Serials standards work: the next frontier

Serials, one of the more complicated areas of library technical endeavors, has lacked the benefit of standards for a long time. Even now, with standards beginning to be available, the majority of institutions are not working within standard serials formats. A survey to determine the use of serials standards in libraries was conducted in 1988 by the American Library Association, Resources and Technical Services Division, Serials Section, Committee to Study Serials Standards. In the spring of 1988 a survey was sent to a group encompassing the Association of Research Libraries members, CONSER participants, United States Newspaper Program participants, Microform Project libraries, and some vendors and librarians who attended the Committee meetings on a regular basis. The survey questionnaire assessed the current level of serials standards awareness of librarians and vendors. Topics included the type of serials systems used, standards relevant to serials control and union listing and whether or not they are implemented, types and levels of training staff received in the application of standards, benefits of the standards, and areas where standards are most needed.     

CIO省钱有道

据行业组织Business Roundtable对110名美国CEO进行的调查显示,今年美国的经济增幅只有可怜的1.3%。这是自     

AAMC STAT: a brief description

AAMC STAT is a new, weekly electronic newsletter produced by the American Association of Medical Colleges. It provides coverage of national news related to academic medicine. This article briefly reviews the electronic publication and gives directions for subscribing to AAMC STAT.     

《摩登年代》：让残酷现实欢乐起来的魔法

徐峥是个对喜剧有深刻认识的人。在喜剧片毫无起色的黯淡时光里，只有他主演的几部作品《夜店》《人在囧途》和《搞定岳父大人》还算得上是值得一看。于是乎，他自导自演的《泰囧》爆了。     

莫让浮云遮望眼

自从2006年2／3期“作话题”开张以来，得到了考生的大力支持。在“作话题”陪伴着读一路走过几个月后．我们的读走向了高考考场．走向了大学．“作话题”栏目又将面对新一届的读。所以，本期在这里特对以前的“话题”作一次回顾：一则以示对支持我们读的深切谢意；二则可以让读能够欣赏到更多的佳作；三则是作为新一轮“作话题”的开端。 在此重申我们的观点：为了原样地供大家观摩、切磋．以便对章更好地炼意、炼词、炼句，我们只在可供推敲处加下划线并提出建议（括号内字）．未对章作其他改动。[编按]     

The development of the ability to recognize the meaning of iconic signs

Early developmental psychologists viewed iconic representation as cognitively less complex than other forms of symbolic thought. It is therefore surprising that iconic signs are not acquired more easily than arbitrary signs by young language learners. One explanation is that children younger than 3 years have difficulty interpreting iconicity. The current study assessed hearing children's ability to interpret the meaning of iconic signs. Sixty-six 2.5- to 5-year-olds who had no previous exposure to signs were required to match iconic signs to pictures of referents. Whereas few of the 2.5-year-olds recognized the meaning of the iconic signs consistently, more than half of the 3.0-year-olds and most of 3.5-year-olds performed above chance. Thus, the ability to recognize the meaning of iconic signs gradually develops during the preschool years. Implications of these findings for sign language development, receptive signed vocabulary tests, and the development of the ability to interpret iconic symbols are discussed.     

Beyond words: the importance of gesture to researchers and learners

Gesture has privileged access to information that children know but do not say. As such, it can serve as an additional window to the mind of the developing child, one that researchers are only beginning to acknowledge. Gesture might, however, do more than merely reflect understanding-it may be involved in the process of cognitive change itself. This question will guide research on gesture as we enter the new millennium. Gesture might contribute to change through two mechanisms which are not mutually exclusive: (1) indirectly, by communicating unspoken aspects of the learner's cognitive state to potential agents of change (parents, teachers, siblings, friends); and (2) directly, by offering the learner a simpler way to express and explore ideas that may be difficult to think through in a verbal format, thus easing the learner's cognitive burden. As a result, the next decade may well offer evidence of gesture's dual potential as an illuminating tool for researchers and as a facilitator of cognitive growth for learners themselves.     

心路历程--流逝的岁月

Old age gives us the privilege to explore, to innovate, to challenge.Dear Friends,This is our twelfth monthly column and the first-year anniversary of our conversation together in the pages of Overseas English. We call this a milestone in English. Is there a Chinese word for it?I would like to begin our column with one of my own poems.