Here,there and everywhere: an analysis of reference services in academic archives

The purpose of this study is to investigate how archivists conduct reference services. The investigators administered two surveys to 19 participants at 15 Canadian academic archives to understand archivists’ behaviour while performing reference. There is no standard approach to reference as many archivists use institution-specific tools coupled with their own knowledge. Finding aids are the most frequently accessed tool and are most often used in conjunction with other tools. Limited resources are the primary barrier to the provision of effective reference services. The tools that are employed by archives are archivist focused, which results in reference services that are not user focused.     

Reading photographic portraits of Australian women cyclists in the 1890s: from costume and cycle choices to constructions of feminine identity

During the 1890s, in Australia and around the world, there was a convergence of the cycle, the camera and women. With the advent of the revolutionary safety bicycle, cycling had become a craze. At the same time, photographic technology had undergone changes that meant photographs were cheaper and more accessible. Women became avid consumers of both these new technologies; they became cyclists in unprecedented numbers for the first time, and they also became the popular subjects, and proud owners, of photographic portraits. These two trends converged, resulting in a proliferation of photographic portraits of women cyclists, many of which were published in newspapers and magazines. These bicycle portraits have now become a rich source for historians. More than just visually interesting artefacts, these photographic depictions of the Australian woman cyclist are important windows into the history of Australian women's cycling in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Bicycle portraits provide significant insights into the study of Australian women cyclists, from historical detail ranging from costume, bicycle and cycling activity choices to more complex understandings of the expression of feminine identity among Australian women cyclists in the 1890s.     

How children talk together to make meaning from texts: a dialogic perspective on reading comprehension strategies

This study considers reading comprehension as a dialogic transaction of making meaning from text. The concept of text and reading is taken to include the visual and multimodal as well as written forms. Case studies of children discussing texts are analysed to explore how children engage in inter‐mental and intra‐mental processes of reading, between themselves as readers and between themselves and the text. The findings show that children's use of language, which is open, hypothetical and questioning, enables different interpretations and priorities for discussion. The use of imagination and empathy, to enter the world of the text to understand it, trigger creative responses as the children make meaning together. More than merely promoting the teaching of comprehension skills to children, the paper demonstrates how meaningful and exciting responses can be promoted through children reading together and teachers encouraging creative dialogue.     

Improving marking reliability of scientific writing with the Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning programme

The Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning (DUAL) programme was developed with the dual aims of improving both the quality and consistency of feedback students receive and the students’ ability to use that feedback to improve. DUAL comprises a range of processes (including marking rubrics, sample reports, moderation discussions and peer-review activities) which support explicit knowledge exchange between staff, and between staff and students and the development of tacit knowledge of standards in all participants. This paper describes the study which quantified the extent to which the DUAL programme improved reliability and efficiency of marking of first year biology reports by a large team of laboratory demonstrators. Marker reliability increased after participation in DUAL, with demonstrators marking laboratory reports significantly closer to the marks awarded by an expert marker of the discipline. Efficiency was also improved since time taken to mark the reports did not increase significantly, despite the fact that demonstrators were adapting to a new system of marking. Demonstrators valued the programme and nominated the marking rubric, feedback code and moderation discussion as the most useful elements. The community of practice built through joint participation in the DUAL programme created a supportive working environment for demonstrators and strengthened the collaboration between the discipline and academic language and learning lecturers.     

Inclusive Information for Trans* Persons

This article articulates the numerous barriers that limit library use by trans* persons and explains practical ways these barriers can be eliminated so that trans* patrons can get the information and insights they want and need. The article also includes worksheets that library professionals can use to address trans* patrons' information issues and provide inclusive information services.     

Unraveling Uses and Effects of an Interactive Health Communication System

By developing a number of measures distinguishing amount, type of content, and when and how that content is used, the current study revealed effective patterns of use that are associated with quality of life benefits during an eHealth intervention. Results generally suggest that the benefits depend on how a patient uses the system, far more than on sheer amount of exposure or even what type of content is chosen. The next generation of eHealth system should focus on providing new and varying content over time, but even more on encouraging intensity of use and long-term commitment to the system.     

Political Communication

ELOQUENCE IN AN ELECTRONIC AGE: THE TRANSFORMATION OF POLITICAL SPEECHMAKING by Kathleen Hall Jamieson (New York: Oxford, 1988—$24.95, ISBN 0-10-503826-6)

TELEVISED PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES AND PUBLIC POLICY by Sidney Kraus (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1988—$14.95, paper, ISBN 0-8058-0008-5)

THE SPOT: THE RISE OF POLITICAL ADVERTISING ON TELEVISION by Edwin Diamond and Stephen Bates (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988—$25.00/10.95, ISBNs 0-262-04095-6 and 0-262-54049-5)

THE ELECTRONIC COMMONWEALTH: THE IMPACT OF NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES ON DEMOCRATIC POLITICS by Jeffrey B. Abramson, et al.(New York: Basic Books, 1988—$21.95, ISBN 0-465-01878-5)

TEE IOWA PRECINCT CAUCUSES: THE MAKING OF A MEDIA EVENT by Hugh Winebrenner (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1987—$15.95, ISBN 0-8138-1001-9)