Daily
Bulletin

UW shares use of on-line journals

'news @ your library' That's the title of a new electronic newsletter to be published by the UW library. The first issue appeared on the web this week. Students, faculty and staff are being invited to sign up (through a form on that web page) so they can be notified each time a new issue appears. In the first issue, besides word about the Canadian National Site Licensing Project, are information about new features on the Trellis computer system, an explanation of the Web of Science citation index, and a note about the electronic reference shelf of quick-information web sites.

The national program is featured in the first edition of a new electronic newsletter from UW's library, published this week. "CNSLP has helped us with the process of building our electronic library," the newsletter says, "both by licensing products that expand our available content, and by helping us to stay within our acquisitions budget."

Joan Macdonald, assistant university librarian (information resources management), says CNSLP is "designed to test the concept of licensing electronic scholarly publications on a national basis. The main goal of the project is to speed the transition from print to electronic resources in Canadian academic libraries by increasing the amount of electronic content available to Canadian researchers, especially in science, technology, and health disciplines.

"The project also aims to leverage the Canadian universities' buying power and to influence the development of new business models in the information marketplace."

CNSLP is funded as a three-year pilot project by the Canada Foundation for Innovation to the tune of $20 million, with participating universities and provincial governments contributing $30 million.

Macdonald says the products licensed by CNSLP "were excellent choices for Waterloo. For 2001 the cost of renewal of the subscriptions to the products, in the form and to the extent that we had them, would have been well over $500,000. The cost to UW for participation in CNSLP, that is the 'matching funding' that comes from the library's acquisitions budget, is just over $250,000. So through the combination of CFI funding and the excellent deals made by the CNSLP steering committee, we are able to provide the increased content for less than half the renewal cost of the products as previously purchased."

CNSLP is providing web-based access to more than 700 journals and databases, from such sources as the American Mathematical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and publisher Springer-Verlag. (Altogether, the UW library now offers 5,800 journals in electronic form, dubbed "e-journals".)

"Comments from library users indicate that they are delighted with the very large amount of material available at their desktop," Macdonald says. She notes that the library will be cancelling its subscriptions to the printed version of many of the journals. "These publishers have moved to an increasingly popular pricing model that is based on the electronic product, with print as an add-on. Where we see that happening for stable, reliable products with appropriate licence agreements, we will not duplicate content."

Canada-wide, the CNSLP is making its 700 journals and databases available to some 650,000 students and researchers. Says a national news release: "Systematic access to published research constitutes an integral component of a modern, world-class research infrastructure. The CNSLP represents a new model to ensure that Canadian researchers have equal access to the latest scientific publications and citation databases. . . .

"In a highly competitive international research environment and in fields such as genomics and proteomics, two-month-old research information can put researchers out of the global race. The National Site Licensing Project will enable Canadian researchers to access the cutting-edge information they need to lead in their fields and compete internationally."

Surveys collect commuter information

Says Marval: "September usually signifies the end of summer and for many, the beginning of another school year. September can also be the beginning of heavier traffic congestion as many people converge to the University of Waterloo. As a response, the University of Waterloo has teamed up with the Kitchener-Guelph Traffic Reduction Initiative to see what steps can be taken to alleviate traffic flow to and from the university."

The surveys are the first phase of the project. Says Jennifer Niece, another participant in the project: "We want to find out what barriers University of Waterloo, inter-city employees have in reducing their automobile travel. Once we have that information we develop and implement solutions that can overcome these barriers."

She said solutions may include carpooling, public transit, working from home, or active travel such as walking or cycling. "We will also give assistance marketing and promoting transportation alternatives within the university."

Niece said if the project is successful, its scope could be broadened to include all of the employees at the university.

She said she developed the project, a partnership of WPIRG with its University of Guelph counterpart and other environmental and social justice groups, out of concern about traffic congestion and health problems caused by automobile pollution. "The Kitchener-Guelph Traffic Reduction Initiative is possible due to the generous support of the Cities of Guelph, Kitchener, and Waterloo, the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Human Resources Development Canada, and the Community Action Fund of the Guelph-Wellington Credit Union."

The law about holidays Changes to Ontario's Employment Standards Act came into effect September 4, says Alfrieda Swainston of the UW human resources department. "Of particular interest are changes to paid holidays entitlement: the three months employment requirement is no longer applicable. We have informed supervisors who normally pay casual employees. "At the moment we are not anticipating changes to existing university policies."

Shipments across the border

Due to the tragic events in the United States, please be advised that there are few, if any goods crossing the border at this time. In addition, for anyone wishing to go to the United States to conduct University business, be prepared for lengthy delays at the border.

We are working with our customs broker, Commerce, and our freight consolidator, WBE in New York state, to ensure that our goods arrive on campus in a timely manner; however, we do not expect to receive any goods from the United States until next week.

Ottawa comeback puts down Warriors -- from Canadian Interuniversity Sports

Halftime found the Gee-Gees down 16-2 to the Warriors. Two rushing touchdowns by Waterloo's Michael Bradley accounted for the 14-point difference between the teams.

Playing in front of their home crowd, the Gee-Gees came out smoking in the second half, scoring four straight touchdowns. First, David Azzi connected with Nathan Thompson to give the Gee-Gees their first touchdown of the game. 16-9 for the Waterloo Warriors. Then, it was Azzi hooking up with Kenny Branco on another touchdown strike to tie the game 16-16.

In the fourth, Matt Rogers then ran an interception back 63 yards to put the Gee-Gees in scoring position. They then took the lead on a one-yard from Maxime Dufault but didn't capitalize on a two-point convert; 22-16 Gee-Gees ahead.

On the ensuing kick-off Devin Murphy recovered the kick-off for the Gee-Gees, and the very next play David Azzi hit Mike Di Battista for the score and just like that the Gee-Gees go from down 14 to ahead 29-16.

Player of the Game Michael Bradley for Waterloo ran for another touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the Gee-Gees managed to hold on for the victory and stay undefeated. Gee-Gees win 29-23.

Defensive standouts for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees were Mark Pretzlaff with 11 tackles, eight assists and two fumble recoveries, and Mark Schuld had 8 tackles, 8 assists and one forced fumble.

Senate tonight, and other events

The pension and benefits committee is meeting this morning (the usual 8:30-to-noon marathon) in Needles Hall room 3004.

According to flyers that are accumulating all over campus, the beginning-of-term Imaginus poster sale will run today through Friday in the Student Life Centre.

Last reminder: a Weight Watchers group begins on campus today, assuming enough people sign up. The first meeting is at 12 noon in Humanities room 373. Phone 886-3262 for more information.

A half-hour training session about the Polaris computer system, aimed at faculty members who may need to use it in classrooms, is scheduled for 4:30 today in Math and Computer room 4042.

An announced presentation by Students for Life, which was to have been held tonight in the Student Life Centre, has been cancelled because the star of the show -- Chris Padgett of the rock group Scarecrow and Tinmen -- ran into travel difficulties.

Note for co-op students: that mysterious document the "master copy co-op record" will be available for pickup in Needles Hall starting at 10:00 tomorrow morning. It's a necessary first step towards interviews for winter term jobs, which start October 3 (the interviews, not the jobs). Also tomorrow, work reports are due (by 4 p.m.) for most co-op students -- not all -- who were on jobs during the spring term.

Tomorrow's the first day of registration for instructional programs in campus recreation, from squash to scuba. I'll say more about instructional sports in tomorrow's Bulletin.

And Wednesday brings an organizational meeting for graduate students interested in the Certificate in University Teaching program. (Again, I'll say a few words about that tomorrow.) The meeting is at 12 noon on Wednesday in Needles Hall room 3001.

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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