Differences of Mentoring Experiences across Grade Span among Principals,Mentors, and Mentees

The purpose of this mixed research study was to examine mentoring experiences specific to grade span through the perspective of principals, mentors, and mentees. An instrument containing items on demographics, administrative support, and mentoring program components was administered to first-year teachers (n?=?998), mentors (n?=?791), and principals (n?=?73). Mentors’ attitudes towards mentoring were statistically significantly more positive than were the mentees’ attitudes, although, on average, the attitudes for both groups were positive. A statistically significant difference in attitudes emerged as a function of grade span, with elementary school mentees reporting the highest levels of motivation to be mentored and the greatest desire to observe veteran teachers. Qualitative analyses revealed that mentoring includes specific format, better matches, increased time for mentoring, observation opportunities, and better training for mentors. Implications are discussed.     

The U.S. Government Manual in XML: A Case Study of a Data.gov Open Data Set

ABSTRACT

A central tenet of the open data movement is that, to the extent permitted by law, data—especially data collected or produced by government agencies—should be published without restrictions on access or reuse. Proponents of open data believe that unrestricted access to raw data yields many benefits to society, including increased organizational transparency, accountability, public engagement with democratic processes, and economic growth. This article presents a case study based on one of the data sets created under the federal government's open data program, an XML version of the United States Government Manual published by the Office of the Federal Register. Working with the Government Manual data set uncovered various quality issues that presented technical barriers to data reuse, despite its compliance with open data principles of formatting and licensing. This experience raises questions about the purported link between open data and its promised benefits, which I discuss within the wider context of critiques of open data.     

Solo Librarian and Outreach to Hospital Staff Using Web 2.0 Technologies

The part-time librarian at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC) serves physicians, staff, and students. Challenged by time constraints and the need for a physical presence in the library, the librarian sought methods requiring limited manpower and maintenance to reach out to users. The librarian utilized two Web 2.0 technologies, Delicious and Bloglines, to extend library services beyond the confines of the hospital intranet. This article details the process to implement these two technologies in the hospital setting. Informational resources about Web 2.0 technologies are included in the article.     

Collaborative Batch Creation for Open Access E-Books: A Case Study

When the National Academies Press announced that more than 4,000 electronic books would be made freely available for download, many academic libraries expressed interest in obtaining MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) records for them. Using cataloging e-mail distribution lists, volunteers were recruited for a project to identify and upgrade bibliographic records for aggregation into a batch that could be easily loaded into catalogs. Project organization, documentation, quality control measures, and problems are described, as well as processes for adding new titles. The project's implications for future efforts are assessed, as are the numerous challenges for network-level cataloging.     

The Good Working Mother: Managerial Women’s Sensemaking and Feelings About Work–Family Issues

We use a sensemaking lens to explore how women managers experience and articulate work–life concerns upon their return to paid work following maternity leaves. We focus on 11 women who held different types of managerial positions, including vice presidents, circulation managers, and human resources experts. We found that our participants re‐framed the good mother image into a good working mother role that fit their lifestyles and interests. To accomplish this reframing, participants engaged in three thematic processes supportive of the good working mother image: (a) good working mothers arrange quality child care; (b) good working mothers are (un)equal partners; and (c) good working mothers feel pleasure in their working mother role. These themes and image were both ironic and fragile constructions of working motherhood. Because these themes and images enable participants to make sense of and establish the worth of working motherhood to family members, friends, acquaintances, organizational members, and community members, they provide a reason why middle‐ or upper‐class working and stay‐at‐home mothers may be in conflict about work and family choices.     

The cronkite‐ford interview at the 1980 republican national convention: A therapeutic analogue

Ford's politically dangerous openness in his interview with Cronkite during the GOP convention is difficult to explain. This study argues that the interview is better understood as interpersonal than as political communication; a therapeutic analogue better explains it than does traditional political analysis.     

An investigation into the move towards electronic journals: a case study of NHS libraries in Kent,Surrey and Sussex

Electronic journals are so embedded into practice in academic libraries that it is easy to forget that this is not the case everywhere. In NHS libraries, for example, the staff face a particular set of issues. This article is based on Rebecca England's dissertation on this topic, completed as part of the MSc Econ course in Information and Library studies at Aberystwyth University. Rebecca is E‐resources Librarian at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. She investigated the momentum towards electronic journals in NHS libraries in the Kent, Surrey and Sussex region and the potential for a regional purchasing consortium. AM     

Meeting Our Users Where They Conference: A Texas A&M Model to Support Librarian Attendance at Subject-Specific Conferences

Today's academic librarian is frequently called upon to function as a subject specialist, with or without advanced degrees in other disciplines. One method of monitoring trends within a given field is to study its literature; another is to attend conferences in the discipline. Discipline-specific conference attendance by academic librarians provides opportunities to interact with faculty in their disciplines that result in an increased communication with faculty, improved reference expertise, and more focused collection development. This paper describes the Texas A&M University Libraries' support for conference attendance and examples of the resulting benefits.     

Proponents of Creationism but not Proponents of Evolution Frame the Origins Debate in Terms of Proof

In Study 1, 72 internet documents containing creationism, ID (intelligent design), or evolution content were selected for analysis. All instances of proof cognates (the word “proof” and related terms such as “proven”, “disproof”, etc.) contained within these documents were identified and labeled in terms of the manner in which the terms were used. In Study 2, frequency counts for six terms (proof, evidence, establish, experiment, test, trial) were conducted on a sample of peer-reviewed research articles in the journal Science and the 72 internet documents included in Study 1. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed that proponents of creationism were much more likely than proponents of evolution to frame the creationism/evolution issue in terms of proof (ID proponents fell partway between the other two). Proponents of creationism frequently described empirical data favoring their position as proof of their position. Even more frequently, proponents of creationism described evolutionary scientists as being engaged in failed attempts to prove the truth of the evolutionary position. Evolution documents included fewer proof cognates than creationism or ID documents and the few proof cognates found in evolution documents were rarely used to describe the status of the theory of evolution. Qualitative data analysis indicated that proof cognates were often used to indicate certainty. The asymmetry between evolution and creationism documents was limited primarily to proof cognates; there were no major asymmetries for the terms evidence, establish, experiment, test, and trial. The results may reveal differences in the epistemological commitments of the involved parties.