Daily Bulletin

Renovations in Porter Library

Dana Porter Library by night: Photo from UW Graphics image bank

Says the memo from Lorraine Beattie, director of library resources management:

"The current construction is the result of recommendations made by a Task Force to review the first and second floor (1992 and 1997), in light of the Library's commitment to provide effective client service and respond to a range of staff needs. . . .

"This 'library-financed' project is being staged over several years because funds to complete it more quickly are not available."

It says the work continuing this summer includes a redesign of the circulation desk and nearby staff space on the main (second) floor of Dana Porter, "to allow for the proposed relocation of staff and materials from the first to the second floor". Among the goals: "Improve the organization of, and public access to, the reference collection; relocate the micro collection and equipment to a more environmentally and ergonomically suitable location."

In addition, there is construction work on the third floor to make room for the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology (LT3). Says Beattie: "The staff and public areas of the floor have been designed to meet current needs (some fine tuning remains to be done). It is anticipated that the building of the Centre will begin early in the fall term."

She also says a task group in the library has been looking at "the feasibility of incorporating a coffee shop into the Porter Library". It recommended a "coffee shop/cart" on the second floor "as a convenience to library users. . . . Further design considerations will be addressed this summer with Food Services and Plant Operations, with construction to follow."

Another task force, she adds, looked at the use of the fifth floor of Dana Porter, which is currently occupied mostly by government publications. Among the goals: "To move the Electronic Data Services Office to the fifth floor to bring it into proximity to the government publications collection and to allow for possible future expansion of this service." More developments are coming, she says.

Water method cuts herbicide use -- by Barbara Elve

Now plant operations has adopted the hot water method. Rather than toting tea kettles around the university, however, grounds crews will be wheeling the Aquacide, "basically a steam jenny", and a 250-gallon tank on a trailer equipped with a 100-foot hose and wand.

Designed only for use on hard surfaces such as asphalt, paving stone or concrete, the device douses weeds with water near the boiling point, all but eliminating the use of Roundup, says custodial and grounds director Tom Galloway. While some Roundup will still be required on turf, where the Aquacide cannot be used, Galloway anticipates an overall reduction of the herbicide by "at least 90 per cent."

Plant ops staff gave the Aquacide a trial run for a week last August, and "were impressed with the results." The department held off using Roundup this year in anticipation of the arrival of its own hot water unit, which debuts on campus this week.

No brain drain, profs conclude

CAUT says more highly-educated people are coming into Canada than are leaving -- and the ones who are leaving are doing so not because of high Canadian taxes but because of low salaries, especially in jobs like (guess what) university teaching.

Some excerpts from "Have We Lost Our Minds?", published this month by CAUT:

"Between 1990 and 1996, approximately 8,500 university-educated people per year moved from Canada to the US, while approximately 32,800 university-educated people per year moved to Canada -- resulting in an annual net gain of 24,317. . . .

"Recent immigrants . . .are nearly twice as likely to hold a Bachelor's degree and 3 times more likely to possess a Master's, Ph.D. or medical degree than the Canadian-born population. Even in examining the high-tech sector, Statistics Canada found that computer scientists immigrating to Canada possess skills comparable to their Canadian-born colleagues. . . .

"Most conservative commentators declare that, however modest, the net outflow of highly educated and skilled Canadians to the US is motivated principally by lower rates of income tax south of the border. . . . While the overall tax burden is higher in Canada, it does not necessarily mean that all Canadians are left with less disposable after-tax income than their American counterparts. The OECD (1998) records that the disposable income of families earning the average industrial wage, expressed as a per cent of gross pay, is higher in Canada than in the United States. . . .

"Most of the evidence suggests that other factors play a far more critical role. . . . The primary motive for moving is job related. Simply put, people tend to move in search of employment opportunities. The fact that the unemployment rate is currently 4 per cent in the United States and about double that in Canada may better explain why some Canadians are emigrating south. . . .

"A similar lack of career opportunities would appear to explain why some university-educated Canadians are taking up academic positions in the United States. Because of severe government funding cuts in the 1990s, there has been a marked decline in faculty positions and salaries at Canada's large research universities. . . .

"Based on the existing data, there is little evidence that Canada is experiencing a brain drain. In fact, Canada continues to attract highly qualified immigrants from around the world who more than offset the small loss to the United States. Where there is a net loss of professionals such as in the health and education sector, this is largely explained by government cutbacks and the subsequent lack of employment opportunities in Canada. . . .

"It is difficult to see how tax cuts for higher income earners would stem the trickle of Canadians to the US. Tax cuts would actually have the perverse effect of further weakening our fiscal capacity and reducing public investment in areas that are key to future economic growth and that create opportunities for qualified Canadians. In short, the 'brain drain' controversy, if anything, points to the need for governments to reinvest in Canada's health care, education, and research infrastructure."

A tribute to Chautauqua

It struck me on my last visit there, with much talk of the 125th anniversary going on, that Chautauqua actually has a lot in common with Waterloo -- including their creation out of regional needs for education (albeit separated by eight decades and a national border), their huge work in correspondence teaching (at the turn of the century Chautauqua was the pioneer in adult education), and their current involvement in national issues in their respective lands.

An interesting connection, just by coincidence: the chaplain of the week at Chautauqua this week is Douglas John Hall, who was the first principal of St. Paul's United College at UW. (He's now based at McGill University.)

But somehow I can't imagine that UW's traditions will ever include a flock of little children scattering flowers under the feet of new graduates, as will be happening this morning at ceremonies for the century-old Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.

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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