EX LIBRIS: News from the Library
It is the task of academic libraries of the twenty-first century not only to store and facilitate access to information resources, but also to take some responsibility in ensuring that these resources are used correctly and effectively by students and faculty members. To this end, the Library has recently been organizing 
special workshops in collaboration with BUSEL to promote library resources and develop students' information skills. In addition, during the next few weeks, the Library will be administering short surveys to students and faculty about the issue of plagiarism at Bilkent University. Plagiarism means "to copy another person's words, ideas, images, invention, etc., without appropriate reference and claim it as your own work," and it clearly results from the incorrect use of information resources. However, research has shown that plagiarism is not a simple, "black and white" issue but involves various degrees of intentionality and awareness. The purpose of the surveys will be to determine the nature, and perception, of plagiarism at Bilkent and therefore recommend more accurately and fairly how to deal with plagiarism in the long run. Academics will be asked by e-mail to complete an online version of the survey, and students will be asked to complete the survey in print in the Library and also by instructors in selected courses. The surveys, which are anonymous, will serve to help improve academic integrity and intellectual credibility at Bilkent University. The Library would like to thank in advance all Bilkenters who participate in this survey.
This week, on Thursday, March 3, Tayfun Özçelik (MBG) and Katja Doerschner (PSY) will deliver the first Library Lunchtime Lecture of the spring semester, entitled "Anna Karenina & DNA: Collaborative Aspects of Cognitive Neurogenomics at Bilkent." In this joint presentation, Prof. Özçelik and Dr. Doerschner will outline a collaborative project on cognitive neurogenomics that examines the interplay between population history and structure, genetic disease, and brain development in the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. The project builds upon Prof. Özçelik's groundbreaking work on the genetic basis for quadrapedalism among certain families in eastern Turkey, as presented in a previous Library Lecture, and enables genetic knowledge to be translated into medical knowledge that will benefit local populations and contribute substantially to the understanding of the genetic basis of human diseases worldwide. This Lecture will be held in the Art Gallery, Main Campus Library, on Thursday between 12:40-1:30 p.m. and will be in English. Lunchtime refreshments will be supplied.