Date: March 2, 1999

 I. Program Description and Purpose of Collection:

Electrical engineering is perhaps the most broadly based discipline in the engineering sciences today. Modern electrical systems and device design depend on advanced knowledge in areas such as optics, electronics, device fabrication, communications and control theory, circuit design, signal processing, and biomedical engineering.

The Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Louisville’s Speed Scientific School offers programs of study leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Science, Master of Engineering, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy. It also offers a doctoral degree in Computer Science and Engineering jointly with the Department of Engineering Mathematics and Computer Science.

A number of specialized laboratories support the electrical engineering program including the Computer Interfacing and Microcomputer Design Laboratories, Computer Vision and Image Processing (CVIP) Laboratory, Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI)

Circuit Laboratory, Neural computer Laboratory, Electro-Optics Research Institute (ERI), and the Lutz Microfabrication Laboratory.

The purposes of the library collection in electrical engineering are: to support the coursework and research of students at the undergraduate and graduate levels; to support the work of staff in the Department of Electrical Engineering; to support the instruction and research of the Electrical Engineering faculty; and to support the needs of practicing engineers for continuing education and work-related information.

The Department of Electrical Engineering currently has 15 faculty, one research assistant, one post doctoral research associate, and 2 technicians.

Library collections in Electrical Engineering are also available at the following local institutions: University of Kentucky, University of Cincinnati, and the University of Tennessee. Local agencies that work in the field of electrical engineering and may hold materials of relevance to the Electrical Engineering Department include Louisville Gas and Electric and GE (General Electric).

II. Description and Analysis of Current Collection:

Major specialties within the Electrical Engineering program at the University of Louisville are computer engineering, circuits, information processing, electronic signals and devices, communications, control systems, microtechnology and microfabrication, electro-optics, electro-magnetics, physiological sensing and biomedical imaging.

Related subject areas important to the program in Electrical Engineering are cybernetics, artificial intelligence, electricity and magnetism, acoustics, lasers and optics, surface science, solid state science, crystallography, energy, electrochemical processes, biomedical engineering, physiology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics.

Basic materials purchased in electrical engineering include periodicals, serials, and monographs (books). Reference materials purchased include encyclopedia, dictionaries, handbooks and tables, indexes and abstracts. Textbooks and conference proceedings may be added when received as gifts. Solutions manuals and study guide that accompany textbooks may be placed on class reserve at the request of an instructor.

The collection is almost entirely in print format, although many print materials contain accompanying computer discs. Back volumes of some periodicals are held in microform. Major indexes and abstracts are available as electronic databases. In general, only materials in English are purchased. Emphasis is given to materials published within the past 4-5 years, and to classics in the field.

Total Titles: 14,471

Total Volumes (estimated):

Current Subscriptions/Standing Orders:

Electronic Resources:

* First title given it that of the CD-ROM version. The second title is that of the WEB version. Title in parentheses is the name of the print version.

*In future years, a full report of expenditures will be available for Electrical Engineering. In 1997/98 the total expenditures for subscriptions and standing orders for all departments supported by the Kersey Library was $1,132,590.

V. Resource Sharing:

The libraries have resource sharing agreements with several regional and national consortia: Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET); Metroversity (Louisville area libraries); the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL); State Assisted Library Consortium of Kentucky (SAALCK). The primary resource sharing service is Interlibrary Loan, available at the Ekstrom and Kornhauser Libraries. The Libraries also can take advantage of discounted pricing for many electronic databases, through membership in consortia. In 1999, the Kentucky Commonwealth Virtual Library is going to become available, providing statewide access to a core set of electronic databases.