Archiving — the full‐text solution: an innovative way to electronic archiving

Somerset Computing Limited has developed a unique search engine that allows publishers and societies to produce electronic archives with full‐text searching and the ability to carry out high‐level search requests without major rekeying or tagging, making it the most cost‐effective solution for full‐text searching available. This technology has relevance to many publishing areas including legal publishers, academic publishers, STM publishers, learned societies and professional typesetters. This article describes how Somerset Computing has utilized its expertise and this innovative in‐house software to provide the British Academy with an affordable, fully searchable solution to the electronic archiving of the Proceedings of the British Academy.     

The strategy of university research laboratories in France

This article attempts to outline the specific traits of French university research. Despite heavy administrative supervision and the supremacy of specialized national organizations (the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the National Institute of Health and Medical Research), the University laboratories benefit from a certain flexibility which allows the adoption of differentiated behaviours. This is demonstrated by the evolution of a few large units. Nevertheless, the foundations of any collective action in the French university are fragile, a result to a large extent of the status of the teaching faculty whose attachment to the work of management is often found to be indifferent. This statement leads to the perception that university research units are “open” structures, simple fields of interaction between actors whose skills create a precariously balanced situation. This state of affairs explains the essentially political character of French university research management.     

Cases of Censorship in Public Libraries: Loudoun County,VA

ABSTRACT

In 1998, a group of adult library patrons and individuals in Loudoun County, Virginia, brought a suit against library trustees, board members, and the director of the county’s public library, claiming that the library’s use of Internet blocking software was an infringement on their First Amendment rights, leading to the federal court case Mainstream Loudoun v. Board of Trustees of the Loudoun County Library (1998). Using an in-depth case study approach and going beyond a review of the court documents, the author uses a series of qualitative interviews with individuals connected to the court case to gather more in-depth information regarding events surrounding this case of censorship in public libraries and investigate the phenomenon of librarians acting as censors themselves.     

Notes: Russian Studies of Vision in Relation to Physical Activity and Sports

Abstract

The central purpose of this study was to determine the origin of sports extant in English-speaking countries. The method of research utilized was principally historical-bibliographical and was concerned with the collection, criticism, and synthesis of source material in an effort to establish past actuality. Specific documentary evidence concerning the date, place, and significant circumstances associated with the origins of 95 sports was synthesized. In most instances, establishing the date and place of origin was possible. Often, however, determining the personnel and circumstances connected with the origins was not possible. Charts show the dates of the origins chronologically, the origins attributed to various countries, and the activities from which the 95 sports evolved.     

Predicting Children's Achievement from Teacher Judgements: An Alternative To Standardized Testing

A simple instrument, the Developmental Rating Scale (DRS), was constructed to provide a vehicle for teachers to express their judgements about the academic development of children. Different teachers used this instrument to assess the academic development of the same children at the beginning of pre-kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Teachers also assessed children using the Developmental Profile II (DPII), a widely used commercial test, at the beginning of pre-kindergarten and first grade; and they reported the level at which the children were achieving in reading comprehension and math at the end of first and second grades. Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) total reading and total math scores were obtained on a subsample of the children at the end of second grade. Although the DPII is purported to consist of five dimensions, corresponding to five different developmental areas, and the DRS, modeled after the DPII, used the same five dimensions, factor analysis indicated that both instruments consisted of one global dimension, not five. The DPII was not a meaningful predictor of any of the achievement variables. The DRS had high correlations with all achievement variables, indicating that from pre-kindergarten through second grade teacher judgements are superior to at least one commercial, standardized test for predicting later achievement.