The Library has been acquiring print and electronic materials for Economics at the RESEARCH and STUDY levels. This classification is based upon the Collection Policy Statement of the Library (which is currently being updated). The Library has holdings of approximately 566 serials for Economics. This compares to 510 for the last review (1996). Since the last graduate review, there has also been a significant increase in the number of economics electronic journals subscribed to by the Library and made available for use by members of the Brown community. Access to these E-journals has been very popular with students and faculty in the department.
Graduate students in Economics also utilize a great number of interdisciplinary resources from other disciplines that have relevance for their research. For example, political science (political economy, both domestic and international), sociology (population and development), mathematics, computer science and others.
Below is a breakdown of expenditures for the past six years:
| Library Expenditures | 1994/95 | 1995/96 | 1996/97 | 1997/98 | 1998/99 | 1999/2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firm Orders | $ 4,848 | $ 4,157 | $ 3,806 | $ 3,010 | $ 3,550 | $ 4,504 |
| Approvals | $ 50,000 | $ 41,091 | $ 38,258 | $ 32,149 | $ 27,226 | $ 27,933 |
| Serials | $ 43,542 | $ 50,635 | $ 53,630 | $ 58,845 | $ 60,342 | $ 67,855 |
| TOTAL EXPENDITURES | $ 98,398 | $ 95,883 | $ 95,694 | $ 94,004 | $ 91,118 | $ 100,292 |
The slight decrease in expenditures for 1998/99 has been reversed. Discussions with the department’s Departmental Library Representative (DLR) suggests that the library is adequately supporting the economics graduate program. The approval plan profile seems to be collecting academic monographs and scholarly materials at a level that is satisfactorily meeting the needs of graduate students. For those items that are not held by Brown University Library, graduate students frequently use interlibrary loan and document delivery services in order to conduct their research. The Library also is a member of several consortial arrangements with other libraries, such as the Boston Library Consortium, which gives graduate students access and borrowing privileges at most of the major research libraries in Massachusetts. Access to Harvard’s libraries can also be arranged.
However, faculty is clear that extra resources should be allocated for more journals (both print and electronic) formats, monographs and data sets (which can be expensive). Requests for new journals should be approved in a more timelier manner. Being able to access the best new journal articles in the field without great delay or problems, is of great importance to the department. Faculty report that graduate students would also appreciate more expert assistance and knowledge about economics sources and data sets, such as one could find in a specialized business school library.
Key responses from the Library Graduate Student Survey, conducted in 1999, suggest general satisfaction with Library services. For example, 31% of Economics graduate students reported being very satisfied with services; 61% reported being satisfied. In regard to access to electronic resources, 36% reported being very satisfied; 50% reported being satisfied. Nearly 36% reported that they are very satisfied with reference services; 43% satisfied. Some 42% report being dissatisfied with the monograph collection, while nearly 63% report being very satisfied and satisfied with the electronic full-text collection. 62% of respondents noted that they were either very satisfied or satisfied with the journal-periodical collection; 29% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Asked to rank the three most important library services, Economics graduate students checked-off "access to electronic resources," "access to journals and periodicals," and "sufficient library hours" as the most critical.
Michael Jackson
Collection Development Librarian for Economics
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This page was last updated on: Thursday, 31-May-2007 16:20:01 EDT.
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