Crash Course in Reference

The importance to libraries of the collection development policy statement was underscored with the publication of the ALA Guidelines for Collection Development in 1978. The actual process of putting together such a statement is outlined in this article. Consideration is given to the composition of the collection development policy committee, the use of the Guidelines by the committee, and the sources of information that need to be analyzed for the policy, such as resource sharing, historical strengths and changing curriculum goals. The problems of determining collection levels, reconciliation of ambitions with actual practice, and how to handle interdisciplinary areas are also addressed.     

The Violence Profile: Five Decades of Cultural Indicators Research

This study examines violence in prime-time broadcast network television programs aired between 1967 and 2015. The data show that violence has been a consistent and central part of programming, although levels vary by genre. Violence decreased in the 1990s, due mostly to the greater prominence of sitcoms and crime-related procedurals (such as Law & Order and CSI), which feature fewer explicit acts of violence. However, violence is making a serious comeback on prime time, with four of the five measures we examined reaching historically high levels in the 2010s. The percentage of characters involved in violence remains lower than in earlier years. Despite some ebbs and flows over the years, and dramatic institutional and technological changes, even at its lowest points violence on television is never far from the scene and remains difficult for the heavy viewer to avoid.     

Preparing teachers to remediate reading disabilities in high school: What is needed for effective professional development?

In this paper, we ask what constitutes effective professional development for teachers faced with struggling readers in high school. Metacognitive teacher training, instructional coaching, mentorship, and collaborative learning are considered. We describe a professional development model preparing high school teachers to teach PHAST PACES, a remedial reading program. A metacognitive teaching style and specific skills for teaching comprehension and decoding strategies were emphasized. Teachers provided high positive ratings regarding the usefulness of the training, and attributed to the training an increased sense of efficacy in improving student outcomes and understanding reading problems. A comparison of student outcomes for teachers’ first and subsequent classes suggested that the professional development model promotes better outcomes on more complex skills.     

Mobilizing a Narrative of Generosity: Patient Experiences on an Urban Mobile Health Clinic

Mobile health clinics address the health needs of underserved populations by bringing healthcare to patients’ communities. Mobile health clinics find unique ways to treat patients and empower them to take control of their health. In this article, we examine how patients who use an urban mobile health clinic narrate their experiences on the clinic and what they see as the impact of the clinic on the community. A narrative of generosity emerged from the interviews, where patients believe the mobile health clinic creates a sense of welcome, encourages patients to become active participants in their health, and fosters a “pay it forward” attitude among community members.     

Student/patient: the school perceptions of children with cancer

Childhood cancer incidence is rising, affecting a growing proportion of elementary school students. For most of these children, school attendance can be limited by hospitalisations, treatments and side effects. However, little is yet known about the educational needs and experiences of this population. This phenomenological study explored the school experiences of 10 6- to 12-year-old children with cancer as they underwent chemotherapy. Results revealed perceptions that attending school in the hospital or home during cancer treatment is essentially lonely, confusing and “different”. These perceptions intertwined to illuminate five themes: (1) school should involve fun activities; (2) group educational formats are preferable; (3) old school is the “best school”; (4) being a “good student” is important during treatment; and (5) attending school is complicated during treatment. Therefore, hospital-based and homebound schooling programmes should integrate socially interactive and cognitively engaging curriculum to best support the learning needs of this population.     

Assessing abuse risk beyond self-report: analog task of acceptability of parent-child aggression

Objectives

The present investigation reports on the development and initial validation of a new analog task, the Parent-Child Aggression Acceptability Movie Task (P-CAAM), intended to assess respondents’ acceptance of parent-child aggression, including both physical discipline and physical abuse.

Methods

Two independent samples were utilized to develop and evaluate the P-CAAM: an undergraduate sample to initially pilot the task and a separate sample of normative parents for additional assessment of validity. Scores from the P-CAAM were compared to related measures, including measures of self-reported disciplinary attitudes, child abuse potential, harsh parenting style, and use and escalation of physical discipline practices on another analog parenting task.

Results

Across the studies, the P-CAAM demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and construct validity, evidencing mild to moderate associations with both self-report and analog measures. Participants demonstrating increased acceptance of physical discipline and physical abuse on the P-CAAM analog task also reported greater approval of physical discipline, greater use of and escalation of physical discipline, harsher parenting styles, and higher child abuse potential on two separate measures.

Conclusions

The P-CAAM analog appears to offer a promising alternative and/or supplement to conventional self-report measures, assessing attitudes regarding the acceptability of parent-child aggression in a way that is less likely to be influenced by social desirability. Suggestions for future evaluations with alternative samples, as well as possible implications of the data for disciplinary reactions are discussed.

Practice implications

The development of alternatives to self-report measurement may lead to clarification of theoretical models of abuse in ways that lead to improvements in intervention programming; analogs may also provide a useful means to assess intervention programming outcomes.     

The plagiarism project

Plagiarism has been a problem plaguing academia for centuries. The Internet has made it easier than ever to copy material from one electronic document and paste it into another. Many cases are unintentional, as writers are unaware of the rules regarding plagiarism. This paper provides an overview of plagiarism and describes a project in which librarians partnered with the assistant dean of a graduate science program to educate students about the perils of plagiarism and encourage ethical writing practices.