Accessibility,textbooks, and Access Services

Putting access in Access Services is the goal. The Course Reserves unit is the place. Textbooks are the focus. Electronic technologies are the future. Patron-centric services will be our standard. Access to textbooks by all patrons will be the achievement. Course Reserves located in Library West at the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries has begun policies and procedures to enhance the patron experience based on specific needs using programs, technologies, and particular attention to customer service. This article explores providing services for accessible electronic textbooks to patrons who have specific needs such as blindness or low vision.     

Publishers,authors, and technology: A look backward and forward

New technology is not always used to its full potential. Economic and market considerations, issues of quality, and the social and political setting may impose barriersto the exploitation of new inventions. This article describes the impact of the typewriter on the division of labor between author and publisher and analyzes the reasons for the general delay in its adoption. It then reviews obstacles to greater use of the computer and offers some predictions for the near future. Beth Luey, senior lecturer and director of historical editing and publishing at Arizona State University, writes frequently on author/publisher relations. She is the author ofHandbook for Academic Authors (Cambridge, 1987) and editor ofBook Research Quarterly.     

Gender and textbooks: Women writers of elementary readers, 1880–1950

Between 1880 and 1950, the role of women as authors of elementary readers flowered and faded. From 1880 to 1915, female authorship dominated. Over the next fifteen years female authorship withstood the challenge of the scientific movement in education. Women’s role as solo authors declined, however, during the Depression, World War II and the postwar years. These changes are explained by the deteriorating environment for female professionalism, changes in the concept of reading expertise, the expanded role of publishers in textbook development, and the differences between men and women in opportunities for graduate study. E. Jennifer is Monaghan a professor in the Department of Educational Services, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She is the founder of the History of Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association and author ofA Common Heritage: Noah Webster’s Blue-Back Speller.     

Reforming social studies: Implications for curriculum and textbooks

The present role of textbooks in the social studies is reviewed, and recent experiences in California provide a case study illustrating the reform process. The future of textbooks and their reform is discussed, including the place of technology, new roles for textbooks, possibilities for their improvement, and the importance of extending reform beyond textbooks into teaching and school governance. David L. Elliott is director of Educational Materials Associates, consultants in textbook research, staff development, and curriculum improvement. With Arthur Woodward, he is the coeditor ofTextbooks and Schooling in the United States, the 89th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education.     

ORCID Identifiers: Planned and Potential Uses by Associations,Publishers, and Librarians

The presenters gave an overview of ORCID and examples of how organizations are integrating ORCID identifiers (iDs) into their systems. In its twin roles as a scholarly association and a publisher, the Modern Language Association is exploring how best to integrate ORCID iDs into the publication process and into its member services. Librarians are well-positioned to partner with new and established scholars in accurately capturing their record of scholarship, and to work with internal partners such as research offices and graduate schools. As a member of the University of North Carolina system, East Carolina University researchers are interested in the potential for ORCID profiles to supplement information in the statewide profile system REACH NC. Texas A&M University is one of nine institutions recently selected to participate in an ORCID Adoption and Integration Program (funded by the Sloan Foundation) for their proposal to integrate ORCID iDs into their open-source Vireo Electronic Thesis and Dissertation management system, the university’s institutional repository, and their VIVO profile system.     

美国出版社编辑与图书设计、营销

新美国丛书主编阿诺德·多林认为,图书是出版社的生命线,编辑是出版的命脉,编辑不仅在出版选题和编辑业务中发挥主导作用,同时,在图书设计,推广宣传和市场营销方面也有很大的发言权,也承担确定印数和准备宣传品等许多具体工作。     

The new social studies,textbooks, and reform in social studies

The New Social Studies curriculum development movement was short-lived, in part because project staff were not sensitive to the realities of the educational context within which their materials and methods would be used. Although textbook-based recitation persists in social studies classrooms, textbooks are not a ready mechanism for reform. Among the reasons are the institutional constraints on publishers and the difficulty in effecting curricular change without appropriate teacher preparation and modifications in the educational environment. James P. Shaver id professor of secondary education, associate dean for research, College of Education, and acting dean of the School of Graduate Studies, Utah State University, Logan. He has been president of the National Council for the Social Studies and has received NCSS’s Citation for Exemplary Research. His numerous books and articles include materials for students, research reports, and discussion of educational rationale-building, rationales for social studies education, and research philosophy.     

Optimizing samples for surveys of public libraries: Alternatives and compromises

A recent national survey polled the viewpoints of public library directors and local government officials concerning the value of public library services and outlook for local tax support of public libraries over the next five years. The survey had multiple objectives: (1) to compare subgroups of smaller and larger libraries on key survey variables; (2) to obtain estimates within the library subgroups with adequate statistical precision; and (3) to make survey estimates for the total public library population. To determine how to best satisfy these competing requirements, the 1993 Federal-State Cooperative System (FSCS) universe listing was used to model the effect on survey accuracy of alternative sample designs. A compromise was chosen for the survey to insure that the sampling error for each type of estimate would be held within tolerable bounds. FSCS library-universe data are then used to model and compare the efficiency of six alternative sample designs for a national survey of 1,000 public libraries.