What is a “MIVER” and How Does the Library Prepare for It?

ABSTRACT

The Military Installation Voluntary Education Review (MIVER) assesses the quality of selected on-base higher education programs and assists in the improvement of such programs through recommendations to the institutions and the military services. This poster relates the experience of one librarian's participation in such a review of the master's degree program in adult education offered by Kansas State University at Ft. Leavenworth. Topics covered include: the librarian's role in preparing the self-study document; steps taken to gather information; collaboration with responsible administrators/faculty members; pre-visit telephone interview with a site inspector; attending the actual site visit; and recommendations from the site team. Shared highlights and benefits specific to this librarian's experience include: developing a better working relationship with the teaching faculty; implementing a new method of reaching the students; gaining new knowledge of library services needed by this particular group of distance students; exploring opportunities for further activities; and reviewing outcomes and commendations received from the MIVER team.     

“Ice Cream is Worse,and Joblessness is Not an Option”

A rise in informal labor, characterized by contracted and non-salaried positions, has been observed in many industry sectors including journalism. While opportunities for freelance journalists have increased, the journalism industry has simultaneously experienced mass layoffs. Using a survey (N?=?411), with quantitative and qualitative measures, this study assesses freelancers’ experiences in the US context with a particular attention to gender. The study finds that women perceive freelancing, but not full-time journalism, as compatible with raising children. Although there were no differences in perceptions about layoffs and job stability, the women in the sample were more likely to rely on freelancing as the only job and subsequently express concerns over pay. Open-ended responses provide further insight into the state of the journalism industry, full-time employment, and gender dynamics.     

“They Go for Gender First”

There have been many recent media reports about the online harassment of women journalists working in technology, particularly the video gaming industry. However, little research has focused on this aspect, by looking at specific occupations, or analysing the implications for women and society. This paper is a feminist study of the experiences of sexist abuse of a sample of women journalists writing about technology. It is a commentary on the results of a questionnaire-based study of 102 women (and their approximately 300 comments) that work in what has emerged as one of the frontlines of the struggle for gender equality. The research looks at the extent of the abuse, the harm it causes and how women are reacting to it. Most of the participants have experienced abuse, many have changed their working practices and some have disguised their identity to avoid it. An examination of their comments suggests that sexist abuse is now often normalised, alongside a new kind of “invisible” feminism. It also reveals a mood of defiance and an appetite for radical change to address the problems of exclusion and loss of identity. Overall, results indicate that the abuse is damaging women’s lives and impacting journalism and society in a negative way.     

Marketing “Drop-In” Workshops for Lifelong Learning

Abstract

“Drop-in” workshops historically played important roles as components of instruction programs in college and university libraries. Unrelated to any specific course and initiated largely at the library's discretion, these sessions-along with tours, course-related library instruction sessions, and credit courses-served to introduce library users to the basics of information research as well as the organization of particular, local libraries. Perhaps because of increasing demands for library instruction and upon instruction librarians' time, as well as changes in values brought by the focus on information literacy, workshops have not factored significantly in recent library literature. Workshops still merit continued attention-as well as marketing to maximize their attendance and thus their effectiveness-because they uniquely allow students, faculty, and staff to behave as lifelong learners, not just to learn the information literacy skills characteristic of lifelong learners. Data from over a decade's worth of drop-in workshops at New Mexico State University underlie the discussion herein of ways to market workshops successfully by attention to their topics, their timing, and publicity.     

Tips for Teaching the “MTV Generation”

Abstract

Teaching the 18-25-year-old audience challenges the library instructor to use new techniques. These include breaking material into modules, maintaining a brisk pace, using interesting graphics, including real-life anecdotes and humor, and encouraging a high level of interactivity. Garnered from the literature of coiporate trainers, these tips can improve any librarian's presentations.     

Floor Covering Options for “Sick Buildings”

Abstract

Ever since the library at Humboldt State University had been renovated in the early ′70s, staff had been complaining about the air quality in the building, which was blamed for all sorts of ailments, from nausea, to skin and eye irritation, to severe allergies. The library administration finally pushed for a solution to the problems and hired an environmental firm to investigate the air quality. At the same time, recognizing that old carpets also have been found to contribute to indoor pollution, the administration commissioned a selected group from all sections of the library and from Plant Operations, to undertake a study and recommend new floor covering options for all areas of the building. The group studied resilient materials, hard floors, and wood floors exhaustively and came up with detailed recommendations about the different types to be used in different areas. As soon as funding became available, most public and stack areas were covered with a carpetlike new generation, low emission, self-adhesive, closed-cell vinyl backed nylon floor covering, with no ill side effects to date. The success of this project is in great part due to the fact that staff for the task force was drawn from all departments and from outside the library and from the fact that the administration accepted the recommendations and followed up on most of them in good faith.     

A study of the “heartbeat spectra” for “sleeping beauties”

We first introduced interesting definitions of “heartbeat” and “heartbeat spectrum” for “sleeping beauties”, based on van Raan's variables. Then, we investigated 58,963 papers of Nobel laureates during 1900–2000 and found 758 sleeping beauties. By proposing and using G_s index, an adjustment of Gini coefficient, to measure the inequality of “heartbeat spectrum”, we observed that publications which possess “late heartbeats” (most citations were received in the second half of sleeping period) have higher awakening probability than those have “early heartbeats” (most citations were received in the first half of sleeping period). The awakening probability appears the highest if an article's G_s index exists in the interval [0.2, 0.6).     

“Is this for real?”: Web literacy for the web-savvy

Objective: Students will enhance their information literacy skills (ability to determine the validity, currency, and appropriateness) relative to web resources.

Courses: Professional Writing, Academic Writing, Introduction to Communication     

Why “Video Killed the Radio Star”: Teaching “The Medium is the Message”

Courses: Introduction to Communication, Persuasion, Communication Theory

Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding of Marshall McLuhan's aphorism “The Medium is the Message”     

New “Starting Points” for Resources by Subject

The objective of the Starting Points Web page series at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT HSC) Libraries is to provide specialized information resources in an organized online format. Highlighted resources include databases, journals, UT HSC campus information, funding sources, PubMed® RSS article feeds, and information about professional associations. This paper discusses the development process, planning, challenges, and outcomes of the Starting Points series.     

Education and training for publishing in Britain prepares for the “information society”

This article considers the British experience of developing education for publishers at the end of the 1990s. To introduce the subject, it briefly outlines recent trends in the UK in publishing and bookselling: the size and nature of the workforce as revealed in recent surveys; and what employers recently indicated that they are looking for in their employees. Then, it summarises some of the developments that are taking place in education and training, before outlining the courses currently available in the Universities, their growing emphasis on business management and Information Technology, and the benefits to employers of recruiting students from these courses. Finally, it raises issues that will become more significant in the future: new legal and ethical challenges, and the responsibility for preservation and conservation arising from technological changes; keeping existing staff up to date; the international dimensions of the industry; retaining links between the academic community and the industry; regulating standards of professional practice; and the development of research. An earlier and shorter version of this paper, entitled “Education for publishing— the British experience,” was presented by Ian Johnson at a colloquium “Books, Publishers and Libraries,” organised by Zagreb Chamber of Commerce’s Association of Publishers and Booksellers and the University of Zagreb’ s Department of Information Science in December 1996. IAN JOHNSON has been Head of the School of Information and Media at The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland since 1989, and initiated the School’s development as a centre for publishing education and research in 1992. He is currently joint editor of Libri; a member of the Editorial Board of Education for Information; and Chairman of the Heads of Schools and Departments Committee of BAILER: the British Association for Information and Library Education and Research, and of the Executive Board of EUCLID: the European Association for Library and Information Education and Research. JO ROYLE is Subject Leader for Publishing Studies and Course Leader for the BA/BA (Honours) in Publishing Studies in the School of Information and Media, where she has taught since 1993. She is currently researching aspects of branding in publishing, and the impact of the Internet on relationship management within the book trade.     

“Request for proposal” or “run for protection?” some thoughts on RFPS from a librarian and a bookseller

Increasingly, academic librarians are using the RFP (Request for Proposal) to assist them in selecting materials vendors. While this has been a common practice for integrated library system selection for some time, it is still a relatively new phenomenon in the acquisitions field. The authors, one a library administrator and the other a bookseller, review the pros and cons, pitfalls and benefits of using the RFP method for purchasing library materials.     

What is a Media Company? A Reconceptualization for the Online World

The current understanding of a media company is based on the idea of a publisher or broadcaster producing or aggregating, bundling, and distributing content. In this scenario, the content creation mainly is done by professionals. However, with the advent of mobile devices and ubiquitous Internet access, users have been enabled to produce content themselves. This gave rise to a new form of media companies: the platform operators, who aggregate, manage, and distribute user-generated content. Based on a historical summary, this article delineates the characteristics of this new approach of content distribution, draws comparisons to the traditional media companies, derives implications for the media markets, and provides a definition for the term media company that is valid in both the online and offline world.     

“What is mine is not thine”: Understanding barriers to China's interagency government data sharing from existing literature

The lack of interagency government data sharing (IDS) has emerged as a central problem for the development of China's Internet Plus Government Services (IPGS). To identify, explain, and understand barriers to IDS in China, a total of 1495 articles were retrieved from the China Academic Journal Network Publishing Database (CAJD) and China Science Periodical Database (CSPD). After screening, 55 articles were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. The analysis pointed at 19 barriers to IDS in four themes: External environmental barriers, interagency partnership barriers, organizational readiness barriers, and individual motivation barriers. The conceptualization of the research findings revealed five trans-barrier conceptual dimensions (political and structural, territorial, leadership, financial, and IT), from which further, more in-depth investigations should be performed. Also, the conceptualization indicated that territoriality is possibly the main barrier to China's IDS development. Territoriality offers a novel prospective for studying IDS. This research presents a robust theoretical basis for future study. Also, it provides an overview on IDS development in China and offers useful insights for similar efforts in different countries.