Cataloging on Receipt for Monographs: Merging Cataloging and Acquisitions Functions at UCLA

Institutions have sought to improve technical services workflows by merging some acquisitions and cataloging functions in different ways and with varying results. Those institutions’ experiences with the merging process contrast with the process implemented at UCLA. At UCLA a process of cataloging on receipt was planned and implemented in the Print Acquisitions Department, in cooperation with the Cataloging & Metadata Center. The process resulted in significantly faster delivery of print books from receipt to shelf for materials not batch packed for remote storage.     

Living with a rare health condition: the influence of a support community and public stigma on communication,stress, and available support

People affected by rare diseases often have limited coping resources and sometimes face stigma. They build communities with others who share their conditions, but not all members may benefit from these communities. This study investigated how adults with a rare genetic health condition (Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; AATD) think about both the Alpha-1 community and public stigma about AATD, and how these cognitions predict their communication responses and well-being. The results showed that people with AATD-encountered stigmatization from various sources. Stronger public stigma predicted more secrecy, more stress, and less available support. Stronger group identification with the Alpha-1 community predicted less secrecy; stronger group activism predicted more available support and more communication to challenge stigmatizers. Post hoc analyses showed significant interactions between public stigma and group cognitions on communication to challenge stigmatizers. Practical implications for bolstering communities to improve the well-being of people with rare diseases were discussed.     

“Since this is the editorial section I intend to express my opinion”: Inequality and expressivity in letters to the editor

This paper analyzes the argumentative style and the characteristics of writers of newspaper letters to the editor. Writers are more likely to be White, male, older, more politically active, and less likely to be politically moderate than the local population. Inequality in political participation persists in this forum. Gender and sense of local political efficacy influence how letter writers make their points. Letters to the editor mostly display inequalities similar to other forms of political participation.     

An Examination of a Small‐Group Decoding Intervention for Struggling Readers: Comparing Accuracy and Automaticity Criteria

In this study, we compared methods to improve the decoding and reading fluency of struggling readers. Second‐grade poor readers were randomly assigned to one of the two practice conditions within a repeated reading intervention. Both interventions were in small groups, were 20–28 min long, took place 2–4 days per week, and consisted of phonemic awareness training, letter sound practice, and practice in word families. Students in the accuracy condition (n= 27) practiced each page until they reached 98 percent accuracy while students in the accuracy + automaticity condition (n= 29) practiced until they reached rate (30–90 cwpm) and accuracy criteria. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed no differences between practice conditions in decoding accuracy, reading comprehension, and grade‐level text reading fluency. Significant differences favoring the accuracy + automaticity group were found in measures of decoding automaticity.     

The role of "genetics" in popular understandings of race in the United States

The increase in public representation of the science-based concept "genetics" in the mass media might be expected to have a major impact on public understanding of the concept of "race." A model of lay understandings of the role of genetics in the contemporary United States is offered based on focus group research, random digit dial surveys, and community based surveys. That model indicates that lay people identify are primarily by physical features, but these identifications are categorized into a variety of groupings that may be regional, national, or linguistic. Although they believe that physical appearance is caused largely by genetics, and therefore that race has a genetic basis, they do not uniformly conclude, however, that all perceived racial characteristics are genetically based. Instead, they vary in the extent to which they attribute differences to cultural, personal, and genetic factors.     

Writing Prompts: The Role of Various Priming Conditions on the Compositional Fluency of Developing Writers

This study addressed two questions related to the writing of second graders (n=195). The first examined the effects of writing prompts on the compositional fluency of second-grade students. The second considered whether these effects are different based on spelling achievement and handwriting fluency. Students wrote six narratives in response to writing prompts presented in different ways (copying, dictation, discussion, discussion-copying, discussion-dictation, and topic). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with repeated measures showed that priming condition and writing occasion were significant effects. Interactions were found between priming condition, occasion, and each of the covariates (handwriting fluency and spelling achievement). Analysis of the sample based on the covariates revealed differential effects for the slowest and fastest writers and poorest and best spellers.     

Creating a departmental culture for communication grants

Extramural funding to support communication research influences and is influenced by the culture of our discipline, universities, and departments. Both the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association have established closer ties to funding agencies and encouraged members' grant writing pursuits through mentorship and convention programs, newsletter columns, and publicity. Universities vary in how much support they have available as infrastructure to assist in the submission and administration of grants. Some institutions facilitate extramural funding endeavors through mentoring programs, university-wide research centers, sharing of indirect costs, and space. Department cultures, too, vary in the resources available to support grants. Departments in many ways have the most direct effects on grant-supporting cultures. In addition to activities indicated for the discipline and university, departments can build a grant culture by recognizing grant writing in their personnel practices, creating systems for rewarding and supporting grant activities, and having policies in place for the many related issues (e.g., release time, indirect cost sharing, research assistants). Finally, the interpersonal culture, whether colleagues recognize and support grants, plays a major role in individual pursuit of, and satisfaction with, seeking extramural funding to support communication research.