Leading the Library (When You're Not in Charge)

Fundamentals of leadership, management, and psychology take center stage in the business world but are often neglected in library training. By applying basic business principles to enhance our leadership skills, we can become more purposeful, organized, innovative, impactful, and successful as librarians, even if we’re not in charge. Drawing on the work of thought leaders in business and librarianship, this article explores the importance, practical implementation, and benefit of casting vision, planning strategically, managing projects, rejecting passivity, building teams, and implementing accountability.     

Explorations of the Gauss-Lucas Theorem

Abstract

The Gauss-Lucas Theorem is a classical complex analysis result that states the critical points of a single-variable complex polynomial lie inside the closed convex hull of the zeros of the polynomial. Although the result is well-known, it is not typically presented in a first course in complex analysis. The ease with which modern technology allows the plotting of zeros and critical points makes the result discoverable by students. We propose a visual investigation, followed by a series of exercises leading to different complete proofs of the theorem.     

Using Harry Potter to teach literacy: different approaches

The ubiquity of the Harry Potter phenomenon offers an opportunity to examine the different ways educators use popular books to teach reading. This study analyses a number of journal articles that address the Harry Potter novels as tools for the classroom. These articles show a great diversity of approaches. Government testing of discrete, assessable skills can dominate contemporary discussions of literacy, and the Harry Potter books are sometimes used to address these targets. Other educators use Harry Potter to teach children about multimedia technologies. Most often, educators who embrace the Harry Potter novels affirm the value of reading for pleasure. This view often also promotes reading as a route to the critical literacy goal of social inclusion and the psychological development of the child. Taken together, these uses of Harry Potter present a confused picture, with no clear agreement on what good reading is or how it should be taught.     

Ethics courses: Their impact on the values and ethical decisions of criminal justice students

Numerous articles and books advocate the importance of ethics as an essential component of a criminal justice curriculum. While there are several approaches suggested, one of the most popular methods of assuring coverage of this important topic is to add an ethics course to the curriculum either as a required or an elective course. Teaching students ethical theories, principles and providing them with the opportunity to discuss discipline specific ethics problems is thought to help contribute to the establishment of ethical practitioners.

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of a semester long criminal justice ethics course on the students' value orientations, and their perceptions of both the seriousness of ethical violations and their likelihood of engaging in such behaviors. Our findings are consistent with the results of researchers evaluating ethics courses in other disciplines. Implications for criminal justice ethics education are discussed.     

Entertainment We Watch and Entertainment We Appreciate: Patterns of Motion Picture Consumption and Acclaim Over Three Decades

An analysis of 582 film titles spanning the years from 1980 to 2010 was conducted to examine the attributes and characteristics that predicted both viewership (e.g., box-office revenues) and critical acclaim (e.g., awards, audience ratings). Overall, viewership was highest for action/adventure films and lowest for dramas. In contrast, acclaim was highest for more dramatic fare, and for films that featured dark, contemplative, and emotional themes. The results are discussed in terms of the entertainment gratifications reflecting both enjoyment and appreciation.     

A comparison of blood pressure in term, low birth-weight infants of smoking and nonsmoking mothers

Infants exposed to the components of cigarette smoke in utero are at an increased risk for perinatal death, low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, and premature delivery. The purpose of this pilot study was to compare blood pressure values in term low-birth weight infants (相似文献   

Improving Reading Skills in Predominantly Hispanic Title 1 First‐Grade Classrooms: The Promise of Peer‐Assisted Learning Strategies

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a supplemental peer‐tutoring reading program on phonological and reading fluency skills of first graders (N= 78) who were in predominantly Hispanic Title 1 classrooms. Sixty‐eight percent of the students were Hispanic, all were English speaking. Six classrooms were randomly assigned to either the peer‐assisted learning strategies (PALS) program or a control condition. PALS students participated in a peer‐mediated early literacy intervention three times a week for 20 weeks for a total of 30 hours. Reading fluency measures taken at fall, winter, and spring showed statistically significant differences favoring PALS on phoneme segmentation and nonsense word fluency. Additionally, results analyzed by ethnic subgroups (Hispanic and non‐Hispanic) revealed a differential pattern of response to PALS intervention. Social validity questionnaires reported that teachers and students viewed PALS in a positive light.     

Is it worth the effort? How feedback influences students’ subsequent submission of assessable work

This paper explores the extent to which students appear to their assessors to act on feedback they have received, and questions the assumption that providing feedback alone is sufficient to effect higher standards of work by students. Feedback provided to 51 undergraduate social work students, on two consecutive assignments involving a similar task, was examined to ascertain the number of problem areas noted from seven predefined categories. While the greatest increase in marks was associated with the greatest reductions in the number of problem areas identified in the comments, overall two‐thirds of all students (66.7%) were awarded marks for both assignments within four percentage points. As such, this study found only limited support for the idea that students respond to feedback by making changes which are consistent with the intent of the feedback received. Hence the assumption that providing feedback alone is sufficient to effect higher standards of work by students was not supported. These findings invite educators to critically reflect on their own practices in providing feedback to students.