The following is a summary of University of Waterloo (UW) Library resources in support of the Software Engineering program at Waterloo, prepared by Jim Parrott, Liaison Librarian for Electrical & Computer Engineering.
Day |
Building Hours |
Circulation / Reserves |
|---|---|---|
Monday - Thursday |
8 am – midnight |
8:30 am – 11 pm |
Friday |
8 am - midnight |
8:30 am – 6 pm |
Saturday - Sunday |
11 am – midnight |
Noon – 6 pm |
During winter, spring and fall terms, Library hours are as shown. Hours are extended around exam periods, and the Library is open on statutory holidays during the academic terms.
The Liaison Librarian for each department is available for consultation with individuals or small groups of students. The Liaison Librarian also works with faculty and staff to develop course-integrated library instruction in the form of lecture, hands-on instruction, Web pages, or online courseware modules.
The Library also offers orientation programs including tours, workshops on database searching and using the World Wide Web, and seminars.
Access to On-Campus Resources
Libraries at UW, University of Guelph (UG) and Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) compose the Tri-University Group of Libraries (TUG) consortium. Library resources at UG and WLU are readily accessible to UW students, faculty, and staff. These collections enhance the depth and breadth of UW materials available in engineering, mathematics and science, which are housed in the Davis Centre Library. Access to the entire UW Library collection, as well as materials held by our TUG partners, is available through the World Wide Web (Web) accessible union catalogue TRELLIS:
http://trellis1.tug-libraries.on.ca/The Library's automated circulation system allows users to charge out materials during the hours that the Library is open and to renew items online at any time. With the exception of reference materials and the current issues of journals, most of the materials in the Library’s collection circulate. Graduate students and faculty may borrow most monographs for a term at a time.
The Library also provides a service for faculty, graduate students, and staff whereby copies of print journal articles are delivered to an on-campus address. Faculty, graduate students, and staff can also place holds on Library books for pickup at any of the UW Libraries’ circulation desks. Both these services are free of charge to the user.
Research Databases
The Library subscribes to a number of electronic research databases, most of which are accessible via the Internet, and some of which are available via networked CD-ROMs. The following are some of the databases of interest to Software Engineering:
- Compendex (all branches of engineering)
- Computer & Information Systems Abstracts (includes computer engineering)
- INSPEC (physics, electrical engineering, computer and control engineering)
- Web of Science (all subjects, includes cited reference searching)
The Library has embedded linking technology into the research databases, allowing users to link directly from the database to the UW Library full text electronic journal subscription or to the TRELLIS catalogue record for holdings and call number information.
UW faculty, students and staff may access Web accessible research databases and full text electronic journals from off-campus via the Library’s Proxy Server / Connect From Home feature.
Access to Internet Resources and UW Library Homepage
The Library has a well developed Web site (http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca) that organizes and provides access to Internet resources, some freely available to anyone and others, funded by the Library, which are restricted to UW faculty, staff, and students. These resources include, for example, full text electronic journals, research databases, research guides arranged by academic discipline, catalogues of libraries around the world, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and style guides. The website includes a page of research starting points for Electrical & Computer Engineering, developed by the liaison librarian for Electrical & Computer Engineering. See: http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/discipline/eleccompeng/index.html
Of special interest to Software Engineering are two extensive digital libraries: (1) the IEEE/IEE Electronic Library (extensive coverage back to 1988; selective coverage back to 1950) and (2) the ACM Digital Library (extensive coverage back to 1954).
The Library also subscribes to the CANSIM database from Statistics Canada. As a member of the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI), the Library is also able to make available other data from Statistics Canada, in addition to that data freely available on their website.
Books and journal articles not owned by the UW Library but held by the University of Guelph or Wilfrid Laurier University may be requested through TRELLIS, the union catalogue of the TriUniversity Group of Libraries. Books and copies of journal articles are delivered to UW faculty and students within three working days; the cost is absorbed by the Library.
The Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery (ILL) service provides faculty, students, and staff with books, copies of journal articles, theses, and government documents from libraries (other than TUG) within Canada and abroad. The UW Library uses the RACER Web based interlibrary loan system (http://racer.scholarsportal.info/vdx/index.html) to facilitate ILL access and service for users. With minor exceptions, the cost for this service is absorbed by the Library.
The UW Library also uses the CISTI Source current awareness and document delivery service (http://info.wlu.ca/~wwwlib/swetscan/) from the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information to provide copies of articles from journals not held locally. Faculty and graduate students are able to search citations from over 17,000 journals in all subject areas and directly request copies of articles. Articles are generally delivered to on-campus addresses within four working days. The cost is absorbed by the Library.
Canadian university libraries extend in-person borrowing privileges to students, faculty and staff from across the country. Graduate students, faculty and staff are entitled to borrowing privileges at participating libraries (http://www.coppul.ca/rb/rbindex.html).
The Davis Centre Library has a seating capacity of 707.
NOTE: The counts below for electrical & computer engineering are a subset of the counts for engineering. The counts below for computer science are a subset of the counts for engineering, mathematics, & sciences.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
(print) 852 | (electronic) 3,158 |
|
(print) 334 | (electronic) 926 |
|
(print) 96 | (electronic) 526 |
|
(print) 83 | (electronic) 450 |
NOTE: The counts below for electrical & computer engineering are a subset of the counts for engineering. The counts below for computer science are a subset of the counts for engineering, mathematics, & sciences.
Books (Print) |
2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 |
|---|---|---|---|
Davis Library (Total) |
4,338 |
4,272 |
3,579 |
Engineering |
650 |
616 |
651 |
Electrical & Computer Eng. |
198 |
241 |
235 |
Computer Science |
218 |
296 |
163 |
|
2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 |
Davis Library (Total) |
1,469 |
1,354 |
1,190 |
Engineering |
422 |
384 |
321 |
Electrical & Computer Eng. |
46 |
35 |
34 |
Computer Science |
25 |
22 |
22 |
In addition to the resources included in the above counts, the Library provides access to 13,100 full-text electronic journals. The number of electronic resources available to Waterloo students has increased enormously in the past few years. One example is the IEEE Electronic Library, which provides access to a wide range of IEEE publications, including journals, conference proceedings, and standards. As electronic access is established, the Library is discontinuing print subscriptions. Thus the counts of print titles have declined, but the number of publications available to students, within the Library and from any computer, has actually grown. Many electronic resources are purchased as packages of the publisher’s entire list of titles, and include titles in many subject areas.
NOTE: The expenditures below for electrical & computer engineering are a subset of the expenditures for engineering. The expenditures below for computer science are a subset of the expenditures for engineering, mathematics, & sciences.
|
2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 |
|---|---|---|---|
Davis Library (Total) |
$394,136 | $405,209 | $356,338 |
Engineering |
$117,974 | $112,667 | $100,419 |
Electrical & Computer Eng. |
$37,646 | $40,092 | $38,770 |
Computer Science |
$59,695 | $58,109 | $53,049 |
|
2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 |
Davis Library (Total) |
$1,018,296 |
$920,961 |
$577,454 |
Engineering |
$238,715 |
$235,571 |
$123,879 |
Electrical & Computer Eng. |
$24,103 |
$18,110 |
$9,869 |
Computer Science |
$11,551 |
$8,673 |
$6,167 |
Total (Print) |
2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 |
Davis Library (Total) |
$1,412,432 |
$1,326,170 |
$933,793 |
Engineering |
$356,689 |
$348,238 |
$224,299 |
Electrical & Computer Eng. |
$61,749 |
$58,202 |
$48,639 |
Computer Science |
$71,246 |
$66,782 |
$59,216 |
|
2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 |
| $2,527,384 | $3,904,830 | $3,897,065 |
The information services available to students and faculty are excellent.
The Library’s collections in books and journals are strong in all engineering fields, including software engineering. A significant shift is occurring in how the Library provides access to information. More and more of the information needed by students and faculty is being made available over the Internet. For some time now, most indexes and abstracts have been available electronically, and the Library now provides access to over 13,000 electronic journals. In the past several years the Library has been able to increase serial holdings by purchasing large packages from publishers. To support this expansion in available resources, print subscriptions are being cancelled. This decline in print will increase over the next few years as a pricing model that charges a premium for print rapidly becomes established, not only for journals but for a wide range of information sources.
The Davis Centre Library is crowded with students during the fall and winter terms due to a lack of study space on campus. Additional study space is available in the Dana Porter Library.
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