The Individualized Learning Program (ILP) is a program which offers SIUC credit courses to students who are unable to attend the regularly scheduled on campus courses. ILP courses are offered in print-based, on-line or television formats. These courses carry full southern Illinois University academic credit which may be applied toward a degree. Students use a course Study Guide developed by an SIUC instructor as the framework for the course and study at a time and location of their own selection.
The computing environment at Southern Illinois University's Carbondale Campus
is designed to provide easy access and 24-hour availability to all SIUC students,
faculty, and staff. The information resources of a major University are combined
with plug-in convenience. Students can walk in to any of the University's four
public computer learning centers
equipped with Pentium-class microcomputers or opt to provide their own computer
and modem. The network provides the rest: a full range of Internet functions,
access to library resources at SIUC and across the state, a web-based student
information system called SalukiNet,
and too many other computing services to list here. All services are included
in student fees; there is no additional charge.
The University has always striven to provide the best-available learning technology
to its students. Information Technology,
a University service unit, is the Carbondale campus's technical arm charged
with meeting students' instructional needs. Information Technology fulfills
this mission by providing state-of-the-art learning facilities, research tools,
and the telecommunications infrastructure required to make them available to
the campus.
The University's network infrastructure--the assemblage of computers, cabling,
and communication switches needed to transfer information throughout the network--is
designed to deliver computing services to points of need anywhere on- or off-campus.
It does so via data jacks in 25 campus buildings and telephone jacks in those
offices and dormitories not yet connected to the infrastructure. The network's
design means that it comes to you, you don't have to go to it.
Infrastructure hardware currently includes a fiber-optic campus "backbone";
an IBM mainframe computer (an ES/9021-500 with vector processing); a cluster
of specialized, Unix-based RISC servers, which offer access to e-mail, software
downloading, computational resources, and statistical libraries; and a netILLINOIS
(T1) connection to the Internet. Infrastructure software includes a web browser,
an e-mail agent, and the full range of file-transfer, remote-login, and telecommunication
software required to enable state-of-the-art transactions with the Internet.
This software is available at no charge to students.
The University offers technical assistance for the hardware and software it
supports. Computing can be a complicated business: sooner or later, help might
be required to, for example, download a program from Europe or send homework
to an instructor or e-mail to parents. The Customer
Service Center call desk (453-5155) offers assistance with computing problems
Monday through Friday to all University students, faculty, and staff.
The extensive holdings and wide array of bibliographic and instructional support
services offered by SIUC's Morris Library place it among the foremost
research institutions. The library is a longtime member of the Association
of Research Libraries and also holds membership in the Center of
Research Libraries in Chicago. It is an active participant in the world's
largest bibliographic network, OCLC (Online
Computer Library Center), and is a member of ILLINET
Online (IO), the statewide automated catalog, circulation, and interlibrary
loan system with records of over 600 libraries.
The library's general collection numbers 2.4 million volumes, 3.1 million
microforms and over 12,200 current serial subscriptions. Library users have
access to nearly 900 electronic data files and CD-ROM products through multiple
workstations located throughout the building. Up-to-date information about
library services is available through the LINKS (Library Information NetworKS)
component of the campus wide computer network.
The library's many noteworthy holdings include depository collections of
federal, state, and United Nations documents, and an Instructional Materials
Center, which includes current and historical children's literature,
textbooks and audiovisual teaching aids. Also part of Library Affairs is
the Ulysses S. Grant Association's editorial project, which aims to publish the complete
correspondence of President Grant.
The library's Reference Services and
Collection Management unit comprises four subject divisions (Education and
Psychology, Humanities, Science, and Social Studies).
Its Undergraduate and Instructional Services unit provides materials designed to meet
the special needs of undergraduates, including a self-instruction center and
reserve collection.
The Special Collections and Development unit consists of historical and
literary manuscripts, the rare book collection, and the University Archives.
Special Collections contains important research materials in American and
British expatriate literature; twentieth century philosophy, including the
papers of John Dewey and the archives of the Open Court press; the Irish
literary renaissance, First Amendment freedoms and proletariat theater.
Among other library services, the Technical and Automation Service unit
updates information in the online catalog and assists library users by
providing access to other libraries and identifying, borrowing, and delivering materials
from them. It is responsible for LINKS and all of the library's
other electronic services.
The library also offers faculty members a host of
instructional development, research and evaluation services including
multi-media training and development, as well as video materials and
photographic and graphic production services. The Distance Learning
initiatives for the southern Illinois area have their headquarters in Morris
Library.
From its bucolic location just off the Carbondale campus, Southern Illinois
University Press has mounted a global mission, reaching out through all
avenues of the worldwide network of scholarship to attract manuscripts from
an international corps of authors. Recently, the press celebrated its
forty-second anniversary.
Publishing in the humanities and social sciences, SIU Press has made
substantial contributions in art and architecture, classical studies,
literary criticism, philosophy and religion, history, speech communication,
and rhetoric. It also boasts a strong list in First Amendment rights and
media studies. The film and theatre list grows more robust each year as
does the lists in aviation and regional history. The Press also has made
important contributions in criminology, political science, and women's
studies.
Study Abroad Programs coordinates overseas services for American students,
including international grant, exchange and study
programs. It is the central referral point for information on the student
Fulbright program and on the British Marshall, International Research and
Exchanges Board (IREX), National Security Education Program and Rhodes
scholarships. Graduate students may also participate in inter-university
international exchange programs and in travel/study programs offered during
the summer and intercession periods under the auspices of this division.
Study Abroad Programs is located in the Northwest Annex (618-453-7670).