Protecting Open Access to Taxpayer-Funded Research: The Rise and Defeat of the Research Works Act

The library community has long been an advocate of free access to publicly funded research, yet Congress regularly considers bills that would prevent the public from accessing such information. In an age where bills such as Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) are brought forth only to receive heavy criticism from all parts of society, this article investigates the potential impact the Research Works Act (RWA) might have caused on academic publishing. While the RWA was defeated, similar pieces of legislation will rise again. As librarians, we must be aware of such acts to prevent the damage they seek to impose.     

命运多舛露脊鲸

这是一种奇妙的动物,它们可以轻松下潜50米,让自己那覆盖着瘤状突起物的大脑袋掠过海底;它们也能仰泳,露出的大肚皮像极了倾覆的十七世纪西班牙大帆船;它们张开深不见底的大嘴觅食,让海流把食物直接送进口;大海中惊涛骇浪转瞬即至,     

Political issues in the evaluation of in‐service programmes for teachers

Chadwick, G.F. “Political issues in the evaluation of in‐service programmes for teachers,” Revue ATEE Journal 3 (1980) 207‐214.

The article focuses on the political dimensions of course evaluation. It begins by looking at the external and internal pressures faced by staff evaluating in‐service teacher training courses in a polytechnic. The suggestion is made that in‐service education courses at North East London Polytechnic attempt to change the power balance between training institutions and teachers working in schools, through developing teacher awareness and competence. Some of the difficulties faced by this approach are considered: (1) the inherent conservatism of the profession; (2) constraints imposed by the accepted style of evaluation; (3) overall agreement on aims; and (4) the difficulties of teachers in classrooms.     

Well-meant, but Failing on Almost all Counts: the Case Against Statementing

This article (written before the publication of the recent Green Paper) by Hugh Williams and Sheelagh Maloney, Senior Educational Psychologists: Birmingham Education Department, is timely as it provides practical solutions to the problems of 'Statementing'. Their suggestions are not only within the spirit of the Paper, but go even further in suggesting practical solutions to the ending of 'Statementing'. The approach proposed is based on extending the ideas behind the SEN Code of Practice, and they describe how children's and parent's rights, and their involvement, could be advanced through a fluent process: reduced bureaucracy; shorter time-scales; and the greater involvement of schools in ensuring appropriate resources. Further, the proposed system would enhance the prospects of encouraging increasingly inclusive practices, and would remove a major conceptual barrier to all children being educated in mainstream schools.