Public Libraries: Measuring Their Value

Funding cuts and greater emphasis on expenditure justification in the public sector have sparked studies which attempt to demonstrate the financial return on investment of public libraries, with most of these conducted in larger urban centers. Northern Ontario, a vast region with a population less than one million, primarily Anglophone and francophone settlers and numerous Indigenous communities, served by tiny libraries, required a unique approach. A literature review and community input identified seven key sectors together with indicators for measurement. The Toolkit¹ designed by this research illustrates how to calculate an SROI that may better serve communities and improve funders’ decision-making.     

The relative contribution of training intensity and duration to daily measures of training load in professional rugby league and union

ABSTRACT

This study examined the relative contribution of exercise duration and intensity to team-sport athlete’s training load. Male, professional rugby league (n = 10) and union (n = 22) players were monitored over 6- and 52-week training periods, respectively. Whole-session (load) and per-minute (intensity) metrics were monitored (league: session rating of perceived exertion training load [sRPE-TL], individualised training impulse, total distance, BodyLoad?; union: sRPE-TL, total distance, high-speed running distance, PlayerLoad?). Separate principal component analyses were conducted on the load and intensity measures to consolidate raw data into principal components (PC, k = 4). The first load PC captured 70% and 74% of the total variance in the rugby league and rugby union datasets, respectively. Multiple linear regression subsequently revealed that session duration explained 73% and 57% of the variance in first load PC, respectively, while the four intensity PCs explained an additional 24% and 34%, respectively. Across two professional rugby training programmes, the majority of the variability in training load measures was explained by session duration (~60–70%), while a smaller proportion was explained by session intensity (~30%). When modelling the training load, training intensity and duration should be disaggregated to better account for their between-session variability.     

Motivation for Educational Attainment in Grade 9 Predicts High School Completion

The Motivation for Educational Attainment (MEA) questionnaire, developed to assess facets related to early adolescents’ motivation to complete high school, has a bifactor structure with a large general factor and three smaller orthogonal specific factors (teacher expectations, peer aspirations, value of education). This prospective validity study investigated the utility of each factor in predicting high school dropout or completion of a general education development (GED) certificate versus completion of a high school degree. Participants were 474 (55.1% male) ethnically diverse students who were originally recruited into a larger longitudinal study in Grade 1 on the basis of academic risk. Fourteen years later, 373 had obtained a high school diploma, 15 had obtained a GED, and 86 had dropped out of high school. During their first year of Grade 9, participants were administered the MEA. Using multinomial logistic regression with high school graduation as the reference outcome and controlling for Grade 9 letter grades, reading and math test scores, gender, and ethnic/racial group status, scores on the latent general factor and the latent peer aspirations factor predicted high school dropout versus high school graduation status. Neither the general factor nor any of the three specific factors predicted GED completion versus high school graduation. Ethnicity, but not gender, moderated the associations between scores on the general factor and high school graduation versus dropout.     

Family Turbulence and Child Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: Moderation of Effects by Race

This study examined the impact of residential instability and family structure transitions on the development of internalizing and externalizing problems from age 2 through 10.5. Child's race was examined as a moderator. Caregiver reports of internalizing and externalizing behaviors were obtained on 665 children at ages 5 and 10.5. Early-childhood residential and family structure transitions predicted elevated internalizing and externalizing problems at ages 5 and 10.5, but only for Caucasian children. These findings suggest that residential and family structure instability during early childhood independently contribute to children's later emotional and behavioral development, but vary as a function of the child's race. Community organizations (e.g., Women, Infant, and Children) can connect turbulent families with resources to attenuate effects of residential and family structure instability.