Problems in interagency collaboration: Lessons from a project that failed

Several institutions (e.g., child welfare, police, court, health, education, social service) are necessarily involved in the management of child abuse in all communities. The need for better cooperation among them has been acknowledged; inquests into child deaths resulting from abuse have often attributed some blame to faulty communication and/or poor cooperation between the institutions. The Community Child Abuse Team (CCAT) Project was designed by these same institutions in Hamilton, Ontario, to maximize interagency collaboration. The hypothesis, that this "interagency collaboration" model would provide more efficient and effective services to abused children and their families, was never tested. During its 30 months of operation the CCAT program never materialized as planned and funding was terminated. This paper describes selected problems and issues that arose during the struggle to implement the project. The central problematic issue was control. Those responsible for the project lacked the power to insist that the design be adhered to during the initial stage.     

Reclassification and documentation in talog cards and a computer stored record

A project to recatalog and reclassify the book collection of the Bowman Gray School of Medicine Library utilizing the Magnetic Tape/Selectric Typwriter system for simultaneous catalog card production and computer stored data acquisition marks the beginning of eventual computerization of all library operations. A keyboard optical display system will be added by late 1970. Major input operations requiring the creation of "hard copy" will continue via the MTST system. Updating, editing and retrieval operations as well as input without hard copy production will be done through the "on-line" keyboard optical display system. Once the library's first data bank, the book catalog, has been established the computer may be consulted directly for library holdings from any optical display terminal throughout the medical center. Three basic information retrieval operations may be carried out through "on-line" optical display terminals. Output options include the reproduction of part or all of a given document, or the generation of statistical data, which are derived from two Acquisition Code lines. The creation of a central bibliographic record of Bowman Gray Faculty publications patterned after the cataloging program is presently under way. The cataloging and computer storage of serial holdings records will begin after completion of the reclassification project. All acquisitions added to the collection since October 1967 are computer-stored and fully retrievable. Reclassification of older titles will be completed in early 1971.     

PERSONALITY INFLUENCES ON CONFIDENCE TEST SCORES*

From the earliest years in the development of confidence testing, several authors have expressed the concern that confidence test scores were influenced, to a measurable degree, by personality variables. Advocates of confidence testing have claimed that the effects of personality variables can be reduced with practice. This study attempts to evaluate the association of personality variables with confidence test scores in light of practice. It was concluded that although significant correlations between personality variables and confidence testing scores could be obtained, these correlations did not hold up with replication.     

Metropolitan Detroit's network. Detroit Medical Library group: five year progress report

Over a five-year period, much progress has been made in meeting the needs of health care personnel in the Detroit metropolitan area through library cooperation. These cooperative relationships have stimulated implementation of the following projects: (1) publications, (2) research on medical library problems, and (3) library programs at both the city and state levels.