Research Support
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

Research Support gives assistance and support to faculty and students in their research needs in literature and data searching. Gardner Neely manages the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Research Support office.

Located on the Ground Floor of the AYSPS building, Research Support has a spacious area to help provide enhanced research services to graduate students and faculty. In the past year, over 1,200 publications and conference announcements were circulated to faculty and graduate research assistants, with many of the items kept for reference.

Research Support collects, catalogs and makes available relevant literature and electronic resources. Support staff work with the college faculty and their research assistants to help them access and interpret the ever-changing information databases. The unit provides access to websites, journals and data sets in such areas as public finance, economics, nonprofit studies, domestic and international policy studies, with an emphasis on taxation and revenue issues.

Faculty serving on the advisory committee in 2006 were Bruce Kaufman, Gregory Streib, Neven Valev, and Robert Eger.

Nonprofit Studies Program

Neely worked with Nonprofit Studies Program Director Dennis Young and associated faculty to locate, procure and provide nonprofit literature resources for the center. The new material aids the Nonprofit Studies Program's research activities, including topics on managing and funding nonprofit agencies and organizations. A display of some journals and activities is being developed for the Research Support area, including the Nonprofit Quarterly, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Giving USA, and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

Books added include Players in the Public Policy Process by Herrington Bryce, Wise Decision-Making in Uncertain Times: Using Nonprofit Resources Effectively, edited by Dennis Young, Governance of Not-for-Profit Organizations, edited by Edward Glaeser, Financing Nonprofits: Putting Theory into Practice, edited by Dennis Young, Good to Great and the Social Sectors, by Jim Collins, and The Nonprofit Sector: A Research Handbook, 2nd edition, edited by Walter Powell and Richard Steinberg.

Hank Thomassen Collection

Additional titles of economics and history books were given to the Andrew Young School by the family of the late Georgia Economist Dr. Hank Thomassen, as a memorial to the long-serving economist to the governor. The gift enhanced Research Support's shelves with important titles on econometrics, forecasting, and policy issues for both students and faculty to benefit from.

Research Support Office Resources

The office maintains an online catalog of resources, which lists subscriptions, government documents, books, CDs and data sets available for use by AYS researchers. The catalog is accessible through the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies web site, with journal holdings and data sets listed. In 2006, new titles, data CDs, and print annuals were added, including the following:

• World Bank World Development Indicators 2006
• IMF International Financial Statistics  2006
• IMF Government Finance Statistics 2006
• Yearbook of Labour Statistics 2005, International Labour Organization, 64th edition
• Key indicators of the labour market, 4th Edition, CD-ROM
• World Economic and Financial Surveys 2006
• World Bank Global Development Finance 2006
• European Tax Handbook of International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation 2006
• OECD Revenue Statistics, 1965-2005
• The Georgia County Guide CD from the University of Georgia 2006
• Facts and Figures on Government Finance, 38th edition
• Statistical Abstract of the United States 2006
• Business Statistics of the United States 2006
• The Municipal Yearbook 2006, from ICMA
• Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics 2006
• Journal of Economic Literature CD 2006
• The American Economic Review CD 2006

New Subscriptions of note: Journal of Applied Econometrics and Journal of Econometrics.

Some of the gift journals received this year are past issues of American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Atlanta Tribune: The Magazine; Journal of Public Administration Review; Public Administration Times; REO Regional Economic Outlook: Sub - Saharan Africa; and Journal Citation Reports, for ranking peer reviewed journals (which the University Library recently acquired).

Research Support coordinated with LaLoria Konata and other University Library liaisons in policy studies, in orienting new faculty & graduate students to the relevant literature in policy studies, economics and public administration. Sara Fuchs, Digital Technologies Librarian, is developing electronic archives of faculty publications, for preservation and more complete access from web searches by colleagues and publishers. Plans are developing for updating the Research Support online catalog of in-house holdings of scholarly materials.

WebCT Vista was used to host frequently requested materials, and training materials for staff. Experiments with RSS and literature presentation are under way.

EndNote, from ISI, is the bibliographic citation manager required for all dissertations. Assistance and guides are provided as requested for this citation tracking tool.

Research Support's website features frequently used international tax literature links, pertinent publishers, suppliers and data centers, and links to the university library's menu. The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research polling data (iPOLL) is maintained in the Roper Center’s database, a nationwide U.S. public opinion service. Additionally, editorials from current newspapers are posted using RSS syndication. Plans are being explored for providing faculty with customized contents pages of their selected journals, which are subscribed to by the University Library.

Research Support continued to build its collection of faculty publications, and it also coordinated gifts to assist overseas scholars in developing nations.