From scraps to reams to mobile screens? An update on printing services in academic libraries

As a follow-up to their 2001/2002 study on printing services in academic libraries, the authors explore how the provision of printing services has changed over the last twelve years. This article explores how libraries are choosing to fund printing services as well as how technology, such as scanning and mobile devices, has changed the way printing services are provided. The results of the 2013 survey find a greater percentage of libraries are using a fee-based system for printing, and, while some technology is providing greater data and control for printing services, other technological advances are having unintended consequences for libraries’ printing infrastructure.     

The contribution of reading comprehension ability and meta‐cognitive control to the development of studying in adolescence

This study investigated the developmental changes in the contributions of comprehension ability and the meta‐cognitive control of several study strategies (selection, memory, monitoring) to competence in studying among average and above‐average seventh and eleventh‐grade students. Results indicated that the ability to comprehend and meta‐cognitive control of study strategies were related to the recall of information at both ages. However, meta‐cognitive control was clearly more important to the older students than it was to the younger students. These data suggest that future research on the development of studying should focus on students’ use of the strategies of memory and monitoring.     

Effect of a conspecific’s presence on deprived rats’ Performance: Social facilitation vs distraction/imitation

The present study investigated effects of (a) conspecific’s “mere presence” and (b) water deprivation on emission of dominant responses by rats. Zajonc (1965) suggests that a conspecific’s presence functions like a physiologically based drive in enhancing performance of dominant responses. Alternative interpretations suggest that a conspecific’s presence impairs performance by distracting the observer or eliciting imitation of “irrelevant” responses. The social facilitation vs distraction/imitation hypotheses were tested in a 2 by 2 design: Barpress-trained rats, deprived of water for 4 or 23 h, barpressed for water in the presence of a naive rat or alone. Results supported social facilitation theory: Performance was significantly higher when the conspecific was present rather than absent and when the responder was 23 h rather than 4 h deprived. In reconciling these data with conflicting results, it was suggested that degree of contact may be important in determining how a conspecific’s presence affects performance of dominant responses.     

Do Preschool Children Recognize Auditory-Visual Numerical Correspondences?

The present study investigated the ability of 3- and 4-year-old children to perform tasks which require matching sets of sounds to numerically equivalent visual displays. We found that 3-year-olds performed at chance on the auditory-visual matching task, while 4-year-olds performed significantly above chance. There is evidence that mastery of the linguistic counting system is related to success on this task. These findings are unexpected given previous research reporting that 6–8-month-olds can detect the numerical equivalence between a set of sounds and items in a visual display.     

Developing an empirically based typology of attitudes of entering students toward participation in learning communities

Learning communities (LC) seek to strengthen and enrich students’ connections to each other, their teachers, and the subject matter they are studying. Their success depends on the nature of the learning community program, the learning styles of the students who participate and the reasons why students entered the program. This study uses a combination of factor and cluster analysis to develop a typology of student experiences that is used to examine the efficacy of the Learning Community program at Temple University, Philadelphia. The findings identify distinctive types of learning community experience and show that not all types match well with all students. The study questions the common assumption that learning communities are always helpful to student learning and development, and cautions against the belief that benefits will inevitably accrue. The variation in the value and impact on students of this long‐standing learning community program suggests that the evaluative burden of proof is for administrators to clearly demonstrate and not assume a uniformly positive impact of learning communities.