The Importance of Professional Networks

Abstract

In the introductory column by new column coeditors Amy Cooper Cary and Rosemary Pleva Flynn, the authors explain the goals and methodology for the column, and address the significance of professional networking. Authors focus on networking strategies and resources for both new and seasoned archivists.     

Toward a Developmental Science of Politics

In this monograph, we argue for the establishment of a developmental science of politics that describes, explains, and predicts the formation and change of individuals’ political knowledge, attitudes, and behavior beginning in childhood and continuing across the life course. Reflecting our goal of contributing both theoretical conceptualizations and empirical data, we have organized the monograph into two broad sections. In the first section, we outline theoretical contributions that the study of politics may make to developmental science and provide practical reasons that empirical research in the domain of politics is important (e.g., for identifying ways to improve civics education and for encouraging higher voting rates among young adults). We also review major historical approaches to the study of political development and provide an integrative theoretical framework to ground future work. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems model as an organizing scheme and emphasizing social justice issues, we describe how factors rooted in cultural contexts, families, and children themselves are likely to shape political development. In the second section of the monograph, we argue for the importance and utility of studying major political events, such as presidential elections, and introduce the major themes, rationales, and hypotheses for a study of U.S. children's views of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In addition, we apply a social-justice lens to political thought and participation, addressing the role of gender/sex and race/ethnicity in children's political development broadly, and in their knowledge and views of the 2016 U.S. presidential election specifically. In interviews conducted within the month before and after the election, we examined two overarching categories of children's political attitudes: (a) knowledge, preferences, and expectations about the 2016 election, and (b) knowledge and attitudes concerning gender/sex and politics, particularly relevant for the 2016 election given Hillary Clinton's role as the first female major-party candidate for the presidency. Participants were 187 children (101 girls) between 5 and 11 years of age (M = 8.42 years, SD = 1.45 years). They were recruited from schools and youth organizations in five counties in four U.S. states (Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, and Washington) with varying voting patterns (e.g., Trump voters ranged from 27% to 71% of county voters). The sample was not a nationally representative one, but was racially diverse (35 African American, 50 Latinx, 81 White, and 21 multiracial, Asian American, Middle Eastern, or Native American children). In addition to several child characteristics (e.g., age, social dominance orientation [SDO]), we assessed several family and community characteristics (e.g., child-reported parental interest in the election and government-reported county-level voting patterns, respectively) hypothesized to predict outcome variables. Although our findings are shaped by the nature of our sample (e.g., our participants were less likely to support Trump than children in larger, nationwide samples were), they offer preliminary insights into children's political development. Overall, children in our sample were interested in and knowledgeable about the presidential election (e.g., a large majority identified the candidates correctly and reported some knowledge about their personal qualities or policy positions). They reported more information about Donald Trump's than Hillary Clinton's policies, largely accounted for by the substantial percentage of children (41%) who referred to Trump's immigration policies (e.g., building a wall between the United States and Mexico). Overall, children reported as many negative as positive personal qualities of the candidates, with negative qualities being reported more often for Trump than for Clinton (56% and 18% of children, respectively). Most children (88%) supported Clinton over Trump, a preference that did not vary by participants’ gender/sex or race/ethnicity. In their responses to an open-ended inquiry about their reactions to Trump's win, 63% of children reported negative and 18% reported positive emotions. Latinx children reacted more negatively to the election outcome than did White children. Girls’ and boys’ emotional responses to the election outcome did not differ. Children's personal interest in serving as U.S. president did not vary across gender/sex or racial/ethnic groups (overall, 42% were interested). Clinton's loss of the election did not appear to depress (or pique) girls’ interest in becoming U.S. president. With respect to the role of gender/sex in politics, many children (35%) were ignorant about women's absence from the U.S. presidency. Only a single child was able to name a historical individual who worked for women's civil rights or suffrage. Child characteristics predicted some outcome variables. For example, as expected, older children showed greater knowledge about the candidates than did younger children. Family and community characteristics also predicted some outcome variables. For example, as expected, participants were more likely to support Trump if they perceived that their parents supported him and if Trump received a greater percentage of votes in the children's county of residence. Our data suggest that civic education should be expanded and reformed. In addition to addressing societal problems requiring political solutions, civics lessons should include the histories of social groups’ political participation, including information about gender discrimination and the women's suffrage movement in U.S. political history. Providing children with environments that are rich in information related to the purpose and value of politics, and with opportunities and encouragement for political thought and action, is potentially beneficial for youth and their nations.     

Television Spoilers Recast as Narrative Teasers

This article analyzes online qualitative survey responses from 43 television time shifters who knew narrative content (spoilers) about a particular show before they decided to watch. Twenty of the study participants cited narrative content and/or their spoiler sources as the reason they chose to watch. We ultimately argue that television spoilers can function as teasers, leading would-be viewers to enjoyable shows. In doing so, we expand the definition of spoiler, offering insight into how spoilers can create rather than ruin opportunities for narrative pleasure.     

Claiming expertise from betwixt and between: Digital humanities librarians,emotional labor,and genre theory

ABSTRACT

Librarians' liminal (intermediate) position within academia situates us to make unique contributions to digital humanities (DH). In this article, we use genre theory, feminist theory, and theories of emotional labor to explore the importance of discourse mediation and affective labor to DH and the interplay between these areas and academic structural inequality. By claiming our expertise and making explicit work that is often not visible, we can advocate for new and varied roles for librarians in digital humanities. Our analysis is informed by both theory and practice, and it takes a dialogic approach that depends upon the interactions between the two.     

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for Cataloging: An Application and Evaluation

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a proactive assessment tool originally created for quality assurance in manufacturing industries. FMEA involves the assignment of rankings for frequency, severity, and detection of errors within a process. Catalogers at ProQuest undertook an innovative project to use FMEA to evaluate MARC record production. This article provides an overview of FMEA for process evaluation and summarizes an application for cataloging. It considers the tool's value for error-proofing in MARC record creation and how FMEA might be applied more effectively in a variable environment.     

Courting Apocalypse: Creating a Zombie-Themed Evidence-Based Medicine Game

In 2015, two librarians at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at the University of Iowa turned their dreams into a reality and secured funding to build a zombie-themed evidence-based medicine game. The game features a “choose your own adventure” style that takes students through a scenario where a disease outbreak is taking place and a resident is asked to use evidence-based medicine skills to select a screening and diagnostic tool to use on potentially infected patients. Feedback on the game has been positive, and future plans include building additional modules on therapy, harm, and prognosis.     

A Comparison of the Effects of Two Different Online Homework Systems on Levels of Knowledge Retention in General Chemistry Students

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Online homework systems have been shown to help student achievement in chemistry courses. This study sought to compare the levels of knowledge...     

Equity in Education for/with Refugees and Migrants—Toward a Solidarity Promoting Interculturalism

This special issue brings to the forefront the complex educational challenges faced by migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. It focuses on different ways of understanding equity in relation to education for/with refugees and migrants. The core articles gathered for the special issue originate from the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE) conference on the theme of “Equity in and Through Education” held in Glasgow, UK, between May 31 and June 3, 2016. Thus, the special issue addresses the question of equity in diverse local, national, and transnational contexts and from an interdisciplinary approach.     

Development of shared vision: Lessons from a science education community collaborative

This is a qualitative case study of a collaboration among multiple stakeholders in science education who came together in order to create environmental field trips and the surrounding classroom curriculum. The collaboration involves 4 major facets of science education: formal education at the elementary and university levels, informal education, and educational research. The data were collected by means of observation, semi‐structured interviews, and written document review. This study examines how shared vision developed within the collaboration, the roles the participants played in its evolution, and how this process benefited both the collaboration and each individual collaborator. Several factors significantly affected the progress towards a shared vision and a successful collaboration including time, communication, understanding others' perspectives, dedication and ownership, as well as the collaborative environment. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 681–705, 2007