Date: March 8, 1999

I. Program Description and Purpose of Collection:

Courses offered by the Physics Department serve the full spectrum of student needs from general education courses to upper level courses. Degree programs in Physics are designed to prepare students for a variety of careers. The Bachelor of Arts in Physics is designed for substantial preprofessional education for such fields as medicine, patent law, teaching and technical writing. The Bachelor of Science in Physics is intended as preparation for entry into graduate programs in physics and other scientific or engineering fields. At the Masters level, the department offers a program leading to the Master of Science in Physics. In addition, a joint doctoral program is offered with the University of Kentucky’s Department of Physics and Astronomy leading to a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Kentucky, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry in Chemical Physics is offered with the Department of Chemistry. The Physics Department requires 32-44 credit hours for the Bachelors program and 30 credit hours for the Masters program.

The purpose of the library collection in physics is to support the coursework and research of students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, to support the work of staff in the Department of Physics, to support the instruction and research of the Physics faculty, and to support the needs of practicing chemists for continuing education and work related information.

The Department of Physics currently has 12 faculty, 1 research associate, and 4 technicians.

Library collections in physics are also available at the following area institutions: University of Kentucky, Purdue University, Indiana University, University of Cincinnati, and the University of Tennessee.

II. Description and Analysis of Current Collection:

Major subject areas within the Physics program at the University of Louisville include optics, acoustics, electricity and magnetism, atomic and nuclear physics, solid state physics, molecular and particle physics, mathematical and statistical physics, quantum theory, astronomy and astrophysics, and physics for teachers.

Related subject areas important to the program in Physics are energy and the environment, mechanics, vibration, thermodynamics, meteorology.

Basic materials purchased in physics 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. 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.

Faculty submit recommended materials for the library to purchase through their department representative to the Kersey Library User’s Group.

Current Subscriptions/Standing Orders:

Electronic Resources:

A. INDEXES AND ABSTRACTS (BIBLIOGRAPHIC)

* First title given is 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.

B. REFERENCE SOURCES (Data tables, handbooks, encyclopedia, dictionaries, etc.)

*In future years, a full report of expenditures will be available for Physics. 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.