Integrated information management and hospital libraries

It is demonstrated that hospitals are information-dependent and that there is need for integration of information generated and gathered through their subsystems. This paper discusses recommendations of the Matheson Report for an integrated information management system which would link these subsystems. The library's statement of mission, means for self-assessment, and analysis of information needs and uses are explored. Future directions with examples of new roles for the library are outlined.     

Benchmarking reference services: an introduction

Benchmarking is based on the common sense idea that someone else, either inside or outside of libraries, has found a better way of doing certain things and that your own library's performance can be improved by finding out how others do things and adopting the best practices you find. Benchmarking is one of the tools used for achieving continuous improvement in Total Quality Management (TQM) programs. Although benchmarking can be done on an informal basis, TQM puts considerable emphasis on formal data collection and performance measurement. Used to its full potential, benchmarking can provide a common measuring stick to evaluate process performance. This article introduces the general concept of benchmarking, linking it whenever possible to reference services in health sciences libraries. Data collection instruments that have potential application in benchmarking studies are discussed and the need to develop common measurement tools to facilitate benchmarking is emphasized.     

Measuring knowledge of natural selection: A comparison of the CINS,an open‐response instrument,and an oral interview

Growing recognition of the central importance of fostering an in‐depth understanding of natural selection has, surprisingly, failed to stimulate work on the development and rigorous evaluation of instruments that measure knowledge of it. We used three different methodological tools, the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS), a modified version of Bishop and Anderson's (Bishop and Anderson [1990] Journal of Research in Science Teaching 27: 415–427) open‐response test that we call the Open Response Instrument (ORI), and an oral interview derived from both instruments, to measure biology majors' understanding of and alternative conceptions about natural selection. We explored how these instruments differentially inform science educators about the knowledge and alternative conceptions their students harbor. Overall, both the CINS and ORI provided excellent replacements for the time‐consuming process of oral interviews and produced comparable measures of key concept diversity and, to a lesser extent, key concept frequency. In contrast, the ORI and CINS produced significantly different measures of both alternative conception diversity and frequency, with the ORI results completely concordant with oral interview results. Our study indicated that revisions of both the CINS and ORI are necessary because of numerous instrument items characterized by low discriminability, high and/or overlapping difficulty, and mismatches with the sample. While our results revealed that both instruments are valid and generally reliable measures of knowledge and alternative conceptions about natural selection, a test combining particular components of both instruments—a modified version of the CINS to test for key concepts, and a modified version of the ORI to assess student alternative conceptions—should be used until a more approprite instrument is developed and rigorously evaluated. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 1131–1160, 2008     

The evolution of FM radio: 1941–1946

The following verbatim extracts from FCC Annual, Reports are part of a continuing series published in the Journal of Broadcasting that includes: “The Evolution of Television: 1927–1943” (Summer, 1960); “The Evolution of Television: 1944–1948” (Winter, 1960–61); and “The Evolution of FM Radio: 1935–1940” (Spring, 1961).     

The significance of theory in the implementation of curriculum change in religious education

A new study in Melbourne, Australia, has investigated curriculum change in religious education against the background of literature on curriculum change in education in general. Amongst its several findings, it was ascertained that clear information and theoretical understanding about a curriculum change in religious education is just as important as it is in any other field of study. In the absence of such information and understanding the leaders who were responsible for implementing the curriculum change in religious education made certain curriculum accommodations, and emphasised particular professional development activities for teachers that were not in keeping with the theoretical underpinning of the change. The implications for ‘top down’ curriculum change, such as those mandated by Church authorities or state authorities, are significant.