Canadian Public Administration: Bibliography; Supplement 4, 1979-1982

P.F. McKenna was librarian at the Police Academy, Brampton, Ontario.

Wilbur Grasham, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, and J.M. Alain, directeur des centres de documentation, Ecole nationale d’administration publique, Québec, have put together a fourth installment to the bibliography on Canadian public administration produced by the Institute of Public Administration of Canada. This supplement provides coverage of four years’ worth of publishing in the area of public administration. The overriding aim of the compilers and the Institute is to produce a reliable tool for students and teachers interested in this subject area as well as to promote improvements in this area of study and practice.

The bibliography reveals a considerable amount of effort on the part of the researchers, and the bulk of this supplement indicates that a substantial amount of publishing activity has occurred over the last four years. The editors note that this supplement essentially follows the coverage and classification of the three previous supplements. Two new sections (“Human Rights” and “Women”) have been added to the classification to reflect developments in the literature covered by the bibliography. One important note is that the sheer bulk of entries made it impossible for the editors to verify the contents of individual items. Obviously this has led to the inclusion of certain titles that are not genuinely appropriate to the bibliography. A glance at the “List of Sources Consulted” (p.269) will give some idea of the wide coverage of the bibliography, and the reader may forgive the odd gratuitous reference for the sake of other, more appropriate citations.

Access to the contents of this bibliography is facilitated by means of fairly detailed subject indexes (in English and French) and an author index that includes corporate authors (e.g., the Canadian Labour Congress). This extensive work provides a good overview of materials in both official languages and builds well on the strength of the previous supplements. A distinctly useful addition to the existing literature on public administration.