Information Support for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: Public Librarianship's Role

Public libraries have the potential to provide rich information support for survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). Librarians who understand the complex information gaps and barriers that IPV survivors confront during repeated attempts to achieve safety can create more effective services and policies. This study examines an IPV online support network's postings during ten months. The content analysis of the postings correlates survivors' expressed information needs, barriers, and resource preferences during the three basic stages of crisis. As funding for crisis centers disappears and IPV survivor needs increase, librarians can help to save lives by adjusting services to enhance privacy, safety, and confidentiality.     

Reviews

Pupils aged 9 to 11 years from four urban schools were shown contrasting photographs of fluvial landscapes. Their reactions showed that children bring to the classroom their own stereotypical images of rivers, typicaily with clean water, banks surrounded by vegetation, and located in the countryside. Stereotypical images can prevent the recognition of other examples in different settings and it is recommended that in teaching about rivers a wide range of examples in various settings should be used.     

Perspectives of UK Vice-Chancellors on Leading Universities in a Knowledge-Based Economy

This paper draws upon the experiences and perceptions of ten university vice-chancellors in the United Kingdom on the challenges they face in providing leadership and strategic direction for their institutions into the twenty-first century. The paper reveals the perceptions and spoken words of these leaders as they identify the key challenges shaping higher education, their strategies for addressing these challenges, their struggle to maintain the core mission of universities and finally, implications for the future of higher education.     

Identity‐trajectory: Reframing early career academic experience

Our longitudinal qualitative research program examining doctoral student, post‐PhD researcher and new lecturer experience is situated in an international literature documenting how early career academics learn through experience. In common with others, our work is framed within an identity perspective. What makes our view of identity distinct is a biographical focus: emphasizing individual agency; situating academic work within the personal arena; and encompassing transitions across roles. This paper demonstrates how the construct of ‘identity‐trajectory' which links a narrative approach with identity construction contributes to understanding how early career academics learn through experience and navigate their journeys.     

The real implications of ‘benevolent’ SEN reform

Consultation of the DfE's Green Paper, Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to Special Educational Needs, provoked considerable debate among public and private sector professionals, parents and young people over the planned special educational needs reform. Since then, publication of the Children and Families Bill in 2013 indicates definitive changes in law, while the revised SEN Code of Practice, which will provide professional guidance, is awaited. There are implications to this reform beyond those which have already been published, although alluded to in the Green Paper. This article will explore the influence of language in the deconstruction of disability, the implications of raising the threshold before a categorisation of SEN applies, concerns arising from implementation of the Single Assessment Process and, finally, how funding reforms will negate some of the anticipated benefits for parents and their children.     

Understanding and supporting adoptive families

The number of adopted children in early childhood classrooms continues to rise each year; teachers need knowledge of adoption issues in order to face the unique challenges and meet the special needs of these children and their adoptive parents. This article provides “adoption awareness” for early childhood educators and offers practical suggestions for working with adoptive parents and their children. A list of adoption resources and consultants is included, along with a collection of suggested adoption books for young children.