Review of criteria used to measure library effectiveness

This article reports the results of a survey of literature on measures of library effectiveness. This survey led to the formulation of six criterion concepts (accessibility, cost, user satisfaction, response time, cost/benefit ratio, and use). The advantages and disadvantages of each method of measurement are discussed. Several points which became clear during the analysis are discussed. First, there is a relative lack of concern with the rationale behind the evaluation process, although the results invariably lead to a confused interpretation when there is no clear understanding of the purpose of an evaluation. Second, the total library system is rarely considered; instead, each evaluation criterion is taken in isolation rather than as part of the whole. Third, the library's preservation function has not been considered at all.     

Wear Attitude Inventory Applied to Junior High School Boys

Abstract

Form A of the Wear Attitude Inventory was administered to one randomly selected physical education class of seventh grade boys, one class of eighth grade boys, and one class of ninth grade boys in each of five junior high schools. The mean Inventory score for each grade was found to be equal to or superior to the mean reported in Wear's validation study. A significant X₂ value was found for the distribution of Inventory scores of the three junior high school grades. A biserial coefficient of correlation item analysis which was computed for each of the three grades established that the 30 items correlated significantly with the total score and that the item score also had a significant correlation with the Inventory category score. On the basis of these results, the conclusion was advanced that the Wear Attitude Inventory was an appropriate instrument to measure attitudes of junior high school boys toward physical education.     

Build Your Program by Building Your Team: Inclusively Transforming Services,Staffing and Spaces

ABSTRACT

User feedback told the story of the largest and busiest campus library being dated in both physical form and programmatic function. Under the framework of a newly-developed strategic plan, library leadership initiated a comprehensive and inclusive assessment program to understand fully user needs by engaging users, campus partners, and, importantly, library personnel. Simultaneously, they embarked on a review of change management literature for guidance on implementing the required transformation. Informed by the change management philosophy of John Kotter, the library utilized the findings of the assessment program to craft and implement a sustainable transformation of its services, staffing, and spaces.     

General Media (Advertising)

Varda Langholz Leymore's Hidden Myth: Structure and Symbolism in Advertising (New York: Basic Books, 1975—$10.00).

John S. Wright and John E. Mertes's Advertising's Role ie Society. (St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1974—price not given, paper).

Allan M. Cartter's Ph.D's and the Academic Labor Market (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976—$12.50).     

Language and reading impairments are associated with increased prevalence of non-right-handedness

Handedness has been studied for association with language-related disorders because of its link with language hemispheric dominance. No clear pattern has emerged, possibly because of small samples, publication bias, and heterogeneous criteria across studies. Non-right-handedness (NRH) frequency was assessed in N = 2503 cases with reading and/or language impairment and N = 4316 sex-matched controls identified from 10 distinct cohorts (age range 6–19 years old; European ethnicity) using a priori set criteria. A meta-analysis (N_cases = 1994) showed elevated NRH % in individuals with language/reading impairment compared with controls (OR = 1.21, CI = 1.06–1.39, p = .01). The association between reading/language impairments and NRH could result from shared pathways underlying brain lateralization, handedness, and cognitive functions.     

Growth in biomedical publications and scientific institutions in the Emirates (1998–2004): an Arabian renaissance?

OBJECTIVES: The United Arab Emirates is witnessing a rapid development in population and infrastructure, leading to an expansion in the educational field and the health care system, including universities, hospitals and research institutes. One potential outcome of this development is an increase in biomedical research publications. This was examined in this study. METHOD: Searches were made of three databases; PubMed, Current Contents and embase. All records from these databases related to the Emirates were downloaded and cross-referenced. Duplications were removed as well as erroneous records. A total of 1369 publications during 1998-2004 were obtained. RESULTS: Analysis of these records revealed that the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, located at the federal University, was responsible for 48% of all biomedical publications. All hospitals together accounted for 24%, while other universities and other research institutes accounted for 13 and 14% respectively. Further analysis revealed that there had been no further growth in the number of publications since 1998. This is in contrast to the increasing number of institutions that have been set up in the 1998-2004 period; from 29 to 112. CONCLUSION: The Emirates are witnessing a rapid development in universities, colleges, hospitals and research centres. The ratio of publications, as yet, has not kept up with this development. The enormous growth in institutes, however, may, in time, herald an Arabian renaissance in scientific activity and related publications.     

Social Loafing in a Co-operative Classroom Task

Social loafing refers to the tendency for individuals to reduce their own personal input when performing as part of group. This phenomenon may be problematic if it exists in educational contexts, given a current emphasis on group collaborative classroom activities. The present study investigated whether social loafing existed in a collaborative educational task, employing groups of three and eight participants. The results indicated that individuals working within the smaller groups were more productive than those working in larger groups, consistent with the social loafing hypothesis. Future research should determine whether the detrimental effects on students' collaborative performance attributable to social loafing are justifiable in terms of gains accrued in other (e.g. interpersonal) domains.     

Stancetaking and Language Ideologies in Heritage Language Learner Classroom Discourse

Drawing on linguistic anthropological notions of language ideologies and sociolinguistic approaches to stance, this study examines the meaning-making resources through which Spanish heritage language (HL) learners orient toward ideological perspectives on language value and linguistic expertise in classroom interaction. Part of a larger ethnographic study, data in the present study include about 26 hours of audio and video recordings from three different intermediate Spanish HL classrooms and filmed interviews with the students. The analysis indicates that discourses of legitimacy and expertise are embodied within multiple levels of classroom interaction, including affective stancetaking, expert/novice positioning, and the reframing of both ascribed social positions and previous discourse. Results suggest that the role of language ideologies in HL learning can be better understood through an examination of stancetaking in interaction and that the construction of different kinds of expertise should be an important consideration in the development of HL instructional practices.