An Examination of Lending Fees at 30 Academic Libraries in the Southeast

Current fiscal shortfalls are projected to bring deep and long-lasting budget cuts to libraries. With every budget dollar under close scrutiny, the urgency of filling patron information needs efficiently and cost-effectively increases. Interlibrary loan plays an important role in filling in gaps in library collections, yet as significant budget cuts are made at libraries of all sizes, materials will be available from fewer and fewer lenders. Libraries unable to find items from those with whom they have reciprocal arrangements will be will be forced to use lenders who charge. This article examines fees associated with interlibrary lending in 30 academic libraries in the southeast from 1995 and 2008.     

Online peer observation: its value in teacher professional development,support and well-being

This article discusses an online peer observation project conceived to enhance language-teacher positivity and creativity in synchronous virtual classrooms. Participants worked part-time at the UK’s Open University (OU) in a blended context and came from two different groups distant from each other and geographically dispersed within their own group. As a result of the project, participants perceived an increase in their confidence and greater willingness to experiment. They appreciated better how they fitted into the wider OU teaching community, built new professional friendships and flexible communities of practice, and developed a better understanding of how to progress their own self-development.     

Cognitive processes underlying WISC-R performance of gifted and learning disabled navajos

The purpose of this study was to provide an empirical basis for the interpretation of the WISC-R performance of Navajo children according to the Luria-Das Model of Simultaneous and Successive cognitive processes. Two groups of Native American Navajo subjects, 45 learning disabled and 41 gifted, were given the WISC-R. The scores on those subtests expected to involve Successive and Simultaneous processes were factor analyzed for each group and two factors were extracted. The factors, essentially similar for both samples, were interpreted to reflect the Successive and the Simultaneous modes of processing information as suggested by the Luria-Das Model. The gifted and learning disabled children had disparate loadings for some of the subtests, suggesting that the two groups may be using distinct modes of coding information.     

The ‘double-edged sword’ of a sessional academic career

ABSTRACT

There have been widespread changes to working arrangements and employment relationships, including significant decreases in continuing/full-time employment contracts. This trend is particularly notable in academia, with more universities relying on the expertise of sessional, teaching-focused academics. This qualitative study extends understanding of this important group of professionals, identifying sessional work as a ‘double-edged sword’ and suggesting a typology of sessional academic careers to be tested in future research. It reports on the diversity among sessional academics, some enjoying the autonomy and flexibility of this working arrangement, others seeking more job security and greater alignment with continuing employment. It also identifies synergies and contradictions between sessional academic careers and key themes in the contemporary careers literature.