientists analyse the causes and consequences of war, disputes over territory 

and resources, problems of environmental degradation, problems of sexual and 

racial inequality, poverty, terrorism and refugees, and the nature and 

consequences of globalization. More generally, political science researchers 

investigate such concepts as justice, liberty, representation and democracy, and 

explore ideologies that try to make sense of the political world, such as conservatism, liberalism, socialism, fascism, feminism, and environmentalism.”

University of Calgary. Faculty of Arts. Department of Political Science. http://poli.ucalgary.ca/undergraduate/prospective-students/political-science-field-study

“The study of relationships between citizens and governments (as well as 

relationships between governments) and the impact of issues such as 

race, gender, nationalism, and capital on those relationships.”

University of Waterloo. http://web.archive.org/web/20050221024905/http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts/political_science.html

Political science

• The past affects the future
• To understand our current government, we must look at the past
• Political writings build on each other, proving or disproving hypotheses and theories

Specializations

• study of national governments (oldest)
• comparative politics
• international politics
• political theory
• normative (what should be, theoretical)
• empirical (what is, practical)
• public law
• public administration
• public policy analysis
• analyse what the government is doing

Major topics

• The origin, nature, and purpose of the State (political theory)
• Various forms of government (e.g., presidential and parliamentary systems)
• The concentration or dispersal of powers found in governments (checks and balances)
• Relationships between the individual and the State (rights and liberties)
• Elections
• Political parties and interest groups
• Ideologies that affect governmental policy (democracy, socialism, communism and fascism)
• Public policy
• International relations

Political science in Canada

• As an academic discipline, dates back to late 19th century
• As do most disciplines
• Strongly connected to constitutional law and economics
• Canadian Political Science Association founded in 1913
• Strong American influence in English Canadian universities in 1960s
• Vietnam War occurred, universities established, professors trained or came from America
• Growth in Quebec coincided with the Quiet Revolution
• Language laws, church

Reference requires

• Basic knowledge of current events and Canadian history
• affects everyday life
• Familiarity with structure of Canadian government at all levels (federal, provincial, municipal) and key international organizations, e.g. U.N.
• Familiarity with types and organizations of government publications

Literature needs

Academics

• Data files are much in demand, especially those with detailed election information, but also those that capture government activity
• Political and issue advocacy organizations produce a considerable variety of publications in print and now in digital form on the web
• Detailed information about the political process (who did what when), especially in the legislative and executive branches (and the judicial branch for those in constitutional law) remains popular
• Substantial use of public opinion data (polling)

Teachers and students

• Popular syntheses
• “Who did what when and why” factbooks (help with classroom assignments)
• Current awareness material to answer questions about current events

Citizens

• Popular, pro and con discussion of visible issues
• Health care, daycare, same-sex marriage, environmental issues
• No lack of material, problem is balance
• Biographies of politicians, statesmen/women
• Government addresses and services

Civics

• a social science dealing with the rights and duties of citizens

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed.

Some see political science as citizen training or indoctrination. Political science then becomes civics which is designed to teach students to be good citizens and participate appropriately in the political process

• With drop in number of voters casting ballots (especially youth) increased interest in compulsory civics courses
  2000 Ontario instituted such a course at grade 10 level
• Howe, Paul. “Electoral Participation and the Knowledge Defecit.” http://www.elections.ca/res/eim/article_search/article.asp?id=50&lang=e&frmPageSize

Business/Economics Resources

Required reading
Finding Numeric Data: Financial Information on the Web
http://web.archive.org/web/20070408061400/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/Learn/eManual/chapter.cfm?fldChapterID=11&fldHeading=41
Chapter 8 of U of W Library’s eManual. Includes description of, and links to, Hoover’s, Bloomberg, New York Stock Exchange, and Nasdaq databases.

Finding Numeric Data: Statistics Canada
http://web.archive.org/web/20070408202105/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/Learn/eManual/chapter.cfm?fldChapterID=11&fldHeading=39
Covers The Daily, E-STAT, CANISM, and Statics Canada Community Profiles. [Access E-STAT and other statistical sites from RRC Statistical Data page http://library.rrc.ca/subjectguides/statistical/page_01.htm. For help in using E-ST AT, see the E –STAT Research guide http://library.rrc.ca/subjectguides/estat/page_01.htm

Recommended reading
Commerce 209 Industry and Company Research Handbook http://web.archive.org/web/20051112024629/http://library.usask.ca/commerce/Comm209/Course_notes_comm209_main.html
Provides a basic understanding of how to locate company and industry information. Produced by University of Saskatchewan Libraries.

Research Companies Online
http://web.archive.org/web/20110406103936/http://www.learnwebskills.com/company/index.html
This business research tutorial presents a step-by-step process for finding free company and industry information on the World Wide Web. From the US but includes information on international business.

Associations and think tanks
C. D. Howe Institute http://www.cdhowe.org
Independent, Canadian non-profit, economic and social policy research institution.

Canadian Association for Business Economics http://www.cabe.ca/
For applied economists in business, governments, associations and other organizations, and those interested in business economics, the economics outlook, and policy.

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives http://www.policyalternatives.ca/
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives offers an alternative to the message that we have no choice about the policies that affect our lives. We undertake and promote research on issues of social and economic justice. We produce research reports, books, opinion pieces, fact sheets and other publications.

Canadian Economic Association http://www.economics.ca/
The organization of academic economists in Canada.

Canadian Foundation for Economic Education http://www.cfee.org/en/
To help improve the economic capability of Canadians, CFEE has a wide range of resources and programs including publications, multimedia, teacher training, curriculum consultation, and research.

Conference Board of Canada http://www.conferenceboard.ca/
The Conference Board of Canada is the foremost independent, not-for-profit applied research organization in Canada. We help build leadership capacity for a better Canada by creating and sharing insights on economic trends, public policy issues, and organizational performance.

The Fraser Institute http://www.fraserinstitute.org/
An independent public policy organization, The Fraser Institute focuses on the role competitive markets play in providing for the economic and social well-being of all Canadians and as an international forum for policy ideas.

Online encyclopedias and dictionaries
The Biz/ed Glossary and Diagram Bank http://www.bized.co.uk/reference/glossary/index.htm
This site “has over 1000 business and economic definitions and nearly 200 of the most common diagrams for you to search or browse.” Also includes a list of acronyms. From a British “provider of Internet-based learning materials for the economics and business education community.”

Dictionary of Small Business http://www.small-business-dictionary.org/
Provides definitions as a ready reference to 2,500 of the most commonly used terms encountered by the start-up entrepreneur, the small business person, and the student of business theory.

EH.NET Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/
Designed to provide students and laymen with high quality reference articles in the field.

Encyclopedia of Law and Economics http://encyclo.findlaw.com/index.html
Attempts to survey the whole law and economics literature. Most entries contain two elements: a review of the literature, written by an authority in the field, and a quasi complete bibliography. Produced by the University of Ghent, Belgium.

New Business Now.com: Glossary of Terms http://www.newbusinessnow.com/information/glossary.htm
From a Canadian provider of business start-up and related services.

Subject guides
There are numerous subject guides available from the Red River College Library on business and economics. Check the Subject Guides Index at http://library.rrc.ca/Search/Subject-Guides.aspx

Economics http://libguides.uwinnipeg.ca/content.php?pid=3378&sid=17792

Economics (print-only) http://libguides.uwinnipeg.ca/content.php?pid=3378&sid=17790
From the University of Winnipeg Library. List print and online resources.

Resources for Economists on the Internet http://rfe.org
Annotated directory of economic resources on the Internet. A WWW Virtual Library site sponsored by the American Economic Association.

Business Links http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/onlineresources/internet/business.asp
From Winnipeg Public Library. This page provides links to selected business and financial websites. Links include general resources for business news and financial data as well as specific sites for company information, currency and exchange rates, government business, investing, real estate and small business. Includes links to stock exchanges.

Company Information and Trade Directories (Canadian) http://epl.bibliocommons.com/list/show/71329236_eplguides/71574794_eplguides-_business-_company_information_and_trade_directories

Company Information and Trade Directories (U.S. and International) http://web.archive.org/web/20060106024653/http://www.epl.ca/EPLMaster.cfm?id=COMPANYDIREC0003
Both compiled by Edmonton Public Library.

University of Manitoba. Elizabeth Dafoe Library. Virtual Reference Shelf. Business and Management http://libguides.lib.umanitoba.ca/content.php?pid=253987

Indexes
Recommended reading
Goldermann, Gail and Bruce Connolly. “Getting Down to Business.” Library Journal, Winter 2003 Net Connect, Vol. 128 Issue 1, p38, 6p. (fulltext on EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier)
Reviews electronic general business resource databases. ABI/INFORM by ProQuest Information and Learning; Business & Corporate Resource Center by the Gale Group; Business Source Premier by EBSCO Publishing; RDS Business Reference Suite by the Gale Group; Wilson Business Full Text by H. W. Wilson Co.

Titles
EconLit
Major index for economics literature, produced by American Economic Association. Indexes and provides citations to >600 journals, books, working papers in the field of economics and finance.

Business Source Premier
World’s largest full text business database. From EBSCOhost.

Regional Business News
Provides comprehensive full text coverage for regional business publications. Incorporates coverage of 75 business journals, newspapers, and newswires from all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States. From EBSCOhost.

CBCA http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=302&cfc=1
CBCA Current Events News: Newspapers, Newswires, Transcripts, Magazines
Includes Canadian titles focusing on current events. Current events is interpreted broadly to include politics, business, the arts, sports, and any other kind of news, whether happening in Canada or abroad. Newspapers, newswires, newsmagazines, as well as television and radio transcripts constitute the titles in the subset.

Reference General Reference: Journals, Magazines, Newsletters
This collection provides in depth access to a wide diversity of Canadian periodicals, ranging from academic titles to special interest publications to general magazines.

The following titles are all available via OCLC First Search:
Business and Industry
Contains important facts, figures and key events for international public and private companies, industries, products, and markets for manufacturing and service industries. Covers all the primary business information sources—from leading trade magazines, newsletters, and the general business press to international business dailies.

Business Dateline
Includes information about library resources that describe regional business activities and trends and major stories on local firms, their products, and executives. Provides online articles from regional publications, Business Wire press releases, and major newspapers.

Business and Management Practices
Contains online articles about the practical aspects of business management. Includes case studies and how-to articles.

PAIS International
Provides selective subjects and bibliographic access to periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications, Internet resources, and other publications from 120 countries. Includes materials in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish with English language abstracts and subject headings.

PAIS Archive
Contains more than 700,000 records, originally published in the PAIS Bulletin, 1915-1976. Complements the contemporary coverage of the PAIS International database, also available on FirstSearch.

Web sites
Canada Business Network http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/
The main Government of Canada portal for Canadian businesses. Includes links to provincial and territorial government business sites.

Canadian Business News http://www.journalismnet.com/business/canada.htm#private
Links to Canadian business news and company information search sites from JournalismNet.

EDGAR http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
The EDGAR database is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission portal to company filings.

SEDAR http://www.sedar.com/homepage_en.htm
Canada’s EDGAR. Annual reports and other securities information for Canadian companies.

EH.Net http://www.eh.net/
Owned by the Economic History Association. Site includes a book review series, a collection of course syllabi, a directory of economic historians, the EH.Net Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History, several databases, numerous links to websites related to economic history, and the popular “How Much Is That” service which allows users to easily look up historical prices, interest rates, wage rates, GDP statistics, exchange rates and inflation rates.

Innovation in Canada: Business Intelligence http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/webarchives/20071115002346/http://www.innovation.gc.ca/gol/innovation/site.nsf/en/index.html
Internet based sources of information useful for understanding and implementing market research or competitive intelligence strategies within an organization. Contains company databases, how-to guides and websites as well as lists of experts in market research.

NetEc http://netec.mcc.ac.uk/
MetEc was an international academic effort to improve the communication of Economics via electronic media. It consisted of: Information on printed working papers on BibEc, data about electronic working papers on WoPEc, and World Wide Web resources in Economics on WebEc.

Standard Industry Classifications http://www.statcan.gc.ca/concepts/industry-industrie-eng.htm
The current classification in use at Statistics Canada is the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Canada, 2012. Site also links to other classifications and concordances to other industry classifications.

Industry Canada http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/home?OpenDocument
Contains business and consumer information in the form of directories, industry overviews, reports, legislation, regulations, standards and statistics.

VIBES: Virtual International Business & Economic Sources http://web.archive.org/web/20040824075136/http://library.uncc.edu/display/?dept=reference&format=open&page=68
VIBES provided over 2,800 links to Internet sources of international business and economic information that are in English and available free of charge.

globalEDGE: Your source for Global Business Knowledge http://globaledge.msu.edu/
From Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business. Global Insights provides international business and trade information on over 200 countries. Offers reference desk and knowledge tools.

Libraries
Canada Manitoba Business Service Centre http://www.canadabusiness.mb.ca/
The Canada Manitoba Business Service Centre website contains a collection of information on government programs, services and regulations as well as other items of interest such as E-Commerce, accessing technology and financing information. There is an extensive collection of relevant website links compiled by a librarian. The Reference and Trade Library has over 10,000 books, magazines and audio-visuals on Business Information.

University of Manitoba. Elizabeth Dafoe Library. Business. http://libguides.lib.umanitoba.ca/cat.php?cid=56311

Economics

From: Herron, Nancy L., ed. The social sciences: a cross-disciplinary guide to selected sources. 3rd ed. Greenwood Village, Colo. : Libraries Unlimited, 2002. pp. 93-97

Economics
Kirsti Jensen
ESSAY 

Because the term economics has so many connotations, it would be misleading to present a single, rigid definition. Adam Smith, often referred to as the father of economics, defined economics as the “science of wealth.” Alfred Marshall, founder of the Cambridge School of Economics, defined it as the “study of men in the ordinary business of life.” Any undergraduate student taking an introductory economics course would define economics as a study of supply and demand. The scope of economics is also important, because it concerns the supply and demand of goods and services at the individual and institutional level as well as on a national and international basis. A consumer deciding what vegetables to buy at the supermarket and a nation making policy decisions about the flow of imports into its markets are both engaging in economic behaviour. 

Economics can be subdivided into three major subfields: economic theory, applied economics, and economic history. Economic theory, also called pure or basic economics, is concerned with the relationships between variables in the economic system (e.g. , if “A” rises, then what will happen to “B”?). An economic theorist will study data, attempt generalizations, and then build these generalizations into theories. The theorist also develops economic principles by constructing a hypothetical situation to determine what should be the consequences of a course of action. Some of the greatest names in economics—Smith, Marshall, Ricardo, Mill, and Marx—were theorists whose ideas are still studied today. Once largely speculative, economic theory is now based on a priori reasoning and, increasingly, on mathematical modules and measurements. 

In applied economics, economic theories are applied to Marshall’s “everyday business of life” by public and private policy makers. Policy decisions based on economic knowledge or reasoning are designed to bring about positive results, such as high profits or low taxes. Among applied fields are banking, public finance, labor and industrial finances, land and agricultural economics, and transportation. Some of these applied fields constitute areas of study that can stand alone. For instance, agriculture economics usually commands a separate department in most universities. Agricultural economists usually have their own professional associations and have amassed an enormous amount of literature and data that nearly exceeds that of all other fields of economics combined. 

Economic history is the study of economic institutions in varying cultures and time periods. Often regarded as a branch of economics with little relationship to economic theory and applied economics, economic history has slipped into benign neglect in recent years. However, economic historians have discovered that the economic behavior of the past has implications for today. In addition, some of the statistical and mathematical procedures developed for economics have been successfully applied to historical problems. 

There are two main branches of economics: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics is concerned with the small economic unit, such as the household, a commodity, or an industry. It is dedicated to the study of resource allocation, which in its simplest form relates to the “making ends meet” of the budget-conscious household or corporation. Macroeconomics examines economic relationships on the large scale, such as looking at how the change in an economic variable affects the economy of a nation. An economist examining the impact of a plant closing on the buying behavior of employees’ households would be doing a microeconomic study; a thesis on the effect of plant closings on the unemployment rate of a state or country would be a macroeconomic study. 

Brief history of economics
Obviously, economics has been around since the beginning of civilization, or since humans wanted something and had to choose from limited resources. Both Plato and Aristotle were students of economics, although to the ancient Greeks economics pertained to the management of the household. The Greek philosophers supported the notion of an exchange economy as a way for humans to build up their property of material possessions. 

The genesis of modern economic thought paralleled the growth of trade during the Middle Ages. Monarchs, attempting to diminish the power of the nobility, extended trade privileges to towns. Guilds, the forerunners of today’s trade unions, developed as people became free to pursue livelihoods other than farming. As towns and guilds competed for business with other towns and guilds, the regulation of trade became an issue. Therefore, most early economic thinking revolved around issues relating to money, interest, revenues, and taxation. Slowly, intellectuals realized that financial concerns were related to other problems, such as population and natural resources. Early economic writings tended to be very moralistic and persuasive in tone because their authors were generally spokespeople for a guild, a church, a town, or a class with a cause to promote.  

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, two powerful schools of thought developed in Europe. In Great Britain, the mercantilist school grew in favor. Mercantilists, reacting to the growth of nationalism, advocated active government influence on the balance of trade and payments. They encouraged the export of goods in exchange for full employment and rapid economic growth. In France, a competing school developed that championed a “physiocratic” system. Followers of the physiocratic school were called “economistes” and they advocated a laissez-faire, or “natural,” economic system in which land, and not trade, would be the major source of wealth. 

Adam Smith’s publication of The Wealth of Nations in 1776 1 established the classical school of economics that would flourish for more than 100 years. Heavily influenced by the physiocrats and their laissez-faire philosophy, Smith established the doctrine of free enterprise and attacked the mercantilists. Because he wrote about the economic aspects of particular political decisions, Smith established the school of political economy—the early name for contemporary economics. Other prominent political economists were David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Jean Baptiste Say, and Thomas Malthus. These classical economists were convinced that production, income, and consumption were based on economic laws, lending credence to the notion that economics was an empirical science. 

A neoclassical school developed in the late nineteenth century. Led by Alfred Marshall, it promoted the concept of demand as integral to economic relationships. An excellent mathematician, Marshall was influential in establishing the use of mathematical formulas to explain economic theories. 

This growing fascination with economics in Europe did not immediately translate into comparable activity in the newly formed United States. Although Adam Smith’s theories of free enterprise and laissez-faire would seem attractive to a citizenry recovering from a revolution, his ideas were not widely discussed in academic circles. American higher education was still heavily influenced by religious groups and clerics, who were suspicious of Smith’s ideas on religious doctrine and were not anxious to change the status quo. 

The United States was in its honeymoon period, and the British influence in economics was found objectionable. British economists seemed to have a disdain for the service sectors (of which U.S. clerics and educators were a part), and they were too interested in the promotion of free trade among countries. America preferred to suppress foreign competition so that it could develop its domestic industries. Economics had to be adapted to U.S. audiences and philosophies. Not until the turn of the twentieth century was economics firmly established as an academic discipline, although the courses were usually taught under the auspices of political science. Economists were still not secure in teaching positions in higher education; this contributed to their leading the fight for academic freedom and the establishment of tenure in U.S. universities. 

The Industrial Revolution radically changed society. Suddenly there were new economic concerns, such as the growth of railroads, high government expenditures, the influence of powerful unions, and the dire social conditions of many cities. At the height of the Revolution, a new school called “institutional economics” developed. This school championed the study of institutions—corporations, unions, interest groups—and their thirst for power and property. Led by Thorstein Veblen, more a social satirist than an economist, the institutional school for the first time examined the social role played by economic institutions.  

The devastation of the Great Depression, which began in October 1929, emphasized the shortcomings of economic theory: It was inadequate for dealing with the real problems of employment and income. John Maynard Keynes, perhaps the greatest economist of the twentieth century, ushered in the “Keynesian Revolution” with his publication of The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. 2 This seminal work advanced the macroeconomic approach to economic theory: It suggested that a government could establish policies leading to full employment and stable prices. Keynes advocated better government use of fiscal and monetary policy, and his policies are still promoted and widely discussed today, although not with the same fervour that they once were. 

Economics today
Economics has undergone tremendous growth since World War II. An understanding of basic economics is now integral to nearly every academic discipline, and the employment of economists in business, industry, and government is at an all-time high. Economics has become quite specialized and is now characterized by many subfields (e.g., consumer economics, health economics, behavioral economics, environmental economics). 

Two things distinguish modern economics. First, economics has become a mathematically based discipline. Research is approached empirically, theories are expressed mathematically, and economists are finding that a grounding in statistical and mathematical techniques has become essential for almost any study of economics. The proliferation of computers, now accessible to most researchers, has enabled the processing of large datasets to prove and disprove economic hypotheses. The application of statistics to economics is called econometrics, and it constitutes the most rapidly growing field of economics. Despite an increase in the number of dissenting voices who believe the field should focus less on the “rational man” and mathematics, no viable alternative approach has risen to replace the status quo. An increase in dissent, however, may account for some of the increase in specialized subfields, including feminist, institutional, and post-Keynesian economics. 

Second, we have moved into what is called the global economy, which has tremendous implications for economic research and policy decisions. The consequences of the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s dramatically demonstrated that economic problems have worldwide impact. Nations no longer operate as autonomous economic institutions but are linked by a strong bond of interdependence. Recognition of this is demonstrated by international collaborations, such as the economic summits of world leaders, by the amount of economic research generated by international agencies, and by the growing exchange of scholars at international conferences. Other manifestations are the expansion of development economics, which pertains to the study of economic growth of low-income nations, and the growing interest in the application of economics to the information revolution. This combination of information and high technology is revolutionizing how we function and interrelate with each other. Economics continues to play a pivotal role in addressing many of the questions and concerns raised by the networked information revolution. 

Is economics a social science?
Economists now proceed in their research efforts by using the scientific method. They test theories by relating them to empirically observable data. Because economists cannot duplicate their data in a laboratory, they must use the empirical methods of social scientists, not scientists. Like any other social science, economics is subject to the vagaries of human nature; therefore, its theories cannot be totally reliable and accurate, as the following story illustrates. 

In the spring of 1973, the U.S. consumer was shocked by a rapid escalation in meat prices. Government economists calculated that the price of meat would drop by the end of the year, as high prices would diminish the demand for meat and ranchers would loosen up supplies. Based on its research, the government established special policies to bring control to meat prices. However, the economic experts and their carefully calculated theories were unable to predict the behavior of U.S. homemakers. Angered by high prices, the homemakers demonstrated their power by quickly organizing a massive national boycott of meat, causing an immediate decrease in meat prices. 

Economics cannot exist as an isolated science, because the understanding of many economic problems is related to an understanding of our social and political system. For example, a study of women in the labor force would not be complete without knowledge of the changing social mores that supported the moves of mothers and married women in the workforce. Like other social sciences, economics has policy implications. Desirable economic policy decisions must consist of both scientific economic analysis and socially ethical value judgments. 

Nobel Laureate Robert Solow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrote, “Modern economics tries hard not to be a social science, but it can’t help itself. Social institutions and relationships help shape the production and distribution of wealth. The power of wealth is sometimes reflected in social institutions.” 3 He would find a supporter in Douglass North, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Economics, who believes that traditional economics focuses too much on mathematics and not enough on human behavior. He finds that the beliefs a society has in common are not analyzed enough in traditional economics, and that the irrationality of people’s behavior contributes to the success or failure of economics. 4 

The literature of economics
The literature of economics has evolved as the discipline has grown in breadth and complexity. Early economic works were either pamphlets that protested or advocated a cause or, beginning in the eighteenth century, full-length studies of economic theories. Economists have drawn from monograph literature for centuries: When Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of The Nations in 1776, he cited nearly 100 authors. Early economists seriously studied existing literature to make sure that their “original” theories had not been expounded earlier. They borrowed heavily from the business world, using materials such as journals of mining and banking, annual reports of railroads, and the histories of industries. 

Early theorists such as Smith, Marshall, and Marx became prominent through their monographs. Their works generated a flood of secondary works that questioned, interpreted, and modified their ideas. Even today, monographs continue to be published that discuss the theories of these economists. 

As the discipline grew more scientific, the literature of economics changed. Professional economics associations, such as the Royal Economics Society (1890), were organized, and founded journals. These journals grew in importance as timely channels of economics communications became necessary. The first economics journal was the Quarterly Journal of Economics, founded by Harvard University in 1886. Soon professional journals supplanted monographs as the most popular research tools for the burgeoning number of economic faculties, researchers, and students. 

As economists began to explore econometrics and built theories that required analysis of data, access to statistics became critical. Government publications, which expanded rapidly in the twentieth century, now supply much of the statistical data necessary for manipulation. International organizations, especially those affiliated with the United Nations, also provide economic data and sponsor specialized research. The advent of computerization meant that these statistical data could be easily processed and disseminated. 

The urgency to publish research before it becomes obsolete has led to the development of another form of literature, the working paper or “gray” literature. Working papers are semipublished papers or preprints, in which they are not yet available through official channels such as journals or books. Instead, they are inexpensively produced and distributed by the author, a department, or an organization, such as the National Bureau of Economic Research. Many organizations now provide access to the full text of their working papers via the Internet. In addition, several resources have been developed that allow scholars to search the content of the working papers made available by many of these organizations at once. The dissemination of working papers, particularly in electronic form, overcomes the problem of publishing lags so common with journals in the social sciences. Another advantage of working papers is that they often elicit informal feedback for their authors. Those papers with special merit may eventually find their way into print, but by that time the information will have already been received by the researchers who need it. 

As economics has expanded in size and influence, a tremendous body of literature has grown correspondingly. Economics researchers must wade through this labyrinth of material and statistics. Trends in recent economic literature reveal both an increasing global emphasis and the interdisciplinary nature of economics. Economics is viewed as being integral to many of the sweeping concerns of the new millennium, such as environmentalism, internationalism, and the growth of the networked information society. Each new subfield established has necessitated the development of new journals and other forms of publication. This means that not only must economists be familiar with the literature of their own speciality, they also must stay abreast of techniques and theories being developed in other specialities that could be of value to them. 

The American Economic Association’s subject classification scheme, which is used to organize economics literature, is continuously reviewed and modified to reflect these trends. New classifications recently added include information and Internet services, trade and environment, alternative energy sources, technological change, choices and consequences, and economics of gender. 

Following is a selective and, of necessity, subjective list of economics reference works that could form the core of a reference collection. Because many of these sources are scholarly or heavily statistical in nature, they would be most appropriate for an academic library reference collection. They are representative of the types and variety of reference sources that today’s economists use to satisfy their information needs.