Daily Bulletin

Shad Valley teens show off

The 48 grade 11 and 12 students from across Canada, who have been on campus since July 5, will be wrapping up their Shad Valley experience with exhibits open to the public today from 1:30 to 4:30, and a variety show at 7:30 in the Great Hall of Conrad Grebel College.

The focus of the Shad Valley program at UW -- one of eight such summer programs at universities across Canada -- is the development of entrepreneurship in science and technology. Students are selected on the basis on academic achievement, creativity and interpersonal skills, with nearly half sponsored by a company from their region. Those students sponsored complete a work term at the company during August.

"We try to inspire the kids to work to their full potential," says Kim Boucher, program manager for Shad and associate director of admissions in the engineering undergraduate office. Participants have an opportunity to attend workshops, lectures, practice group problem-solving skills with their peers -- and even have some fun, including a camping trip and Latin dancing lessons.

UW faculty and students volunteer as workshop leaders for the program, and the university provides space and resources. "We tend to make a good impression," said Boucher. So good, in fact, that UW attracts the greatest number of Shad Valley alumni of any participating university.

The program has been run at UW since 1983, and Shad grads such as Paul Fieguth -- who went on from Shad to do his engineering degree at UW and then become a faculty member in systems design engineering -- are now mentoring the next generation.

Libraries lament limping loonie

A statement this week from the Canadian Association of Research Libraries expresses "serious concern" over the continuing decline of the Canadian dollar and the effect it has on the ability of research libraries to meet the needs of Canadian researchers. CARL represents 27 major libraries across Canada, including Waterloo's.

"Given the fact that about 70% of the books and 85% of the scholarly journals purchased by our members are published outside Canada and that the great majority of these are priced in US dollars, the decline of the dollar is having extremely serious consequences on library acquisitions budgets," said CARL president Marnie Swanson.

The Canadian dollar, which was worth more than 73 cents US a year ago, closed yesterday at 66.49 cents. And while that's considered good news for exports, it's hard on Canadians travelling abroad, and on Canadians who have to pay for imported goods, including books and journals. (The annual budget for materials in UW's library is about $4.7 million, and the great majority of it goes for things published outside Canada.)

Said CARL's statement this week: "Many scholarly journals, particularly in the scientific, technical and medical fields are extremely expensive, for example Nuclear Physics A and B $18,747, Brain Research $15,428, Nuclear Instrument and Methods $14,892, and the Journal of Comparative Neurology $11,595. Those prices are in American dollars. An annual subscription to Nuclear Physics A and B would cost over $28,000 in Canadian funds today. To stay in the forefront of knowledge of international research discoveries in different disciplines Canadian research libraries must subscribe to numbers of indispensable publications, especially journals."

Recent calculations by the University of Alberta, CARL said, show that since January alone its library has lost more than $200,000 in buying power as a result of the weakening dollar. "Put another way that's nearly 2,800 books or 400 journal subscriptions that we can't buy," said Ernie Ingles, an associate vice-president at U of A. "In national terms that translates into well over $6 million dollars in lost purchasing power since July 1997, or 88,000 books that CARL members could not afford to buy."

CARL says that the decline of the dollar is "a very serious threat to the long-term viability of Canada's research libraries and, by extension to Canada's long-term economic outlook".

Choir sings tonight, and more

Joining the 55-voice choir, directed by Marta McCarthy, will be the Amarone String Quartet, plus soloists Norma Churchill (soprano) and Inna Golsband (mezzo).

Tickets for this evening's concert are $10 (students and seniors $8).

The Red Cross blood donor clinic in the Student Life Centre winds up today; donors are welcome from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Requests this week from the Volunteer Action Centre include these: "patient volunteers to help at a recreation centre in Waterloo", one morning a week; greeters and other volunteers to help at blood donor clinics, three hours a week; helpers with the September 20 Terry Fox Run. More information on any of these opportunities: 742-8610.

UW web site of the day

It's pretty much an ordinary course outline -- readings, discussion topics, deadlines -- but then there's that picture of hippies, and there's the casual reference to classroom presentations as "rap sessions". And one of the textbooks is titled Takin' it to the Streets: A Sixties Reader. Andrew Hunt of the history department presents Kennedy and Johnson, Berkeley and Vietnam, Country Joe and the Fish.

History 409A is just one of five courses for which Hunt has syllabi available on the Web. "My page exists," he writes, "primarily as a means of providing information about my courses on the WWW to students and a recruiting tool for prospective students. Basically, I see it as a constantly evolving site, and I go into it almost every day and tweak around with it here and there.

"I think it has a unique design (I use a 1950s American diner motif, which reflects my emphasis on postwar U.S. history). The feedback I've received from students and colleagues is that the site comes up quickly, looks nice and tidy, and is easy to navigate. I'd like to keep it a simple, straightforward site for my students, although some day I'm hoping to transform it into a frames-based design. The response from students, faculty and a few staff members has been mostly enthusiastic. Some students have requested more course content (i.e, course outlines), but changes come slowly. For now, it's just a fun hobby."

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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