Proclaiming Library Worth in a Program Prioritization Process at a Mid-Sized Public University

Abstract

In an economic climate when colleges can no longer presume that legislators see institutions of higher learning as tacit public goods, institutions around the country are facing budget cuts. This article presents a case study of the experience of a mid-sized public state university and its Library in a budget crisis undergoing a university-wide program prioritization process. The authors review the process of writing three reports on the Library’s value, along with the approach to engaging staff in the process including a retreat. This article raises questions about what every library should consider assessing and provide tools for libraries navigating similar terrain.     

Policies for Reporting Test Results to Parents

What are the state and district policies on reporting test results to parents? How well do local districts follow state policies?     

Influence of a conservative sleep management strategy during a solo Pacific Ocean crossing on anxiety and perceived fatigue: a case study

The aim of this case study was to determine whether a sailor's deliberate choice of a conservative strategy to manage sleep deprivation would allow him to cross the Pacific Ocean and to minimize his state of anxiety and perceived fatigue. The participant, who had more than 10 years' sailing experience in severe conditions, was tested on a small catamaran without any living quarters during a solo Pacific Ocean crossing. Estimations of sleep hours, state anxiety, and perceived fatigue were self-reported by the sailor on a daily basis using a specific questionnaire. The most important finding is that the sailor's deliberate sleep strategy, 5.4 h sleep per day (24% less than on-shore), was enough to keep his anxiety and perceived fatigue within acceptable limits and enabled him to achieve his goal, which was the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean on a catamaran of less than 6 m. In conclusion, our results suggest that the sailor observed in the present case study was able to minimize anxiety and perceived fatigue with adequate sleep to optimize his performance, security, and to achieve his goal.     

Identifying Factors that Influence the Successful Transition of Criminal Justice Transfer Students

Higher educational institutions place a priority on the retention and timely graduation of students. Previous literature has identified transfer students to have unique concerns and that these concerns vary by major. While previous retention research has reported factors that influence students’ decision to remain in college, many of these studies treated transfer status as a homogenous group. The university in this study enrolls a high percentage of transfer students, and a large percentage of these transfers students enroll in Criminal Justice classes and become Criminal Justice majors. To determine if there are unique risk factors among Criminal Justice transfer students, this study uses multiple measures of transfer status to identify factors that might impact a students’ (1) university involvement, (2) GPA, (3) satisfaction with and sense of belonging to their university and (4) thereby influence their decision to remain in school. The proposition that transfer students as compared to native (nontransfer) students differ on how they face university challenges was also examined. While several variables were found to be important to students’ adjustment to the University, transfer status does not appear to be significant risk factor. Implications of the results are discussed.