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Department of Business Law and Taxation

1. The department

Following the merger of Monash University, Chisholm Institute and the Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education, a new Faculty of Business and Economics was formed in 1993. The faculty now offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses on five campuses in Victoria - Caulfield, Clayton, Gippsland, Peninsula and Berwick -- as well as overseas.

The Faculty of Business and Economics operates as six departments: Accounting and Finance; Business Law and Taxation; Econometrics and Business Statistics; Economics; Management; Marketing.

The faculty has over 12,200 students, including approximately 1,800 postgraduates. There are 376 academic staff in the faculty.

The Department of Business Law and Taxation operates on all Monash campuses. There are currently 35 teaching staff and a teaching load in terms of EFTSU of 970 students

The department specializes in teaching law subjects for 'non-lawyers' as well as presenting and administering specialist graduate programs in taxation. These subjects recognise that knowledge of law and taxation is essential for the informed business professional. The department teaches the law and taxation subjects in the tagged Bachelor of Business and Economics degrees at Caulfield, Peninsula and Gippsland, and the Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Economics, and Bachelor of Accounting degrees at the Clayton campus. It also offers law and taxation subjects in many of the graduate programs offered by other departments in the Faculty of Business and Economics. The Master of Taxation degree is offered at Caulfield campus.

The department's principal areas of research are Asian business law, banking law, capital gains tax, company law, consumer law, contract law, goods and services tax, finance law, income tax, intellectual property law, marketing law, media law, securities law, superannuation, and taxation law.

The department also supports two specialised research centres:

The Asian Business Law Research Unit – encourages research into Asian trade and investment related issues

The Monash Business Law and Taxation Research Unit – works toward stronger links between Monash and the tax profession, networking and a greater level of practitioner participation in Monash teaching.

More information about:

2. General policy statement

The Collection Development Policy covers printed books and journals, electronic resources, multimedia and any other formats acquired for the Library's collection.

The Policy is regularly monitored to ensure that the selection and acquisition of new resources supports the teaching and research needs of the faculties and their departments. While every effort is made to meet known information needs some gaps in the collection may develop which need attention, and suggestions to address them are welcome. This may be done through liaison with library staff or, for individual titles, using the recommendation form at lib.monash.edu.au/forms/acquisition-request.doc

To ensure that the library provides collection materials to support new courses and subjects, completion of a Library Impact Statement lib.monash.edu.au/forms/impact.doc is required. When establishing new research directions staff are encouraged to liaise with the library about the provision of supporting information resources.

All titles listed as prescribed or recommended reading for teaching subjects are acquired as high priority and in multiple copies depending on student enrolment numbers. This is particularly necessary for undergraduate students, who need access to adequate resources on their home campus. Electronic versions of these texts are also provided where possible, so that access is more readily available regardless of location and number of copies held. The inter-campus loan and photocopy services for undergraduates further support the needs of those students.

However, the library cannot acquire every item that could conceivably be needed by Monash staff or students. The reciprocal borrowing scheme enables Monash library users to borrow from other university libraries. Post-graduates and staff may also use the document delivery service to obtain books and articles from other libraries in Australia and overseas.

3. The library's collection

a. Location

Collections in business law and taxation are located on all campuses where the units are taught, but the strength of the collection is at Caulfield. An intercampus loans service is provided to ensure effective access to the collection for all users

The Faculty of Law also purchases significant resources in the area of business law and taxation and these are located in the Law Library on the Clayton campus with access being provided to all Monash students.

b. Language

Generally only material in the English language is acquired.

c. Classification used

Material acquired for the Department of Business Law and Taxation is classified using the Dewey Decimal Classification.

d. Formats collected

No format is excluded, although in practice the majority of the collection consists of monographs and serials, both electronic and print.

e. Size of the collection

Number of print serial titles received : Over 100 titles are received, with the majority being held in the Caulfield Library. Print resources are expected to decline as suitable electronic copy becomes available.

f. Significant electronic resources

The library is purchasing increased numbers of resources in electronic format, including networked or internet databases, fulltext resources, including suites of electronic journals which are available across all branches and remotely. As a result, an increasing proportion of the budget for library material for the Faculty of Business and Economics is spent on these resources.

These include

Indexing and abstracting services

  • Australian Accounting and Taxation Database,
  • Australian Taxation Abstracts Database,
  • Attorney General's Information Service database;

Fulltext databases / electronic journal suites

  • ABI/Inform (1000 titles of which approximately half are fulltext),
  • Lexis Nexis (fulltext of abstracts in over 8,000 sources)
  • Butterworths Online,
  • CCH Online,
  • LegalTrac (some 1950 titles of which 222 are fulltext),
  • Law Book Online;

Subject gateways

g. Coverage of the collection

The library resources acquired for the department cover in general all areas of the Dewey Decimal Classification 336.2, taxes and taxation, 341, international law, 342, constitutional and administrative law, 343, tax, trade and industrial law, and 346, contract, commercial and banking law.

The main areas of collecting for the Department of Business Law and Taxation are detailed below

336.2 Taxes and taxation
341 International law
342 Administrative law
343…04-343…06 Tax law
343…07 Regulation of economic activity
343…08 Regulation of commerce
343…099 Regulation of communication
344…01 Labour law
346…02 Contracts
346…03 Torts
346…04 Property
346…06 Organisations
346…07 Commercial law
346…08 Banking and insurance
346…09 Securities and negotiable instruments
364.168 White collar crime

 

Clayton (Matheson) - A teaching collection in banking and undergraduate business law is maintained at Matheson. The Law Library (at Clayton) maintains comprehensive coverage of all legal disciplines, in terms of both teaching and research materials.

Caulfield -  At Caulfield particular emphasis is being placed on expanding the collection and access to resources to meet the teaching and research needs of a rapidly expanding Caulfield enrolment. The major collection development aim is to maintain currency in the areas of Australian taxation and business law by monitoring the output of, and acquiring in a timely manner, relevant titles from the major Australian legal publishers.

The General Collection at Caulfield supports undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and learning in international commercial law, taxation, contract, corporations law, trade practices, labour law, banking and finance law, corporate crime and information law. The collection is estimated at 4,000 volumes.

Peninsula and Berwick - At Peninsula and Berwick the collection focus is on provision of resources for undergraduate teaching and learning in relation to the business law components of the various undergraduate courses offered there. The Peninsula collection includes updated print services in the areas of taxation, corporations law and employment law, and is estimated at 1,800 volumes.

Gippsland - The Gippsland library does not collect extensively in business law and tax, beyond supporting the teaching activities of the Department of Business Law and Taxation. There is a reasonable collection in taxation law, and good collections on the United Nations, Australian administrative law, Australian property law and Australian corporations law. Most of the collection comprises Australian material, with some coverage of English, United States and Malaysian case law. The Gippsland collection is estimated at 2,000 volumes.

The Law Library and the Business and Economics Faculty Team are collaborating to expand access to online legal resources, e.g. by jointly funding the widest possible access to legal resources such as Butterworths Online and CCH Online.

Future collection development

Caulfield - In line with growing postgraduate student numbers emphasis is being placed on developing research collections and access to research resources, including on-line access to the widest possible range of quality academic journals. The library will expand its electronic monograph collection as suitable material becomes available in order to support enhanced access.

Identification and collection of selected Asian business law and taxation monographs is an ongoing part of collection development.

The Caulfield Library is growing its research collection in taxation law.

Peninsula and Berwick - The Peninsula and Berwick collections will be developed principally in accordance with the needs of the Bachelor of Business and Commerce courses offered there.

4. Other significant Monash collections or resources

An extensive body of legal research materials covering all areas of the law, as well as foreign jurisdictions, is available at the Law Library (Clayton).

Collections Table

(T = teaching level, R = research level)

DDC Description Caulfield Matheson Law HAL Gippsland Peninsula Berwick
336.2 Taxes and taxation T T -   T T  
341 International law T - R   T T  
342 Administrative law T - T   T T  
343…04 -343…06 Tax law T T T   T T  
343…07 Regulation of economic activity - T T   T -  
343…08 Regulation of commerce T T T   - T  
343…099 Regulation of communication T - T   - T  
344…01 Labour law T T T   T -  
346…02 Contracts T T T   T T  
346…03 Torts T T T   T T  
346…04 Property T - T   T -
346…06 Organisations T T T   T T
346…07 Commercial law T T T   T T
346…08 Banking and insurance T T T   - -  
346…09 Securities and negotiable instruments T T T   - -  
364.168 White collar crime T - -   T -  

Amendment history

November 2000
First issued. Amended March 2004

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