Analysis of format duplication in an academic library collection

The issue of format duplication in academic library collections is increasingly complicated and perplexing in an environment of static or dwindling resources, soaring user expectations, dynamic access models, and inconsistent and changing publisher and vendor pricing structures. The problem is further complicated for libraries serving a university with multiple campus locations. This paper surveys recent investigative projects and highlights the work of a Duplicate Formats Task Force at Pennsylvania State University charged with determining the extent and nature of format duplication at that institution.     

Editorial peer review: methodology and data collection

This study reports on the editorial peer review practices of two categories of U.S. medical journals indexed in Index Medicus. Journals in group 1 were included on each of three lists of recommended journals, had a circulation of 10,000, and were cited at least 5,000 times per year. Group 2 journals, also indexed in Index Medicus, met none of the criteria. After being pretested, data were collected through a series of interviews and questionnaires. A summary of the methodology and an analysis of the differences between data collected through questionnaires and interviews is reported. The study concluded that initial interviews are very helpful in designing a questionnaire; a high percentage of editors agreed to be interviewed (100% for sixteen group 1 editors and 93.8% for sixteen group 2 editors); a 69.4% response rate to the mailed questionnaire indicates either sufficient follow-up or a high rate of interest in the subject matter; no trends identified by the questionnaire were reversed by changes in answers given during the interviews; approximately 11% to 15% of the answers differed between the questionnaire and interview methodology; and for some sensitive issues, editors were more likely to give answers on the questionnaire according to what was perceived as the most appropriate answer, rather than the actual practices of the journal.     

US news magazine images of black‐Asian American relationships, 1980–1992

During the past 20 years, primarily Latinos and Asians have immigranted to these shores and settled in urban areas. Media sources assert that this influx created particularly problematic relations between blacks and Asian Americans. Using Frame theory and textual analysis, we explored the images newsmagazines produced of this relationship. We found that one frame predominated: the nature of group relations had to do with each group's “essential”; qualities. Within this frame there also appeared four media packages: 1) the nature of the urban space, 2) the role of culture in the quality of relationships, 3) the essential qualities of urban residents and 4) the preeminence of class over race. Analysis of black‐Asian American relationships, while not strictly hegemonic, rarely deviated from accepted critiques. The nature of the coverage constrained understanding to personal shortcomings, while poverty and racial strife were rarely associated with historical and structural factors.     

Scholar Commons @ USF: Sharing Knowledge Worldwide

Librarians and faculty members are now working together through Open Access (OA) publishing to make faculty-produced scholarly content available to researchers worldwide. The University of South Florida Tampa Library has been working with the Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress) Digital Commons platform to create a substantial institutional repository (IR) that includes OA journals, conference proceedings, and data sets, among other materials. Library staff members are currently involved in a variety of activities, including negotiating memoranda of understanding, loading backfiles, registering Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) with CrossRef, designing layout, doing final publication steps, and assisting with technical issues. In 2011, the IR, Scholar Commons @ USF, went live, allowing the library to pull fragmented collections previously hosted on other platforms into a single system with improved discoverability. This article discusses how the repository was established, what is involved, lessons learned, and plans for future directions.     

The exact-display approach for online catalog subject searching

When public catalog users enter queries that exactly match the catalog's controlled vocabulary, online systems should respond with browsing lists of alphabetically arranged subject headings, because such displays guide users to retrievals based on the assignment of the matched subject headings to bibliographic records. Unfortunately, studies of online catalog searching demonstrate that alphabetical displays are no longer capable of managing large numbers of subdivided forms of subject headings, because searchers exhibit low levels of perseverance when faced with large numbers of retrievals. This paper introduces a new approach to displaying retrieved subject headings in subject searching—the exact-display approach—designed to encourage users to browse bibliographic information. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance of the exact-display approach by showing how many user queries would be candidates for this approach, demonstrate an implementation of the exact-display approach in an experimental online catalog, and feature end-user experiences with this approach as implemented in the experimental catalog. End-user experiences gave the authors the opportunity to make several recommendations for enhancing the original design of the exact-display approach so that future implementations of this approach in operational online catalogs are responsive to the needs of online catalog users.     

The Early Childhood Teacher's Voice in the Research Community La Voix de l'Educateur des Jeunes Enfants dans le Monde de la Recherche La Voz del Profesor de la Primera Infancia en la Comuniad Investigadora

This paper focuses attention on the early childhood teacher's place in the research community. It provides a look at the teachers' perspectives of research and then points out ways and reasons for early childhood teachers to become more active as classroom researchers, research partners and consumers of research through pre-service and in-service opportunities. After providing a definition of teacher research as systematic inquiry into one's own classroom, it discusses the value of such research and identifies historical support for it. The paper presents examples of partnership research using a video camera as a tool for data collection and teachers' reactions to it. It also provides quotes of individual teacher's introduction to teacher research and some points to consider in embarking on classroom research. Cette conference traite de la place de l'enseignant de la petite enfance dans le monde de la recherche. Nous allons examiner les perspectives des enseignants en matiere de recherche, puis indiquer comment et pourquoi rendre les enseignants de la petite enfance plus actifs en tant que chercheurs dans le cadre de la classe, partenaires de recherche et consommateurs de recherche grace a des opportunites offertes avant et pendant leur enseignement. Apres avoir fourni une definition de la recherche des enseignants en tant qu'examen systematique de leur propre classe, nous examinerons la valeur de cette recherche a l'aide d'une camera video comme outil de collecte de donnees et les reactions des enseignants. Nous citerons egalement l'opinion d'enseignants formes a cette recherche et nous signalerons quelques aspects a considerer avant de lancer une recherche en classe. Esta charla centra su atencion en la posicion del profesor de pequenos en la comunidad investigadora. Ofrece un idea de las perspectivas de investigacion de los profesores y luego senala maneras y razones para que los profesores de ninos pequenos sean mas activos como investigadoes de clase, socios de investigacion y consumidoes de investigacion a traves de oporunidades de preservicio y en servicio. Despues de facilitar una definicion de la investigacion de profesores como encuesta sistematica del aula propia, se habla del valor de dicha investigacion y se identifica un apoyo historico para la misma. Esta charla presenta ejemplos de investigacion conjunta usando videocamara como herramienta para la recopilacion de datos y reacciones de los profesores. Tambien ofrece citas de introducciones individuales de profesores a la investigacion de profesores y algunos puntos a considerar al emprender la investigacion de una clase.     

Path analysis: A model for the development of scientific reasoning abilities in adolescents

A model was formulated and tested for the development of scientific reasoning abilities in adolescents. Piagetian theory provided the framework for choosing potential determinants of the dependent variable, scientific reasoning abilities. A model reflecting hypothesized causal relationships among determinants and with the dependent variable was developed a priori on the basis of theoretical and substantive reasoning. The hypothesized model was tested and revised using path analysis. Data from intact classes of middle-school (n = 101) and high-school (n = 89) students from an upper-middle-class suburb of a midwestern city revealed significant (p < 0.05) path coefficients for these variables and scientific reasoning abilities: age, I.Q., field dependence–independence, and experience. A path from locus of control to scientific reasoning abilities through field dependence-independence was also statistically significant. The revised model explained 61 percent of the variance in scientific reasoning abilities.