PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION

After a brief historical review, the author describes the legal, cultural and economic elements that brought women into US higher education in such big numbers. She also discusses the professional situation of women after graduation and reviews major problems awaiting a solution

Mrs. Nancy Tapper is executive vice‐president of the Centre for Social Redesign, Oakland, California. Trained as a mathematician she is a former professor and college president     

Are inventories justified?

Medical librarians do conduct inventories of their collections. A questionnaire mailed to ninety-two medical school libraries in March 1970 and returned by seventy-four reveals that an average two inventories per library have been conducted during the past ten years with only ten libraries reporting that no inventory had ever been conducted. The average time per inventory was thirty days. Only eleven medical librarians stated they planned never to conduct another inventory.The article suggests full inventories of medical library collections of 100,000 volumes or less can be justified but questions the wisdom of full inventories of collections of more than 100,000 volumes.     

Sociocultural origins of achievement motivation

A theoretical review of current work on sociocultural influences on achievement motivation is presented. Earlier research stemming from the work of David McClelland is reviewed and critically evaluated. It is suggested that the culture and personality orientation of this work, in particular, eventuates in an ethnocentric bias which prevents a full consideration of motivational and achievement possibilities in a wide range of cultural groups. An alternative conception of achievement motivation is proposed which, in addition to personality, stresses the role of contextual and situational factors. In effect, this conception starts with the assumption that all can and do exhibit the behavior that can be termed achievement motivation—it is only a question of when, where, and to what ends. The proposed alternative begins, then, to outline critical contextual factors that may be determinative, including perceived self-other attributional and normative relationships. The value of this alternative approach to achievement motivation for cross-cultural research is specifically stressed.