In New York State, as in others, the Constitution mandates a periodic vote on whether the state Constitution should be revised. In New York, a mandatory ballot question is put before the voters every twenty years - "Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution and amend the same?" Seven months prior to the next such vote - which will be held on Election Day, November 4, 1997 - the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government is publishing companion books on the New York State Constitution - one a sourcebook on constitutional change in New York, the other a rich history of the last constitutional convention held in New York State, that in 1967.