Electronic reserves resolution passes

The Student Senate passed a resolution Wednesday that encourages professors to increase their use of electronic reserves in place of course packets, which spiked in price this year.

The resolution, presented by Senate Academic Affairs chair Carol Hendrickson and Fisher senator Stephen Bant, "respectfully encourages" professors to use electronic reserves instead of course packets "when it seems in the best interests of their students based on the price and convenience of the materials."

A similar resolution was presented to the Senate on Oct. 31 but failed to pass. High course packet prices have been discussed in the Senate over the past several weeks. Hendrickson and Bant conducted an e-mail survey of students last month and found that the majority of those who answered were unhappy with the higher prices of course packets.

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Electronic Reserves Service Survey

Engineering Faculty:

The Engineering Library would like to assess your interest in using our Electronic Reserves service (eReserves) as an alternative to traditional printed Course Packets to provide your students with journal articles or book chapters you feel are important teaching materials.

Our thinking includes the fact that course content is becoming less traditional in format and much more interdisciplinary, especially in the sciences and engineering. It may even be difficult for you to identify a textbook that covers all the important ideas that you want to impart to students via teaching materials for a course.

Students have expressed their dissatisfaction with paying Course Packet copyright fees. If you would elect to use the library's eReserves service, there is no cost to the student. The library arranges for copyright clearance and pays the copyright fees but it really is a totally different financial model. Thus we feel it is an opportune time for professors to consider using eReserves in place of Course Packets.

Briefly, eReserves is a password protected online service that allows students to access articles or book chapters any time via the internet. Access is controlled so that only currently enrolled students can use the classroom materials you have chosen so that copyright infringement does not occur. For more information about eReserves see:
http://www.library.nd.edu/reserves/ElectronicReserves.shtml

Just as an FYI, we will continue keeping Books on Reserve in the Engineering Library which students can check out for short time periods for your classes; that will not change.

At this point in time we need to estimate demand for eReserves in order to plan for costs and preparation time. If you would kindly answer the questions in this short survey, we will appreciate it very much!

Thanks so much for your participation in this survey! Please respond as soon as possible or by November 23rd.

Carol Brach

Here is the link to the survey:
http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB227385V68HX

Internet Detective - Wise up to the Web

A free online tutorial that will help you develop Internet research skills for your university and college work. The tutorial looks at the critical thinking required when using the Internet for research and offers practical advice on evaluating the quality of web sites.

The tutorial is divided into the following sections:

• What's the Story?– understand the advanced Internet skills required for university and college work.
• The Good the Bad and the Ugly– see why information quality is an issue on the web, especially for academic research. Learn how to avoid time wasting on Internet searching, scams and hoaxes.
• Detective Work– get hints and tips that help to critically evaluate the information you find on the Internet.
• Get On the Case – try out your Internet Detective skills with these practical exercises.
• Keep the Right Side of the Law – be warned about plagiarism, copyright and citation.

You can work through the whole tutorial by selecting the next button at the bottom of each screen, or use the table of contents in the left margin to skip to a section.

The tutorial will take around an hour to complete, but you can do it in more than one sitting.

America's Best Engineering Colleges and Universities, as reported by U.S. News and World Report

The U.S. News and World Reports rankings of Engineering colleges and universities for the year 2008, are available to the Notre Dame community.

To access the information, a Notre Dame NetId and password are required.

Also available are the Webometrics Ranking of the World Universities - July 2007. more

Opening Mass to launch 2007-08 academic year

By: Gail Hinchion Mancini

Date: August 22, 2007

The ceremonial opening of the 2007-08 academic year at the University of Notre Dame will take place with the opening Mass at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (Aug. 28) in the Joyce Center arena. A procession of faculty and student representatives will precede the Mass beginning at 5:20 p.m.

The opening Mass is the one time each year when all members of the community join together to welcome new members. Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., will celebrate the Mass and deliver the homily.

All students, faculty and staff and their family members are invited to the Mass and a picnic dinner that will follow the liturgy.

Unique to this academic year, the Notre Dame community’s attention is turning to the beatification of the Venerable Basil Moreau, C.S.C., the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, whose members founded and continue to serve Notre Dame.

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Fein named director of CEST

By: William G. Gilroy
Date: August 20, 2007

Jeremy B. Fein, professor of civil engineering and geological sciences and director of the Environmental Molecular Science Institute at the University of Notre Dame, has been appointed director of the University’s Center for Environmental Science and Technology (CEST). He replaces Patricia A. Maurice, professor of civil engineering and geological sciences, who had served as director since 2003.

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N.C. State researcher appointed College of Engineering dean

By: Dennis Brown

Date: August 10, 2007

Peter Kilpatrick, currently chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering at North Carolina State University, has been appointed dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame by Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., the University’s president.

Kilpatrick succeeds Frank Incropera, who had served as dean since 1998 and remains at Notre Dame as the Brosey Professor of Mechanical Engineering. James Merz, interim dean of the college for the past year, will continue in that capacity until Kilpatrick begins in January.

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