Dissemination and Discovery of Diverse Data: Do Libraries Promote Their Unique Research Data Collections?

ABSTRACT

Academic libraries acquire and steward numeric datasets as well as large collections of image files, audio archives, digital texts, and other non-numeric resources. This article considers how a sample of libraries in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom present these collections and make them available for discovery. And, importantly, the article examines whether these non-numeric collections are positioned on the library Website as research datasets, rather than as artifacts of limited local and/or historical interest. Findings from this analysis may help collection managers and Web designers as libraries define their role in connecting users to research data.     

Are Older Adults Prepared to Ensure Food Safety During Extended Power Outages and Other Emergencies?: Findings from a National Survey

Natural disasters and other emergencies can cause an increased risk of foodborne illness. We conducted a nationally representative survey to understand consumers’ knowledge and use of recommended practices during/after extended power outages and other emergencies. Because older adults are at an increased risk for foodborne illness, this paper presents findings from a sample of older adults (n = 290). Only 17% of respondents reported they are fully prepared to keep food safe during an extended power outage. Respondents identified lack of cogitation (42%), storage space (19%), and concern (27%) as barriers to not being fully prepared. Of those who had experienced a recent power outage, less than 40% followed the recommended practices of discarding frozen foods that had thawed and discarding refrigerated, perishable foods. Additionally, 21% to 36% of respondents reported they tasted food to determine whether it was safe to eat. Awareness and likelihood of following recommended practices were higher among women than men. Many older adults are not following recommended practices to ensure food safety during/after extended power outages and other emergencies. Educational materials need to address barriers and be tailored to specific locations and subpopulations of older adults. Educators and public health officials can use the survey findings to address gaps in older adults’ knowledge and practices and to help reduce the risk of foodborne illness among older adults.     

Book reviews

Lee, Irving J. and Lee, Laura L., Handling Barriers in Communication. Harper and Brothers, 49 East 33 Street, New York 16, New York. 1957, $5. Paper.

Auer, J. Jeffery, An Introduction to Research in Speech. Harper and Brothers, 49 East 33 Street, New York 16, New York. 1959, $5.

Brown, Charles T., Introduction to Speech. Houghton Mifflin Company, 432 Park Avenue South, New York 16, New York. 1955.

Uris, Dorothy, Everybody's Book of Better Speaking. David McKay Company, Inc., 119 West 40 Street, New York 18, New York. 1960, $4.95.

Braden, Waldo W., Speech Methods and Resources: A Textbook for the Teacher of Speech. Harper and Brothers, 49 East 33 Street, New York 16, New York. 1961, $6.50.

Marra, Waldo J., How to Streamline Your Letters. National Retail Credit Association, 375 Jackson Avenue, St. Louis 30, Missouri. Multilithed, paper.

Windes, Russell R. and Kruger, Arthur N., Championship Debating. J. Weston Walch, Box 1075, Portland, Maine. 1961 ; paper cover, $3.50 ; plastic cover, $4.50.     

A case example of assessment and evaluation: Building capability in a corporate university

One corporate university makes measurement a priority by dedicating resources and assigning responsibilities to a centralized analytics function: the assessment, measurement, and evaluation team. As more measurement became a focus for learning and business leaders alike, the more the team became motivated to take a critical look at how it was approaching assessment, measurement, and evaluation activities and how it could leverage its capabilities, technology, and processes to have a greater reach across the organization.     

An interview study of college freshmens’ beliefs about their academic motivation

An important aspect of metacognition, one potentially affecting much of students’ academic efforts, was tapped in this study. College students’ beliefs about their academic motivation were elicited systematically using ethnographic interviewing. We reasoned that students are very conscious of their decisionmaking regarding academics, and thus, they would be able to report on many of the factors affecting their academic motivation. In general, the students reported that many factors affect their academic motivation, specifically, many more factors than have been considered in previous theoretical analyses of academic motivation, with students perceiving that interactions between motivational factors often are critically determinative of academic efforts and achievement.     

Youth’s Sibling Relationships Across the Course of a Parent’s Military Deployment: Trajectories and Implications

The present exploratory study explored the trajectories and implications of at-home (military unaffiliated) parents’ perceptions of youth’s sibling relationships across the course of a parent’s military deployment. Participants included 109 families with at least two siblings (older sibling and younger siblings age: M = 10.85, SD = 3.92 and M = 7.89, SD = 3.58, respectively) and one parent serving in the National Guard. Data were collected via in-home interviews, at six time points across the deployment cycle. A series of multilevel models revealed increases in sibling disharmony during the months a deployed parent was away, but showed signs of recovery in the year after they returned. Increases in sibling disharmony were positively associated with increases in youth’s externalizing behaviors above and beyond the effects of parenting.     

More Than a Pipeline Problem: Labor Supply Constraints and Gender Stratification Across Academic Science Disciplines

Employing a nationally representative sample of science faculty in U.S. colleges, we investigate 3 explanations for persisting differences in women's faculty representation across science fields even after adjusting for women's variable representation among doctoral recipients. First, we examine labor market factors: (a) differential growth rates and critical mass in the supply of women doctoral recipients, (b) growth or contraction in academic and nonacademic job opportunities, and (c) presence of foreign-born scholars. Second, we control for institutional explanations such as differential rates of faculty unionization and less receptivity to women at prestigious or research-oriented universities and fields that are applied, soft, or nonlife sciences. Third, gender role explanations are addressed by controlling for gender differences in work experience, work interruptions, and the prestige of doctoral credentials. After finding that none of these explanations account fully for distinctive patterns among science fields in the faculty gender composition, we discuss how they may reflect differences in academic cultures.     

Probability Learning: Changes in Behavior Across Time and Development

Individuals track probabilities, such as associations between events in their environments, but less is known about the degree to which experience—within a learning session and over development—influences people's use of incoming probabilistic information to guide behavior in real time. In two experiments, children (4–11 years) and adults searched for rewards hidden in locations with predetermined probabilities. In Experiment 1, children (n = 42) and adults (n = 32) changed strategies to maximize reward receipt over time. However, adults demonstrated greater strategy change efficiency. Making the predetermined probabilities more difficult to learn (Experiment 2) delayed effective strategy change for children (n = 39) and adults (n = 33). Taken together, these data characterize how children and adults alike react flexibly and change behavior according to incoming information.     

Effects of context exposure during conditioning on conditioned taste aversions

Rats were used in a conditioned taste aversion procedure in order to examine the effects of context exposure duration during the conditioning sessions on conditioned responding. One flavor was paired with lithium chloride during a long session in one context, whereas another flavor was conditioned during a short session in another context. Testing occurred in the home cage. The results showed that conditioning during short sessions produced strong conditioned taste aversions. Conditioning during long sessions produced strong conditioned taste aversions when the conditioned-stimulus-unconditionedstimulus (CS-US) pairing occurred at the end of the lengthy session. Other results showed that context-US associations were formed during the short duration sessions and that these associations supported conditioned responding to the CS trained in that context. The results are discussed with respect to the different influences that contextual cues can exert on conditioned responding.     

Interrupting the Pathway From Discrimination to Black Adolescents’ Psychosocial Outcomes: The Contribution of Parental Racial Worries and Racial Socialization Competency

Racial discrimination can lead to psychosocial problems for Black adolescents, including internalization (e.g., depression) and externalization (e.g., conduct problems). Black parents (N = 186; M_age = 42.9) of adolescents (ages 10–18) were assessed to investigate how parental worries and racial socialization competency (i.e., confidence, skills, and stress) contribute to the association between parental discrimination experiences and their adolescents’ psychosocial problems. Mediation analyses indicated that the total direct models with discrimination, worries, and problems had good fit, and that the addition of worry mediated the discrimination-problems association. Furthermore, racial socialization competency moderated the association between worry and problems, wherein greater competency was associated with less impact of worry on problems. Findings illuminate potential intervention targets for buffering discrimination’s influence on adolescents’ psychosocial functioning.