Setting the Students’ Bearings and Balance in Appraisal

The author, a professor at the University of Toronto, touches briefly on the extensive and rich archival literature that supports the teaching of macroappraisal, but notes that this is not the only educational material she offers her students when teaching appraisal theory. She discusses the usefulness to archivists of literature from the fields of ethnography, organizational knowing, records in history, personal documentary behaviour, memory, and communications, noting that the use of texts from these fields can encourage students to reflect on their own presumptions and to develop a taste for the wide reading and research that must support appraisal.     

Staff development planning in an academic health sciences library.

OBJECTIVE: A staff development committee (SDC) was convened to implement staff development opportunities for an academic health sciences library system comprised of three separate facilities. The charge for the SDC was to: (1) develop programs to enhance workplace skills and personal growth, (2) communicate the availability of existing programs at the university and medical center, and (3) encourage the staff to participate in these opportunities. PROGRAM: The committee created goals and objectives and developed a survey designed to give staff the opportunity to provide input for this initiative. With an 80% response rate, the survey results were used to plan 15 events based on staff needs and preferences. First-year attendance for SDC-sponsored events was 459. Committee members served as liaisons for each event. Two forms were developed to facilitate event planning. A monthly announcement sheet, email reminders, and the library's local area network are used to communicate upcoming SDC events and encourage attendance. CONCLUSION: This approach can serve as a useful model for similar program planning in any organization.     

A model to explain information seeking behaviour by individuals in the response phase of a disaster

This Australian study establishes a model that provides a foundation for communication channels and tools selection by agencies in the post-warning response phase of a disaster. The model, developed from disaster and information seeking literature, attempts to predict information source and channel selection by people after their community has received a warning for a disaster. It provides the coding framework for analysis of 51 semi-structured interviews with disaster-affected Australians. The interviews tested the model for accommodation of channels and sources that people chose, found most useful, and used most in bushfire, slow flood, flash flood, and cyclone situations. The order of initial sources was investigated and preliminary information seeking pathways established across disaster types. The disaster information seeking model supports this investigation of information seeking behaviour, though improvements are suggested. The resulting model could guide agency response communication for different disaster types.     

Pedometer reliability, validity and daily activity targets among 10- to 15-year-old boys

The aims of this study were to: (1) determine whether the number of pedometer counts recorded by adolescents differs according to the adiposity of the participant or location on the body; (2) assess the accuracy and reliability of pedometers during field activity; and (3) set adolescent pedometer-based physical activity targets. Seventy-eight 11- to 15-year-old Boy Scouts completed three types of activity: walking, fast walking and running. Each type was performed twice. Participants wore three pedometers and one activity monitor during all activities. Participants were divided into groups of normal weight (BMI < 85th percentile) and at risk of being overweight (BMI > or = 85th percentile). Intra-class correlations across the three activities indicated reliability (r = 0.51 - 0.92, P < 0.001). This conclusion was supported by narrow limits of agreement that were within a pre-set range that was practically meaningful. Multivariate analysis of covariance indicated adiposity group differences, but this difference was a function of the increased stature among the larger participants (P < 0.001). Ordinary least-squares regression models and multi-level regression models showed positive associations between the number of pedometer and activity monitor counts recorded by the three groups of participants during all activities (all P < 0.001). The mean number of counts recorded for all participants during the fast walk was 127 counts per minute. In conclusion, the pedometers provided an accurate assessment of adolescent physical activity, and a conservative estimate of 8000 pedometer counts in 60 min is equivalent to 60 min of moderate to vigorous physical activity.