Changing the Face of Reference: Adapting Biomedical and Health Information Services for the Classroom,Clinic, and Beyond

This article describes how the reference department at a large academic health sciences library evolved to address the clinical and research information needs of the parent organization without losing its close connections to the classroom and curriculum. Closing the reference desk, moving to on-call and house call models, designing positions such as clinical research librarian and basic biomedical sciences librarian, finding alternative funding to grow the department, providing technology and training to facilitate librarians' work, and developing programming for and taking advice from library clients facilitated efforts to create a relevant presence and solidify the library's place in the university community.     

A critical review of education support practices in Spain

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to analyse different models of educational support that are used in schools with public funding from the perspective of support teachers, counsellors and members of management teams. Participants were 79 professionals from the three areas mentioned above. The methodological approach was a phenomenological qualitative one using focus groups and subsequent qualitative analysis of the data. The systems of categories and subcategories underwent a progressive process of triangulation. The results show that professionals identify support practices that can be divided into two differentiated models: a traditional model linked to a medical perspective of providing personal support to the most vulnerable students and a support model consistent with inclusive education. There are also discrepancies among professionals, especially about the need for support to be provided within the reference classroom. The discussion focuses on identifying essential aspects, to more effectively support students and teachers in an ordinary school context. In addition, professionals question the regulations for their disconnection from the reality they experience in schools. All this requires a rethinking of the functions of support teachers supported by careful initial and ongoing training.     

Interdisciplinary Synergy: A Partnership Between Business and Library Faculty and Its Effects on Students’ Information Literacy

In today's information-rich environment, business faculty are challenged to teach students how to conduct effective business research and evaluate information critically. We describe collaboration between business professors and reference librarians in an introductory business course. Students were surveyed before and after completion of a Business Discovery Project requiring use of print and electronic sources in writing a research paper on a publicly traded company. Student perceptions indicated increased abilities in communication skills, research skills, use of business information sources, and composition skills; paired t tests showed these increases to be significant.     

把家变成游乐场

沙发是一个可以让飞船停靠的新星球,转椅是一只等待被驯服的长颈鹿,收纳可以变成一场藏宝游戏——准备好一切．让家变成游乐场．让孩子尽情又安心地玩耍吧!     

Collaborative knowledge construction in digital environments: Politics, policy, and communities

How individuals share information with respect to politics and policy in networked research environments is an area ripe for interdisciplinary study. In this analysis, I explore some of the more current and salient research findings from several disciplinary literatures (communications, computer science, organizational behavior, information science, and public policy) to examine how current research perceives the influence of technology-aided communications on policy-making conversations. I suggest that a community-centric view, which takes into account online and offline group affiliations and their related power dynamics, is just as important as an individual-based unit of analysis. This understanding points to directions for the thoughtful creation of digital resources that appropriately reflect and support inter- and intra-group knowledge-sharing behavior.     

The value of therapeutic reading groups organized by public libraries

This research examines the benefits of therapeutic reading groups that are run by public libraries, and explores their value from the perspective of the participants. Narrative interviews were conducted with 14 members of one of three therapeutic reading groups in order to gather empirical evidence on their experiences in the groups and to develop an understanding of their perceptions of its benefits. Participants were very positive about the value of the groups and the way that they were facilitated. The 11 benefits they discussed were clustered into two groups associated with reading and access to books, and group interaction. Many of these benefits had a positive impact on participants’ individual assurance and self-esteem; the groups also had positive consequences for social inclusion and involvement in the local community and economic activity. Benefits were shown to stem from the social nature of the groups, the texts read, and from the unique experience of shared reading as a creative, collaborative, and interpretive act. This is the first study to gather evidence from the participants of therapeutic reading groups on their perceptions of benefits. The findings support the value of therapeutic reading groups, and support the case for the further development of these groups, and further studies into their benefits.     

E-parliament: Opening the door

Parliaments around the world are becoming aware that they, and the individual members of the parliament, can use digital technologies to support greater engagement with citizens and their communities. This article reports on communication patterns of the Parliament of Australia and the community, the potential of Web 2.0 to increase engagement and accountability and research with the Australian community and members of the parliament on information needs for a new website implementing interactivity.