Laptop loaners

Books aren't the only things on loan at the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library. Penn library patrons can now check out laptop computers for three hours, the length of time of a battery charge. Each of the 20 laptops, available at the Goldstein Undergraduate Study Center on the ground floor, is equipped with software such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word and Internet Explorer. And to make electronic transfers easy, the library has added data transfer stations, allowing borrowers to send their documents to their e-mail accounts or transfer them to Zip or floppy drives. Patrons can even access the Internet without a cable in Goldstein.

Dear readers,

We’re changing our publication schedule slightly to reflect our focus on faculty and staff. The final spring semester issue will be May 9. Summer issues are moved up one week to June 20 and July 18. We have also changed many of our deadlines. For the latest deadline information see www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/2001/schedule.html.

Yours,
The Penn Current Staff

Never too young

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Visiting Scholars Center will launch this fall, and Penn is one of 40 academic institutions nationwide that have agreed to support its work through the Academy’s new University Affiliates program. The center seeks to promote multidisciplinary research among young scholars and practitioners and connect a new generation of scholars to the Academy’s fellows and their scholarly interests. Visiting Scholars’ research will focus on three core areas—science, technology and global security; social policy and education; and humanities and culture. Researcher applications are at www.amacad.org/visiting.htm.