UNB Libraries has actively drawn together three major collections which reflect the work typically undertaken by governments and major international, intergovernmental organizations.
Government Documents
Governments and intergovernmental organizations are the world's largest publishers-one only has to think of the annual publishing of the United Nations, the Canadian federal government, or the World Health Organization to realize the possible magnitude of the collection. The range of topics is extremely broad, covering social issues, policy and legislation, as well as research and technical subject matters.
Expertise is provided for the government documents collection by the library to make the task less time-consuming for faculty, students and staff. Finding what you need is a challenge simply because governments do not tend to publish in a predictable or well-documented manner as is the case with other commercial publishers.
The collection includes materials from all levels of government, ranging from local and provincial to federal to international. UNB Libraries was a full depository member of the Canadian government's Depository Services Program, as well as as a depository for the European Union, Asian Development Bank, and United Nations. Notable in the collection are the British Parliamentary Publications, and the American congressional publications as well as Canadian federal publications dating back to the late 1800s. Along with collecting print holdings staff worked to provided an on-line version of early Royal Commissions of New Brunswick through the Centre for Digital Scholarship.
Every attempt has been made to include government publications in the catalogue for discovery, but government publications tend to elude the commercial index and abstracting services. It is the goal of the Government Documents, Data, and Maps department to provide timely and efficient help with this collection for its users, which include not only students and faculty, but also researchers and members of the general public.
Data (and Statistics)
Statistics Canada is one of our most important data providers and the UNB Libraries is a member of the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI), a program that provides Statistics Canada aggregate statistics and public use microdata files for use by authorized users. In addition to being a member of DLI, UNB Libraries is also a member of the Interuniversity Consortium of Political and Social Research (ICPSR), a massive archive of US data.
The Government of Canada and a number of provincial and territorial governments have adopted Open Government policies and are making their publications and data freely available. In addition to Canadian governmental resources, UNB Libraries' Data Services staff have compiled lists of provincial, municipal, and international statistical and data resources.
Maps/GIS
It has been said that maps are the definition of a country; without maps and spatial data, nations would not exist as we know them.
Whether that is true or not, the UNB Libraries has been building a working collection of maps and adding spatial data to extend our research and teaching as the data become available (and affordable). Cartographic material in the UNB Map Room collection includes:
- New Brunswick mapping, including NB Forestry spatial files, property spatial data, and print land grant maps
- Canadian National Topographic System Mapping and associated data files from Natural Resources Canada
- Many Canadian geophysical and geological maps
- Selected foreign topographic maps
- DMTI Spatial bundle
- The Geological Society of America Map and Chart Series
- Over 700 general, regional, and subject atlases of all parts of the world
- Books relating to cartography, air photo interpretation, and historical cartography