CD-ROM's acquaintances: What to do with the skeletons in our academic libraries

The University of Central Florida (UCF) Libraries had a large number of CD-ROMs accompanying books that had not circulated, did not work, or both. This article outlines the evaluation process of withdrawal.     

The Impact of Child Care Subsidy Use on Child Care Quality

In 2008, the federal government allotted $7 billion in child care subsidies to low-income families through the state-administered Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), now the government's largest child care program (US DHHS, 2008). Although subsidies reduce costs for families and facilitate parental employment, it is unclear how they impact the quality of care families purchase. This study investigates the impact of government subsidization on parents’ selection of child care quality using multivariate regression and propensity score matching approaches to account for differential selection into subsidy receipt and care arrangements. Data were drawn from the Child Care Supplement to the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (CCS-FFCWS), conducted in 2002 and 2003 in 14 of the 20 FFCWS cities when focal children were 3 years old (N = 456). Our results indicate that families who used subsidies chose higher quality care than comparable mothers who did not use subsidies, but only because subsidy recipients were more likely to use center-based care. Subgroup analyses revealed that families using subsidies purchased higher-quality home-based care but lower-quality center-based care than comparable non-recipients. Findings suggest that child care subsidies may serve as more than a work support for low-income families by enhancing the quality of nonmaternal care children experience but that this effect is largely attributable to recipients’ using formal child care arrangements (versus kith and kin care) more often than non-recipients.     

Planting the seeds … Tending the Garden … Cultivating the Student: Early Childhood Preservice Teachers as Literacy Researchers Exploring Beliefs about Struggling Readers and Diversity

This articles describes a qualitative research project investigating the effects of participation by preservice teachers in a literacy tutorial early intervention program that was based on a constructivist model utilizing self-reflection and inquiry. Seven recurring themes emerged from the data analysis providing little evidence of growth in culturally responsive teaching. The tutors, however, did learn valuable lessons about effective teaching of struggling readers in culturally diverse settings.     

Ten Years of Change: National Library of Medicine TOXMAP Gets a New Look

The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) TOXNET® databases <http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov> provide broad coverage of environmental health information covering a wide variety of topics, including access to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data. The NLM web-based geographic information system (GIS), TOXMAP® <http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/>, provides interactive maps which show where TRI chemicals are released into the environment and links to TOXNET for information about these chemicals. TOXMAP also displays locations of Superfund sites on the EPA National Priority List, as well as information about the chemical contaminants at these sites. This column focuses on a new version of TOXMAP which brings it up to date with current web GIS technologies and user expectations.     

Audience and image in ciceronian Rome: Creation and constraints of the Vir Bonus personality

Although the study of Roman oratory persistently has occupied the interests of classical rhetoricians, little research has been done to try to understand the speeches as they were actually delivered and the influence which listeners had upon speakers. Focusing on Cicero, this study investigates his views and relationship with listeners who frequently filled the Forum to evaluate rhetorical skills. The results of this research indicate that the audience became such a dominant force that many orators, in an effort to gain recognition, were encouraged to stress histrionics and the appearance of virtue over the realities of a sincere moral commitment to a cause. Consequently, individuals such as Cicero were strongly tempted to concentrate on the appearance of a virtuous public image and not the morality which it implied.     

Using Multiple Data Sources to Develop a Liaison Agenda

Subject librarians at many college and university libraries have a wide variety of job responsibilities. Yet they often lack guidance on goal setting and prioritization. At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries, the liaison program currently lacks a formal agenda setting process. This study explores using multiple sources of data for liaison goal setting and goal prioritization. Data from the LibQUAL+ survey, faculty surveys and focus groups, and usage statistics were examined for the disciplines of art, architecture, business, and hotel administration, and then applied to the development of liaison agendas. The results show that data can enrich and inform liaison perceptions of the behavior and priorities of their constituents and assist liaisons with establishing annual goals.     

SCCTP Electronic Serials Cataloging Workshop

This preconference was a presentation of the Electronic Serials Cataloging Workshop created by the Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program (SCCTP). The workshop assumed a general knowledge of print serials cataloging and focused on issues specific to cataloging electronic serials. Presenter Jeanne Baker followed the course content developed by SCCTP, while highlighting changes introduced by the new CONSER standard record where applicable.     

Using Syllabi to Determine the Core Journal and Monographic Literature in Doctoral Finance Programs

Using course syllabi from 66 active Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business–accredited doctoral programs, the investigators determined a core journal and monographic collection in doctoral finance programs. The results are compared to previous studies, such as that of Corrado and Ferris (1997), and implications for collection development and liaison librarians are considered.     

TheParis review at forty

TheParis Review celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 1993 in Paris, Mississippi. A founding editor, the managing editor, and the editor-at-large discuss the manazine's birth and growth, editorial policies, authors, and interview subjects. James Linville is managing editor of theParis Review. His nonfiction and interviews have been published inEsquire and theParis Review and reprinted inHarper's and thePushcart Prize Anthology. Jeanne McCulloch is editor-at-large for theParis Review. She was managing editor from 1984 to 1989. George Plimpton is a founding editor of theParis Review and the author ofPaper Lion, Shadow Box, X-Factor, and other books. He has edited many works, including theNorton, Anthology of Sports Literature, The Writer's Chapbook, and the ninth volume ofWriters at Work.