“The information superhighway is a ‘quivering oxymoron’” and other musings on government information policy in an era of rapidly evolving information technologies

In this JGI interview, futurist Paul Saffo discusses a wide variety of information technology topics ranging from the respective roles of government and private-sector involvement in the Internet to privacy, wireless communications, and the role of information technology in future military conflicts. Throughout the interview, Saffo notes the probable impacts that rapidly evolving information/communication technologies will play in government, business, and personal lives.     

The association of socio‐communicative style and relational type on perceptions of nonverbal immediacy

This study examined how an individual's perceived use of nonverbal immediacy is related to his or her perceived socio‐communicative style, and whether the use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors differs across relational types. Reflecting on a recent interaction, participants (N = 309) completed the Assertiveness‐Responsiveness measure (Richmond & McCroskey, 1990) and a modified version of the Nonverbal Immediacy Behaviors instrument (Richmond, Gorham, & McCroskey, 1987). Results indicate that (a) competent communicators differ from noncompetent, submissive, and aggressive communicators across ten nonverbal immediacy behaviors and (b) the use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors differs across relational types.     

The effect of interactivity on initial interactions: the influence of information valence and modality and information richness on computer‐mediated interaction

Research investigating relationship development through computer‐mediated channels has failed to acknowledge the importance of initial interactions. Increasingly, multimodal forms of communication, such as audio‐ and videoconferencing, in addition to text‐only formats have emerged on socially oriented websites designed for relationship initiation. Utilizing the principle of interactivity as a conceptual framework, the present study investigates whether increased structural interactivity provided by the additional aural and visual modalities influences initial interaction processes and outcomes online. The results indicate that increased availability of nonverbal modalities, combined with the valence of the information acquired, significantly affected interaction involvement and mutuality, which are markers of processual interactivity, as well as the interaction outcomes of uncertainty, predicted outcome value, and information seeking. Additional analysis revealed that mutuality mediated the effect of richness on postinteraction uncertainty level and the evaluations of future relationship potential.     

The librarian's perspectives: What are the issues? a report on the presentation of Corrie V. Marsh

Corrie V. Marsh is presently Head of the Acquisitions Department at the George Washington University Gelman Library. A native of Texas with her undergraduate degree from North Texas State (now the University of North Texas), she received her MLIS from Louisiana State University. Corrie has worked in Collection Development and Acquisitions at LSU, Old Dominion, Georgetown Law Center, and Brown University libraries.Corrie has developed connections with out-of-print and antiquarian booksellers in locating and acquiring special collections, ephemera, and regional resources. She is an active member of the AAP-ALCTS Publisher-Vendor-Library Relations Committee since 1984, and is also on the newly formed ALA-AAP Out-of-Print Task Force. She is a member of the Charleston Conference Advisory Board, an associate editor of Against the Grain, and an editorial board member for Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory. Coorrie has written several articles as a reporter to LAPT, contributed book chapters to the upcoming ALA publication, The Business of Acquisitions, and Haworth Press's The Acquisitions Librarian.In 1988, Corrie was able to enhance her knowledge of the out-of-print book trade through attending the annual Out-of-Print & Antiquarian Book Market Institute in Denver. She has had ongoing discussions with Jake Chernofsky of AB Bookman's Weekly, seeking ways to improve networking among out-of-print dealers and librarians.     

Communicating about sex when it matters: a content analytic investigation of sexual health information on college student health center websites†

ABSTRACT

Young adults struggle to achieve sexual health. Student health centers (SHCs) are uniquely positioned to provide young adults with credible and complete sexual health information. Using the comprehensive model of information seeking for theoretical guidance, we conducted a content analysis to examine the credibility and completeness of sexual health information available to young adults through SHC websites at 400 randomly selected U.S. colleges/universities. Unfortunately, most SHC websites do not provide complete sexual health information, which may decrease the credibility of SHCs as a source of sexual health information for young adults. Topics related to sexual health predominantly focused on prevention and risk topics (i.e. sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, and pregnancy). We offer practical suggestions for SHC webpages to align their sexual health information content with the American College Health Association standards of practice and point to a scholarly focus on content characteristics and information availability to complement information seeking studies.     

What type of leader am I?: a training needs analysis of health library and information managers

Background: Leadership is a necessary facet of professional practice for health library and information managers (HLIMs). Several training needs analyses (TNA) in the health library and information services field have been conducted in recent years, all identifying a need for professional development in leadership skills. However, these previous TNAs have not focused on specific elements of leadership skills required by health library and information managers. Objectives: The National Library for Health (NLH) commissioned the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield to conduct a TNA where HLIMs assess their current leadership skills and identify any future development needs in this area. The results would inform a programme of influencing skills workshops. Methods: HLIMs in the UK were invited to complete a self‐assessment online questionnaire. The questionnaire utilised items from Manning and Robertson’s Influencing Skills Style Profile (ISSP). This allowed the results to be characterised by influencing ‘style’. Results: HLIMs considered themselves to have strengths in the leadership areas of influencing, negotiating, managing change and delivering presentations to decision‐makers. They identified significant development needs in communicating with stakeholders, conflict resolution, using body language and being assertive. Most HLIMs demonstrated two collaborative styles identified by the ISSP, namely strategic collaborator and opportunistic collaborator. Conclusions: In difficult times, HLIMs may need to adapt to more of an ‘opportunistic‐battler’ influencing style. It is important that HLIMs not only assess their own leadership skills but also that they take opportunities to employ 360^° feedback, comprising assessment from subordinates, peers and supervisors.     

The relative effect on audience attitude of the first versus the second argumentative speech of a series∗

This research sought (a) to distinguish between the concepts of apathy and neutrality toward contemporary issues, (b) to model, via computer simulation, apathetic and neutral audiences in order to predict reactions to persuasive messages, and (c) to validate, by means of both attitude and behavioral measures, the efficacy of the model. A computer program was developed and modified by data gathered in the field. The program provides recommendations for messages which can be presented to audiences in order to test their effectiveness. Neutral individuals and apathetic individuals shifted attitudes significantly in this study. A measure of “commitment to action” revealed mixed responses.     

To watch or to read? The respective influence of televised political debates and media debate coverage on citizen learning

Courses: Media and Politics, Political Communication, Political Rhetoric, Media Effects.

Objective: By taking part in a classroom activity, students will explore how cognitive frames and media frames play a role in learning from political debates.     

Are Good Characters Better for Us? The Effect of Morality Salience on Entertainment Selection and Recovery Outcomes

Two experiments examined whether one’s moral self-perception affects the selection of content (Study 1) and whether exposure to different character types results in any recovery benefits (Study 2). Study 1 found that individuals were more likely to select films featuring good characters and morally ambiguous characters than films featuring bad characters regardless of their moral self-perceptions. Study 2 found that individuals whose vices were made salient relaxed and psychologically detached more after reading stories featuring good characters and MACs than after reading a bad character story, whereas those whose virtues were made salient experienced an equal level of recovery benefits regardless of character type. Findings thus indicate that morality salience does not affect selection of content featuring different character types, but it does affect the recovery outcomes one experiences after narrative exposure.     

A Dialectic Analysis of a Community Forum on Faith: The “Most Segregated” or Separated Hour?

Homogeneity remains the norm in churches despite the ideal of diversity called for by leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. This incongruity prompted an analysis of a community forum convened to address racial tensions growing from a school board conflict in Little Rock, Arkansas. The phrase, “the most segregated hour in America is 11:00 A.M. on Sunday,” surfaces multiple times in relation to the homogeneity–diversity dialectic. This tension-centered analysis revealed varied functions of irony as forum participants responded to this dialectic. Major findings included (1) countering the assumption that segregation is wrong through alternation; (2) framing through transcendence based in dramatic irony; (3) relying on a personal narrative based on selection; (4) contesting the role of significant choice based in event-based irony; and (5) representing the marginalized discourse of diversity as mystery. We extend tension-centered research and theory by explicating the role of irony in opening spaces within contested discourse. Practitioners can utilize openings created by irony through enriched dialogue about identity and transcendent rituals.     

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? The Effect of Race-Related Visual and Verbal Exemplars on Attitudes and Support for Social Policies

The present study experimentally assesses the relative influence of visual and verbal exemplars on news readers’ judgments regarding use of emergency room health care services by undocumented immigrants and uninsured U.S. citizens. Assumptions from exemplification theory and theories of information processing guided the investigation. A series of two studies found that pictures and personal stories have comparable effects on perceptions of and attitudes about the issue. Furthermore, conflicting personal stories and pictures embedded in the same news item nullify each other's effect.     

Borrowing trouble? The impact of a systematic review service on interlibrary loan borrowing in an academic health sciences library

Background:With the mandate to review all available literature in the study''s inclusion parameters, systematic review projects are likely to require full-text access to a significant number of articles that are not available in a library''s collection, thereby necessitating ordering content via interlibrary loan (ILL). The aim of this study is to understand what effect a systematic review service has on the copyright royalty fees accompanying ILL requests at an academic health sciences library.Case Presentation:The library created a custom report using ILLiad data to look specifically at 2018 ILL borrowing requests that were known to be part of systematic reviews. This subset of borrowing activity was then analyzed to determine its impact on the library''s copyright royalty expenditures for the year. In 2018, copyright eligible borrowing requests that were known to be part of systematic reviews represented only approximately 5% of total filled requests that involved copyright eligible borrowing. However, these systematic review requests directly or indirectly caused approximately 10% of all the Spencer S. Eccles Library copyright royalty expenditures for 2018 requests.Conclusion:Based on the sample data set, the library''s copyright royalty expenditures did increase, but the overall financial impact was modest.