Thomas Sprat's quest for a philosophy of language

Seventeenth‐century England's quest for utilitarian conceptions of language led the Royal Society and Thomas Sprat to evaluate the scientific, rhetorical, and poetic uses of discourse. The resulting treatise reflects the struggle between “ancient” and “modern,” yet proposes perhaps the most sophisticated linguistic analysis of the century.     

Open Access for Scholars Left Behind: The Issue of Limited Access to Data and Scholarship

Abstract

This column discusses information literacy instruction through the lens of open access (OA) to better serve researchers who have limited access to scholarship due to cost. After providing a definition of OA, the benefit of OA is exemplified through both researchers who lose access to information, like students, and those who have little access to begin with, like researchers in disenfranchised locations. Information literacy instruction librarians who teach the use of OA resources increase awareness for global researchers, ensure alumni access to scholarship after loss of institutional affiliation, and increase scholarship published in OA mediums, supporting those without traditional access.     

Broadcast Journalism

Thomas R. Asher and J. Victor Hahn's Broadcast Media Guide for Candidates (Washington: Media Access Project, 1910 N Street N.W., 1974—price not given, but about $3.00, paper).

Bruce Herschensohn's The Gods of Antenna (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1975—$7.95)

Robert M. Batscha's Foreign Affairs News and the Broadcast Journalist (New York: Praeger Special Studies, 1975-$15.00)

Stanley Field's The Mini-Documentary: Serializing TV News (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: Tab Books, 1975—$12.95)

Walter Winchell's Winchell Exclusive (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1975—$8.95)     

The World of Music

Musical Instruments of the World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (New York: Bantam Books, 1978—$9.95, paper)

Warren Craig's Sweet and Lowdown: America's Popular Song Writers (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1978—$25.00)

Norm N. Nite's Rock On: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock 'n Roll– The Modern Years, 1964-Present (New York: Crowell, 1978—$14.95)

Jerry Osborne and Bruce Hamilton's Popular and Rock Records 1948-1978 (Phoenix, Arix.: O'Sullivan Woodside & Co., 1978—$7.95, paper)

Kenny Rogers and Len Epand's Making it with Music: Kenny Rogers' Guide to the Music Business (New York: Harper & Row, 1978—$12.95)

Anthony Fawcett's California Rock/California Sound: The Music of Los Angeles and Southern California (Los Angeles: Reed Books, 1978—$19.95/9.95)

Rock Critics' Choice: The Top 200 Albums (New York: Quick Fox, 1978—$4.95, paper)

Alan Kinzler's Bob Dylan: The Illustrated Record (New York: Harmony Books/Crown, 1978—$15.00/8.95)

John Blair's The Illustrated Discography of Surf Music 1959-1965 (J. Bee Productions, P.O. Box 1584, Riverside, Calif. 92502—$4.00, paper)

Alan Lomax's Folk Song Style and Culture (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books (Rutgers), 1978—$6.95, paper)

Nat Hentoff's The Jazz Life (New York: DaCapo, 1978—$5.95, paper)

George Hoefer, Music on My Mind: The Memoirs of an American Pianist (New York: DaCapo, 1978—$6.95, paper)

Valerie Wilmer's As Serious as Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz (London: Allison & Busby, 1977—E6.50 or about $13.00)     

Writing and Publishing

John Tebbel's A History of Book Publishing in the United States: Volume III--The Golden Age Between Two Wars, 1920-1940 (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1978---$32.50)

Anne Lyon Haight and Chandler Grannis' Banned Books: 387 BC to 1978 AD (New York: Bowker, 1978---$13.95)

Bruce Joel Hillman and Judith Ann Beraha, eds. 1979 Writer's Market (Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1978---$14.95)

Doris Ricker Marston's A Guide to Writing History (Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest, 1976---$8.50)

Girls Series Books: A Checklist of Hardback Books Published 1900-1975 (Children's Literature Research Collections, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, Minn. 55455---price not given, but about $7.50, paper)     

World Communication

GLOBAL INFORMATION AND WORLD COMMUNICATION: NEW FRONTIERS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS by Hamid Mowlana (New York.: Longman, 1986—price not given)

IBM VS. JAPAN: THE STRUGGLE FOR THE FUTURE by Robert Sobel (Briarcliff Manor, NY: Stein & Day, 1986—$18.95)

TELECOMMUNICATIONS—ASIA, AMERICAS, PACIFIC: PTC '86 PROCEEDINGS edited by Dan J. Uedemeyer (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986—$45.00, paper)

JAPANESE-U.S. SPACE POLICY ISSUES: COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE AND LAUNCH VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY by Neil W. Davis (Information Resources Policy Program, Harvard University, 200 Aiken, Cambridge, MA 01238—price not given, paper)

FROM TELECOMMUNICATIONS TO ELECTRONIC SERVICES: A GLOBAL SPECTRUM OF DEFINITIONS, BOUNDARY LINES AND STRUCTURES by Robert Bruce, et al (for information contact International Institute of Communications, Tavistock House South, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9LF)     

Learning to use information: Informed learning in the undergraduate classroom

Informed learning is a pedagogy that focuses on learning subject content through engaging with academic or professional information practices. Adopting the position that more powerful learning is achieved where students are taught how to use information and subject content simultaneously, the research reported here investigated an informed learning lesson. Using phenomenographic methods, students' experiences of the lesson were compared with observations of how the lesson was enacted in the classroom. Based on an analysis of student interviews using variation theory, different ways of experiencing the informed learning lesson emerged. Some students understood the lesson to be about learning to use information, i.e., researching and writing an academic paper, while others understood it as focusing on understanding both subject content and information use simultaneously. Although the results of this study are highly contextualized, the findings suggest criteria to consider when designing informed learning lessons.     

Attitudes,style, and socialization: Predictors of commitment and satisfaction in workgroups

Employees reported attitudes about working in workgroups, their communicator style (relaxed, friendly, and attentiveness), and perceptions of socialization in groups at work. They also reported their commitment to the organization, job satisfaction, and satisfaction with the workplace (ORGSAT). Positive relationships were found between ORGSAT and attitudes, relaxed and friendly styles, and socialization. Multiple Regression analysis demonstrated that socialization best predicted ORGSAT and mediated the relationship between attitudes and friendly style with ORGSAT. Discussion includes the implications for research and the applied value of the findings.     

We Are Happy To Be Here: The Onboarding Experience in Academic Libraries

ABSTRACT

This study looks at the organizational entry or onboarding experience of 20 new academic librarians through a series of interviews. The goal is to explore what new librarians in a variety of settings and career stages consider most important for them to learn during onboarding and the best approaches for sharing information with them. The study also explores how much institutions are actively learning about the signature strengths of new employees as part of the onboarding process. The authors conclude with recommendations for additional research and onboarding process improvements.     

With a Different Marx: Value and the Contradictions of Web 2.0 Capitalism

This perspective examines the source of value in Web 2.0 enterprises such as Facebook and Google by analyzing the advertising model that supplies the bulk of their revenues. Drawing on Marx's understanding of the circulation of value within the capitalist economy as a whole and his concepts of unproductive labor, subsumption of labor, costs of circulation, commercial capital, and primitive accumulation, we analyze the economic relationships of Web 2.0 capital, proposing that revenues from advertising come from value produced in non-Web 2.0 sectors of the economy. On this basis we critique both Fuchs's and Arvidsson and Colleoni's positions on the origin of value in Web 2.0 and recognize some of the difficulties and contradictions of the advertising model as a form of monetization of free services for Web 2.0 capital.