All Things Being Unequal . . . .

Abstract

The aim of this series is to highlight English language books that recently have been granted awards by major scholarly societies. This installment focuses on disciplines in the natural sciences and engineering/technology. Because award winning books have high core collection potential, selectors may want to give them priority for purchase.     

(1) U.S.A.

The authors of this study assess the attitudes and perceptions of academic librarians at three university libraries in China regarding library services for international students and scholars. The study directs particular focus on librarians at Shaanxi Normal University in Xi’an, Fudan University in Shanghai, and Wuhan University of Technology, China, and follows logically upon a study conducted in 2008 that explored the perceptions of international students at two Chinese universities regarding the effectiveness of library services and collections for their research needs. In particular, this study documents information about Chinese academic librarian perceptions regarding services for international students and attitudes toward future outcomes. The ultimate goal of the study is to lay a foundation for developing strategies for improving library services and resources for international students and scholars in Chinese academic libraries in particular, which in turn can serve to improve services for international students world-wide. The results support the assumption that academic librarians in China are strongly interested in improving services for international students and scholars while continuing to face challenges and trying to find ways to fulfill the information needs of international students and scholars.     

英美客户出版研究(一)

从辨析和阐释客户出版涉及的基本问题入手,讨论英美客户出版的运作模式,包括客户出版的编辑模式、发行模式及业务模式,剖析英美客户出版的投资回报率问题,在此基础上全面、深入地梳理英美客户出版业的发展格局,并预测英美客户出版业的发展趋势。     

. . . And Then It Happened

Employing three institutional case studies, veteran academic serialists engage in a discussion of positive methodologies for harnessing the various forces at play within the scholarly information environment. Concentration is vlaced upon both personal and organizational strategies to successfully cope with the geometric rapidity of changes, both at the library and institutional level.     

英美客户出版研究(二)

从辨析和阐释客户出版涉及的基本问题入手,讨论英美客户出版的运作模式,包括客户出版的编辑模式、发行模式及业务模式,剖析英美客户出版的投资回报率问题,在此基础上全面、深入地梳理英美客户出版业的发展格局,并预测英美客户出版业的发展趋势。     

Educate. Empower. Revolt

This analysis examines how citizen journalism in two very resource-poor areas in India is mobilizing communities and sparking movements demanding change. The Video Volunteers and CGNET Swara are two citizen journalism organizations that work in Central India, in areas whose human and development indexes are among the lowest in the country. Citizen journalism has been studied both as a consequence and as an instigator of social revolution. The Arab Spring movement and the case of Mohamed Bouazizi in the 2010 Tunisian uprisings are prominent recent examples. But citizen journalism in these and similar cases usually focus on the framing of martyr narratives where individuals and their protests or reactions against human rights atrocities make them “a symbol of the struggle for justice, dignity and freedom.” Through a content analysis of 400 news stories posted in the year 2015–2016 and qualitative interviews with 30 participants and a focus group of 15 participants, this study analyses how the Video Volunteers and CGNET Swara train citizens to produce news, the kinds of frame that are used to mobilize audiences, and encourage them to articulate outrage against the many human rights atrocities that occur in these areas. Findings show that citizen journalism succeeds because of the culturally resonant frames used and effective frame alignment that resonate with their main audiences and producers. The news produced and disseminated activates connective structures to facilitate collective action among audiences and communities who earlier had little means or recourse to address such issues. This collective action encourages participants to gather offline to fight for their demands and positively transform their communities.     

Reference Ready Beyond the M.L.S.

Entry level reference librarians must make a rapid transition from the reference classroom to the scheduled service hours at the reference desk. A questionnaire was sent to academic and public librarians to ask them to list the most important items of information or abilities they find they need to teach the entry level librarian. This is a brief discussion of relevant literature and a report of the 72 per cent return on the questionnaire. Five "needs" surfaced as ranking high for each type of library with three listed in common. Some suggestions are given for developing in-service education programs for reference librarians.     

Perceptions of the Freedom of Information Act (F.O.I.A.) and proposed amendments by the F.O.I.A. administrators

Recent efforts to amend the Freedom of Information Act (F.O.I.A.) suggest that the Act has caused widespread problems felt by its administrators. In order to test the validity of this suggestion, the authors surveyed F.O.I.A. administrators throughout the Federal government and report the findings from this survey here. These findings indicate that the administrators generally have positive perceptions of the Act, yet generally support specific proposed amendments to it.     

The C.B.S. Problem in American Radio Historiography

The Columbia Broadcasting System (C.B.S.) emerged in the late 1920s as the only sustainable competitor to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in American network radio. But scholars know far less about C.B.S. than NBC because the C.B.S. corporation failed to retain, and make accessible to media historians, internal archival and documentary materials from its developmental era. This article examines the historical void created by America’s second network while offering two specific historical case studies to establish how the loss of C.B.S. materials continues to hinder knowledge about America’s second network, the American system of broadcasting, and the political economy of the commercial mass media in the United States.     

Perceptions and practices regarding M.A. capstone options and PH.D. admission decisions: A survey of communication M.A. and PH.D. program representatives

In terms of positioning a student for Ph.D. admission, the decision to complete a thesis or comprehensive exams as one's M.A. capstone is based on much speculation, but little systematic study. This study surveyed M.A. and Ph.D. Communication program representatives about doctoral programs' admission preferences and practices regarding applicants holding M.A.s from other institutions, as well as perceptions of their institution's students' actual capstone choices. In nearly half the cases, doctoral program representatives were unaware of whether students admitted with M.A.s had elected the thesis, comprehensive exams, or some other capstone option. Additionally, the results show that Ph.D. programs prioritize students' writing samples, statements of reasons, and GRE scores when deciding admission. There were discrepancies between M.A. program representatives' perceptions of what information weighed most heavily with doctoral admissions committees and the priorities reported by Ph.D. program representatives.     

Changes in U.S. Journalism

During the past decade, great changes have occurred in journalism, many of them due to the rapid rise of social media. What has happened to American journalists in the decade since the early 2000s, a time of tumultuous changes in society, economics, and technology? What impact have the many cutbacks and the dramatic growth of the internet had on US journalists’ attitudes, and behaviors—and even on the definition of who is a journalist? To answer the questions raised above, in late 2013 we conducted a national online survey of 1080 US journalists. The survey is part of the American Journalist project, which conducted similar surveys of US journalists in 1982, 1992, and 2002. We found that US journalists use social media mainly to check on what other news organizations are doing and to look for breaking news events. A majority also use social media to find ideas for stories, keep in touch with their readers and viewers, and find additional information. Thus, journalists use social media predominantly as information-gathering tools and much less to interview sources or to validate information. Our findings also indicate that most journalists consider social media to have a positive impact on their work. Of particular value, it seems, was the fact that social media make journalism more accountable to the public. However, only about a third of the journalists also think that social media have a positive influence on the journalistic profession overall. One of the most common negative perceptions was that online journalism has sacrificed accuracy for speed. Overall, then, it appears that most journalists do see the benefits of social media, but fewer are convinced that these new forms of digital communication will benefit journalistic professionalism.     

Providing access to the 1990 U.S. census maps.

"The U.S. Bureau of the Census has published on CD-ROM format data for the smallest geographic reporting levels....Providing access to the maps that define the reporting areas used by the Bureau within a county is one aspect of service that is unique to census files STF1A, STF1B, and STF3A. The paper illustrates the way these reporting levels are defined in the Tract/BNA Maps and Block Maps. The steps taken by one library to develop a link between a geographic area of interest to a patron and the areas defined on these maps are described. These steps include preserving and housing the maps in a way that makes them easy to use and preparing an index to the information contained on the maps using dBASE registered trademark software and information taken from STF1A using Extract software."     

Tabloid Journalist as P.O.W.

In 1941 Australian tabloid journalist Dorothy Gordon Jenner was caught up in the Japanese siege of Hong Kong and was incarcerated in the Stanley Internment Camp. During her internment Jenner kept a clandestine record of daily life written in pencil on Bronco brand toilet paper and kept hidden in the heels of her shoes. To date her fragmented diary and notes have defied analysis. This paper provides a reading of Jenner's personal wartime testimonio through the frame of tabloid journalism to expose how the tabloid genre—Jenner's stock-in-trade as a journalist before the war—became the framework for her personal testimony during World War II. By interpreting Jenner's private diary and notes as testimonio journalism this paper exposes the flow of the tabloid vernacular style of journalism between private and public discourses.     

关于美国信息立法的探索

信息立法是有关信息法的制定。信息法是一国为管理信息产业而制定的为调整信息活动而产生的各种社会关系的法律规律的总和。文章先概述了信息法的内涵,然而从四个方面公民信息自由与隐私保护、知识产权保护、商业信息保护、信息的安全保护等对美国的信息法作了说明     

TO CLASSIFY OR NOT TO CLASSIFY. . .

Serials have been treated variously in libraries with regard to classification. The general feeling is that classification is a waste of time and a problem for the patron. The author disagrees and advocates full classification of serials because: (a) materials on the same subject are kept together, expanding subject access and facilitating browsing; (b) fuller use of the serials collection is ensured; (c) reference work with serials is enhanced; (d) aids can be produced for periodical selection and deselection; (e) reshelving is facilitated; (f) title changes can be shelved together; and (g) overcrowding in the subject catalog can be alleviated. Classification gives serials the place of importance they deserve.     

美国图书馆政策体系及其带来的思考

从1895年至今,美国颁布了多种图书馆政策。在美国图书馆政策体系中图书馆法是核心。美国图书馆政策体系带给我们的思考有:注重以图书馆法为核心的政策体系建设;充分发挥图书馆学会的作用;形成围绕着国家图书馆的多元化政策。表2。参考文献7。     

The materials of J.M.W. Turner: pigments

Abstract

Analyses of pigments from palettes used by J.M.W. Turner (active c.1792–c.1850) by means of microscopy, microchemical analysis, thin-layer chromatography, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are given. The occurrence of pigments in Turner's dated oil paintings and watercolours is also given, arranged by five-year periods. These findings are discussed in the context of published analyses of pigments from the first half of the nineteenth century. Turner used cobalt blue, emerald green, viridian, orange vermilion, barium chromate, chrome yellow, chrome orange and chrome scarlet within a few years of their known dates of discovery. It has become clear that Turner was using, or at least experimenting with, practically all the pigments known to be available at that time. In a few cases, in the light of these results, ideas on the availability of pigments to English artists have been revised backwards to the first known date of manufacture. Turner also possessed and used a wide range of red and yellow organic pigments, but few organic greens. The dyestuff extracted from Rubia tinctorum L. madder on an aluminiumcontaining substrate can be distinguished from the same madder on different substrates by its strong pink fluorescence in both ultraviolet and green light. The other red organic pigments (a second madder, brasilwood and cochineal dyestuffs on a range of substrates containing aluminium, copper, iron, aluminium/copper and clays) show negligible fluorescence. The red organic pigments were used in oil medium as well as watercolour, the yellows only in watercolour medium.     

The U.S. decennial census: an agenda for change.

"The results and experiences of the 1990 [U.S.] census demonstrate that the American population has grown too diverse and dynamic to be accurately counted solely by the traditional 'headcount' approach, and that fundamental changes must be implemented for a successful census in 2000. In the past, each census was more accurate than the preceding one, in part because of increased spending. However, the accuracy of the 1990 census fell below that of the 1980 census, as census costs escalated significantly. The $2.6 billion the nation spent on the 1990 census represented a 65 percent increase in constant dollars over the cost of the 1980 census. Additional cost escalation with the 2000 census is probable unless needed reforms are implemented. Although it is too early to identify the precise design needed for a more cost-effective census in 2000, the General Accounting Office believes that a number of opportunities for reform are worthy of aggressive attention."