The Library collections for Engineering, housed in the Sciences Library, include an estimated 26,000 titles, of which 497 are currently-received serials. In addition, Engineering is also served by the collections built for Applied Mathematics, Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geological Sciences, Mathematics and Physics, as well as the Center for Biomedical Engineering, the Center for Cognitive Sciences and the Lefshetz Center for Dynamical Systems. Support materials are distributed over a wide range of classifications.
The table below indicates the financial support the Library has provided for the Division of Engineering over the past three years.
| Library Support | 1995/96 | 1996/97 | 1997/98 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firm Orders | $3,034 | $1,379 | $2,975 |
| Approvals | 21,304 | 27,289 | 16,149 |
| Serials | 171,192 | 189,794 | 220,098 |
| Total Support | $196,310 | $218,462 | $239,222 |
Engineering has been following the same trend as the other science departments. As the prices of serials have risen, we have had to pull funds away from the purchase of monographs. In fact, the "Firm order" line, which normally indicates funds spent on books outside of the approval plan, is also dedicated to serials in this case, because new serials are carried on the book funds for the first three years. The increased expenditures for serials also pull funds away from other disciplines, unless we can cancel enough serials each year just to keep in line with our budget increases. One can see this if we compare the expenditures of just five years ago (1992/93):
| Firm orders | $ 8,728 |
| Approvals | 40,327 |
| Serials | 140,632 |
| TOTAL | $189,687 |
Expenditures for Engineering have risen 26% over the five years, just slightly more than the overall Library budget. In the same time, serials costs have risen from 74% of all expenditures to 92%.
According to our Collection Development Policy for Engineering, the desired coverage in most aspects of the discipline in which graduate degrees are awarded is RESEARCH. A RESEARCH level collection includes the major source materials required for dissertations and independent research, including materials containing research reporting: new findings, scientific experimental results, and other information useful to researchers. It also includes all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as a very extensive collection of journals and major indexing and abstracting services in this field. The Library has concentrated its efforts particularly on the four emphases of the Division: Electrical Sciences; Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, and Chemical Processes; Materials Science; and the Mechanics of Solids and Structures, as well as the joint programs with the Division of Applied Mathematics and the Division of Biomedical Sciences.
Since the last review the Library has acquired access to a web-based product called Engineering Information Village, which includes a wide array of resources for engineers, including the major abstracting and indexing service, Compendex. The latter used to be available in the Library on a fee for service basis. We would like to get a sense from the Department of the usefulness of these resources. We could subscribe to Compendex alone, if that is the only thing they are actually using. Our recent acquisition of the Web of Science, which includes the web version of Science Citation Index, should also be useful to Engineering.
Last year, the librarian who covered Engineering, Carrie Helie, retired. We are now recruiting a librarian for this position, and we hope to have someone in place before the summer.
William S. Monroe, Head Collection Development
Department of Engineering
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