Creating connections: Library instruction across campus

The Library Outreach Program Committee at Western Washington University serves as a coordinating body for outreach activities to the non-departmental campus community. Successful projects include collaboration with New Student Services/Family Outreach, Academic User Technology Services, and Residential Life. A database of outreach activities assists in tracking and assessing outreach activities.     

IEE professional magazines and networks

The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) has changed its approach to member publications over a two‐year period with an increased focus on understanding the needs of its broad membership and structuring its portfolio of magazines and websites to meet members' needs and complement the organization's research publications. The process of market research and product development is outlined in this article and the resulting combination of online and print products described. The products have been well received by IEE members and the wider community and have been recognized within the publishing industry with important awards in the business‐to‐business and not‐for‐profit sectors.     

Effects of variations in orthographic information on Asian and American readers' English text reading

Orthographies vary in the support they provide for word identification based on grapheme-phoneme correspondences. If skills developed in acquisition of first-language (L1) reading transfer to reading English as a foreign language (EFL), the extent to which EFL readers' word identification shows reliance on information other than grapheme-phoneme correspondences could be expected to vary with whether their L1 orthography is a non-Roman alphabet such as Korean hangul or a nonalphabetic (morpho-syllabic) system such as Chinese characters. Another influence could be whether EFL readers have learned to read a morpho-syllabic L1 by means of an alphabetic transliteration. English text reading speeds and oral reading quality ratings of three groups of adult Asian EFL readers attending an American university were compared with those of two groups of American L1 readers: Graduate student peers and eighth-grade students. All EFL groups read more slowly than both groups of L1 readers, and their reading was more impaired when orthographic cues were disrupted by mixed case print or pseudohomophone spellings. Some of these effects were reduced in EFL readers from Hong Kong, who had earlier exposure to English. Contrary to previous findings, no effects could be attributed to type of first orthography or early exposure to alphabetic transliteration of Chinese characters, which differentiated the Taiwanese and Hong Kong groups. As a whole, the results suggest that, at least across the L1 groups studied, differences in EFL word reading are associated less with type of L1 orthography than with history of exposure to English.     

What do consultants do,anyway?

This article describes some of the different roles or functions a consultant may fill, and discusses some of their implications for both clients and consultants. The focus is on the differences between consultants as generalists vs. specialist, and between consultants as advisors to others vs. direct providers of products or services.     

Are parental concerns about children's inactivity warranted, and are they associated with a supportive home environment?

This paper explores parental concern about children's activity levels and whether parents who are concerned about their child's activity provide a supportive environment. A sample of 615 parents of 5-6-year-old children and 947 parents of 10-12-year-old children completed a questionnaire. Just over 50% of parents reported they were concerned their child was not getting enough activity. Children of concerned parents were less active than those whose parents were not concerned. These findings suggest that parents who are concerned about their child's physical activity levels provided a less supportive environment for physical activity than parents who are not concerned. The challenge for public health will be to harness parental concerns and translate them into action.