Do digital devices enhance teenagers’ recreational reading engagement? Issues for library policy from a recent study in two Australian states

ABSTRACT

Digital platforms have become central to twenty-first century education, culture, and government, and libraries devote an increasing proportion of budgets to acquisitions of e-resources. This research reports on a recent project that investigated Australian teenagers’ use of traditional print and digital platforms for long-form recreational reading. Specifically, it investigates whether digital devices are a preferred modality for Australian adolescents’ recreational reading and if access to digital devices with e-reading capabilities, such as tablets, smartphones, e-readers, and laptop or desktop computers, is associated with more reading engagement by avid and reluctant readers. The research, based on a diverse sample of urban and regional participants from two states, suggests that Australian adolescents’ preferences for e-books have been largely overestimated. Issues of relevance to public libraries are discussed.     

Radio and Television History

ROD SERUNG: THE DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES OF LIFE INTHE TWILIGHT ZONE by Joel Engel (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1990—$18.95, ISBN 0-8092-4538-8,368 pp.)

THE PIED PIPERS OF ROCK 'n ROLL: RADIO DEEJAYS OF THE 50s AND 60s by Wes Smith (Marietta, GA: Longstreet Press, 1989—$16.95, ISBN 0-929264-69-X, 300 pp.)

GUNSMOKE.A COMPLETE HISTORY by SuzAnne Barabas and Gabor Barabas (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1990—$45.00, ISBN 0-89950-418-3, 832 pp.) is just that—a detailed narrative and then episode guide to both the radio (1952-61)

THE COMPLETE ACTORS TELEVISIONCREDITS, 1948-1988, VOLUME I: ACTORS by James Robert Parish and Vincent Terrace (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1989—$59.50, ISBN 0-8108-2204-0, 560 pp.)

THE CHILDREN'S HOUR: RADIO PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN, 1929-1956 by Marilyn Lawrence Boemer (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1989—$25.00, ISBN 0-8108-2270-9, 230 pp.)

I REMEMBER TELEVISION: A MEMOIR by Ira Skutch (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1989—$29.50, ISBN 0-8108-2271-7, 273 pp.)

LIVE TELEVISION: THE GOLDEN AGEOF1946-1958 IN NEW YORK by Frank Sturcken (McFarland & Co., P.O. Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640—$29.95, ISBN 0-89950-523-6, 178 pp.)     

Mapping the core journals of the physical therapy literature

Objectives:

The purpose of this study was to identify (1) core journals in the literature of physical therapy, (2) currency of references cited in that literature, and (3) online databases providing the highest coverage rate of core journals.

Method:

Data for each cited reference in each article of four source journals for three years were recorded, including type of literature, year of publication, and journal title. The journal titles were ranked in descending order according to the frequency of citations and divided into three zones using Bradford''s Law of Scattering. Four databases were analyzed for coverage rates of articles published in the Zone 1 and Zone 2 journals in 2007.

Results:

Journal articles were the most frequently cited type of literature, with sixteen journals supplying one-third of the cited journal references. Physical Therapy was the most commonly cited title. There were more cited articles published from 2000 to 2007 than in any previous full decade. Of the databases analyzed, CINAHL provided the highest coverage rate for Zone 1 2007 publications.

Conclusions:

Results were similar to a previous study, except for changes in the order of Zone 1 journals. Results can help physical therapists and librarians determine important journals in this discipline.

Highlights

• More cited references were published in the last eight years studied than in any previous full decade.
• Physical Therapy, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (APMR), and Spine were the most frequently cited titles. Previous studies found APMR to be the most cited journal.
• CINAHL provided the highest coverage rate for the most commonly cited titles, with MEDLINE and EMBASE providing the best coverage for the next group of titles.

Implications

• Health sciences librarians and clinicians can use these results to identify important journals for developing collections and determining the need for access to back issues of journals.
• Multiple databases are needed for comprehensive coverage of the physical therapy discipline

Implications

• Health sciences librarians and clinicians can use these results to identify important journals for developing collections and determining the need for access to back issues of journals.
• Multiple databases are needed for comprehensive coverage of the physical therapy discipline