Intentional Informationists: Re-envisioning Information Literacy and Re-designing Instructional Programs Around Faculty Librarians' Strengths as Campus Connectors,Information Professionals,and Course Designers

This article adds to the recent literature that questions, and hopes to redefine, the information literacy notions and practices in academic libraries and their institutions. The authors draw on research in the area of social justice to express the need for academic libraries to explore new avenues to insure their institution's graduates are not merely competent consumers of information. The authors put forward the notion of the intentional informationist, who they define as having the contextual, reflective and informational skills to identify information opportunities, tackle complex information problems and pitfalls, and provide solutions or considerations that do not just meet her individual needs. In addition, they pose questions and detail opportunities, partnerships, and examples of curricular and co-curricular integration to engage students beyond the library, instruction sessions, a single course, or graduation requirement.     

A Cataloger’s Perspective on Cataloging Backlogs

Abstract

Backlogs in cataloging are an unpleasant fact for many library technical service departments. While backlogs may be strategic in nature and smooth out the workflow from acquisitions to cataloging, many are simply uncataloged gifts, unfinished retrospective conversion projects, or low-priority uncataloged collections—all waiting to be addressed when everything else is caught up. Catalogers are often stereotyped as perfectionists; in reality, the nature of our work requires us to be very pragmatic. By substituting a less than full record, progress on reducing backlogs is possible.     

Race as a Factor in Persuasion

This study analyzed College Characteristics Index data for 207 students enrolled in a college of business administration to determine institutional press. The obtained scores were compared with Stern’s normative sample. Mean scores for College of Business Administration (CBA) and Arts (A) and Sciences (S) samples were analyzed in terms of the t ratio to determine the degree of press. No significant variance appeared for the groups in Work-Play, Group Life, and Academic Organization. In Non-Vocational Climate and Student Dignity significant differences appeared favoring the A and S sample. Mean scores for all other factors favored the CBA students. Press related to courses showed no threat. Factors related to Social Life interest the students only to a minor degree.     

Reflections of Program Faculty on NIA-Supported Research Training

From the program faculty of St. Scholastica's National Institute on Aging Summer Institute on the Psychology of Aging, 7 members responded to a series of questions posed to them in individual telephone interviews. They represented a wide range of disciplinary interests and institutions. Their motivation for participation, their advice for both program participants and others at similar institutions, and their sense of the niches that could be filled by aging research conducted at primarily undergraduate teaching institutions differed among the faculty in provocative ways. At the same time, their positive experiences with the program, willingness to return, and respect and admiration for its goals and its director were very apparent. This suggests that programs such as this might provide opportunities for faculty development, with benefits extending also to the faculty who bring their expertise to the program. The motivations and benefits mentioned are consistent with those identified in the mentoring literature. The results suggest that programs such as this can provide opportunities for faculty development, with benefits also extending to the program faculty who bring their expertise to such a program.     

Focus on dementia care: Continuing education preferences,challenges, and catalysts among rural home care providers

ABSTRACT

Home care staff who provide housekeeping and personal care to individuals with dementia generally have lower levels of dementia care training compared with other health care providers. The study's purposes were to determine whether the professional role of home care staff in a predominantly rural region was associated with preferences for delivery formats of dementia-specific continuing education (CE) programs, and challenges and catalysts to attending CE on any topic. From January through March, 2014, 82 of 111 eligible home care staff in one Saskatchewan health region completed a cross-sectional postal survey (73.9% response rate). The survey included 41 nurses/case managers (client care coordinators, assessors, and team managers) and 41 continuing care aides (home health aides). Nurses/case managers and aides were equally likely to report moderate to high interest in locally delivered CE and low interest in Internet-based and computer-based CE. Compared with nurses/case managers, aides were more likely to report challenges to CE attendance due to CE not being a requirement of their position or relevant to their work. Low staffing levels were the top challenge regardless of professional role. Nurses/case managers and aides were equally likely to identify locally offered programs and paid time off as the top two catalysts of CE attendance. Given the growing number of individuals with dementia receiving home care services, the current study suggests that continuing education should be offered locally and included in rural staff’s paid time in order to encourage attendance.     

Benefits and Challenges of the Passport Broadcast Intervention in Long-Term Care

Creative activities are a challenge for long-term care facilities. The Passport intervention uses web-based video technology to provide long-term care residents with a virtual travel experience. Passport broadcasts were conducted and staff and residents were interviewed about the experience. A thematic analysis of interviews was used to discern benefits and challenges. Reported benefits included experience with technology, interaction with student visitors, reminiscing, and active learning. Challenges involved technical quality concerns related to the audio and visual needs of seniors. The pilot found the Passport intervention as a promising tool for creative activities in a long-term care setting.     

The Imperative of Soft Skill Development in Preventive Conservation Practice and Training

ABSTRACT

Cultural heritage is wonderfully diverse and as heritage preservation professionals, it is our duty to address the preventive conservation of all cultural heritages. However, there is no one set of guidelines, practices or rules that can be applied in all situations. A preventive conservator with strong technical and soft skills is essential in this situation. At the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC), preventive conservation has been an identifiable part of the curriculum since the early 1980s. From its establishment, the curriculum has evolved to include the teaching of both current day technical skills for the practice of preventive conservation and soft skills in teamwork, leadership, institutional priorities and goals identification, and written and oral communication. These are taught to all students in their first year and those that select the option of a preventive conservation minor in their second year. Recently, it has become clear that it is not possible to teach adequately both the technical and soft skills needed for the practice of preventive conservation within WUDPAC's existing minor area of study. Additional time is needed to study and develop the complex theories, abilities and requisite skills that characterize the preventive conservation specialty. This paper discusses the work to develop a curriculum for a WUDPAC preventive conservation major, the strong mandate to continue to teach both technical and soft skills, and the surprising resistance to the establishment of a preventive conservation major.     

Segment coupling and coordination variability analyses of the roundhouse kick in taekwondo relative to the initial stance position

The initial stance position (ISP) has been observed as a factor affecting the execution technique during taekwondo kicks. In the present study, authors aimed to analyse a roundhouse kick to the chest by measuring movement coordination and the variability of coordination and comparing this across the different ISP (0°, 45° and 90°). Eight experienced taekwondo athletes performed consecutive kicking trials in random order from every of the three relative positions. The execution was divided into three phases (stance, first swing and second swing phase). A motion capture system was used to measure athletes’ angular displacement of pelvis and thigh. A modified vector coding technique was used to quantify the coordination of the segments which contributed to the overall movement. The variability of this coordination (CV) for each ISP was also calculated. Comparative analysis showed that during the stance phase in the transverse plane, athletes coordinated movement of the trunk and thigh with a higher frequency of in-phase and lower frequency of exclusive thigh rotation in the 0° stance than the 90° stance position (P < 0.05). CV was also influenced by the different ISP. During the first swing and the majority of the second swing phase, predominant in-phase coordination of the pelvis and thigh was observed. Including exercises that require in-phase movement could not only help athletes to acquire coordination stability but also efficiency. The existence of a constraint such as ISP implies an increase of the variability when the athletes have to kick from ISP they are not used to adopt (i.e., 0° and 90° ISP) as an evidence of adaptability in the athletes’ execution technique.