A piagetian analysis of process skill test items

Test items used to survey the attainment of science process skills in a representative sample of 11 year olds in Britain were analyzed to determine the level of demand, in Piagetian terms, made by each item. It was found that: the level of cognitive demand was a reliable predictor of the limiting difficulty of an item; that the difference between potential difficulty as measured by supposed demand level and the actual difficulty encountered by subjects was revealing of areas in the curriculum where further effort in teacher education and curriculum development would be profitable; and that there was some evidence for an inherent hierarchy of process skills.     

A Critique of the FRBR User Tasks and Their Modifications

The four FRBR user tasks have become widely accepted as functions of the library catalog, but there have been only sporadic discussions concerning their validity and sufficiency, despite their modification in the models subsequently presented in the FRAD, FRSAD, and draft FRBR-LRM reports. This article presents a critique of the four variant sets of user tasks, and proposes an extended set of six generic end-user tasks, applicable to both bibliographic and authority data: locate, collocate, connect, identify, select, and obtain. The article also outlines their interrelationships and suggests those tasks that may be particularly well supported by professional cataloging.     

Robots,the Quiet Workers,Are You Ready to Take Over?

Robots are becoming more commonly used in libraries. A robot that does shelf reading and reports the results to human staff is one example of a practical use of robotics in a library. Others have been used to retrieve large items such as boxes, but identifying and picking up small and varied objects such as books is still on the edge of what can be done. Devices using artificial intelligence can act as guides, or in some cases, as personal assistants for library customers. Some are answering questions and learning as they go. If robots can perform library work effectively and more cheaply than humans it is inevitable they will be more widely used.     

Search Committee Effectiveness in Determining a Finalist Pool: A Case Study

One hundred twenty five applications for an entry-level librarian position were examined to determine whether a search committee at one major Midwestern university library chose finalists based on form over substance, and whether candidates who met the required qualifications were advanced to the finalist pool. Methodology determined the number of applicants who self-reported having each qualification, by round. Findings showed that the search committee was not unduly influenced by resume format over qualifications, and the few applicants who met all of the required qualifications as well as one or more of the preferred ones were not advanced to the finalist pool. Discussion and implications for future study are presented.