In collection development, material on countries that have close economic or political relationship with Canada, is emphasised. As a young university library, the strength of the collection is in modem publications published within the last 30 years. Historical, scholarly and theoretical works in economics are purchased irrespective of the publication year. The emphasis is on the acquisition of current imprints. Retrospective acquisition has not been attempted in recent years due to the paucity of book funds.
Exceptions are backruns of journals and gifts.
Significant additions to the retrospective collection are made when private collections become available as donations to the library. Gifts Opportunities to acquire good collections of individuals or institutions are actively followed-up. Many special libraries do not have room to retain back files of periodicals, this is a good source for filling missing issues in the York collection. The Economics collection has not been weeded in a systematic manner. It will be done when cost, human resources and logistic circumstances are favourable.