Why Can’t Students Get the Sources They Need? Results from a Real Electronic Resources Availability Study

Availability studies are used to estimate the proportion of items in a library collection that are available to users, and the proportion of items in a library collection that are unavailable to users as a result of system and/or human errors. Sanjeet Mann of the Armacost Library at the University of Redlands used a series of availability studies to more accurately understand and troubleshoot the e-resources access errors that keep undergraduate students at the university from obtaining the full text of electronic resources. In this presentation, Mann shared the details of his process, his results, and the implications of those results for improving local search systems as well as a conceptual model of e-resource availability errors based on the results of his research.     

Using the OCLC union listing component for a statewide health sciences union list of serials

Union lists of serials are critical to the effective operation of interlibrary loan networks. The Michigan Health Sciences Libraries Association used the OCLC union list component to produce the Michigan Statewide Health Sciences Union List of Serials (MISHULS). MISHULS, which includes the serials holdings of ninety-three hospital health sciences libraries, is a subset of a statewide multi-type union list maintained on OCLC. The rationale for a statewide list and the criteria for choosing vendors are discussed. Typical costs are provided. Funding sources are identified and a unique approach to decentralized input is described. The benefits of resource sharing in a larger, multi-type library network are also explored.     

Using and writing reviews to inform your practice

Reviews are seen as a way of exploiting existing data or research findings more fully and can offer a summarised insight into the current understanding of the evidence. Library and information science (LIS) workers can use reviews to inform their decision-making and service planning. Although the LIS evidence base continues to grow there will frequently be times when no published reviews are available. In these instances, you may consider undertaking your own review. Different types of review require different approaches and, by deciding from the outset what kind of review yours will be, will inform your methodology. Guidelines on writing reviews for the Health Information and Libraries Journal are presented.     

Educational language planning and linguistic identity

There are cases in which a high form of a language is taught and used in formal situations, but linguistic variation is also caused by geography, ethnicity and socioeconomic class. Certain variants are regarded as inferior and restricted in expressive capacity, and are disadvantageous. The paper suggests that it is possible to map each person's linguistic identity in two dimensions: the number of languages spoken, and the situation-specific variants of each language. Further, it is argued that the distance between a low variant and a high standard form of a language may present to the low learner of a standardized mother tongue a barrier just as great as that posed by the learning of a related foreign language to a speaker of the high variant. It is proposed that greater tolerance be exercised in acceptance of variation and in recognition of linguistic identity, so that this can be built on in the necessary and desirable expansion of linguistic competence, rather than being devalued. The relevance of the communicative approach to language teaching is touched on.

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Zusammenfassung Es gibt Fälle, in denen eine hohe Form einer Sprache gelehrt und in formellen Situationen gebraucht wird, aber linguistische Veränderungen werden auch durch Geographie, ethnische Identität und sozialkonomische Klassen hervorgerufen. Gewsse Varianten gelten hinsichtlich ihres Ausdrucksvermögens als unterlegen und restriktiv und sind unvorteilhaft. In dem Artikel wird vorgeschlagen, die linguistische Identität jedes Einzelnen in zwei Dimensionen darzustellen: die Anzahl der gesprochenen Sprachen und die situationsspezifische Variante jeder Sprache. Weiterhin wird argumentiert, daß die Distanz zwischen einer niedrigen Variante und einer hohen Standardform einer Sprache für den niedrigen Lernenden einer standardisierten Muttersprache ebenso schwierig ist wie das Erlernen einer verwandten ausländischen Sprache für denjenigen, der die hohe Form spricht. Es wird vorgeschlagen, größere Toleranz durch Akzeptieren der Variation und Anerkennung der linguistischen Identität zu üben, so daß man darauf die notwendige und wünschenswerte Erweiterung der linguistischen Fähigkeit aufbauen kann anstatt sie zu entwerten. Die Relevanz des kommunikativen Ansatzes zum Unterrichten einer Sprache wird kurz behandelt.

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Résumé Il existe des cas où une haute forme d'une langue est enseignée et utilisée dans des situations formelles, mais la différentiation est causée également par la géographie, l'ethnicité et la classe socioéconomique. Certaines variantes sont considérées inférieures, d'une capacité expressive limitée, et sont désavantageuses. L'article suggère qu'il est possible de tracer l'identité linguistique de chacun dans deux dimensions: le nombre de langues parlées, et les variantes de chaque langue reliées à des situations spécifiques. En plus, on raisonne que la distance entre une variante basse d'une langue et la haute forme standard peut présenter à l'apprenant, ayant la forme basse d'une langue maternelle standardisée, une barrière aussi grande que celle qui se dresse devant celui qui parle la variante haute et qui apprend une langue étrangère apparentée. On propose donc qu'une tolérance plus large soit exercée en acceptant la variation et en reconnaissant l'identité linguistique, afin que cette dernière serve de fondation pour l'élargissement nécessaire et souhaitable des compétences linguistiques, plutôt que d'être dévalorisée. La relevance de l'approche communicative à l'enseignement des langues est mentionnée.

     

Discriminative vs motivational interpretations of avoidance extinction: Extensions to learned helplessness

Resistance to extinction of discriminated barpress avoidance in rats was assessed through the use of three procedures, each of which served to break the response-reinforcement contingency, classical extinction (CE), operant extinction (OE), and a variable-ratio shock schedule (VR). Greatest resistance to extinction was found for the VR group, followed by OE and then by CE Ss. thus supporting a discriminative rather than a motivational analysis. Reacquisition rates following extinction suggested evidence of “learned helplessness” in some Ss exposed to noncontingent CS-US presentations.