Medical Librarianship in Nigeria--a review of the literature and comments on some problems and prospects.

The literature of medical librarianship of Nigeria is reviewed. The staff structure of Nigerian univeristy libraries and, in particular, of the medical libraries attached to them is restrictive, unprogressive, and unconducive to the development of medical librarianship in Nigeria. These medical libraries should cease to be administered and regarded as just unavoidable appendages of the main university libraries. They should be independent, full-fledged libraries of their own, recognixed as full academic departments of their respective colleges or faculties, with their heads being in no way inferior in status to other heads of academic departments.The granting of faculty status to Nigerian unviersity librarians should go the whole way and let the principle of multiple professorships be applied to the staff structure of unviersity libraries. Efforts are being made to effect bibliographic organization of Nigerian medical literature. A national library of medicine for Nigeria, however, humble its beginning, should be established.     

Museums at the crossroad: Contributing to dialogue, curiosity and wonder in natural history museums

The first natural history collections opened to the public were inspired by a sense of curiosity and wonder about the products of nature. They were ‘cabinets of curiosities’ that offered a first-hand interaction between owner and visitors. Nowadays, these two facets of the museum experience—dialogue and wonder—have been lost, in part, due to the information overload coming via the media and the impersonal nature of the museum visit. This paper offers some reflections on the evolution of the museum visit, suggests some ways to rediscover this ‘sense of wonder’ and provides ideas on how to promote two-way communication with museum visitors. Two examples of exhibitions are offered as illustrations of the points discussed.     

The terrible gift: Museums and the possibility of hope without consolation

Public history is turned toward the future no less than the past. Little discussion exists as to how practices of public history might foster new ways to live with the presence of history. Museum exhibitions are one site where such discussions may take place. Particularly generative in this regard are exhibitions that present artifacts and documentation that reference state-sponsored violence. One such exhibition in development is discussed. While this exhibition presents evidence of past events, it also assembles traces of the past and bequeaths them as a testament, “a terrible gift” that places difficult demands on those to whom it has been given. In discussing the practices of inheritance initiated by such a gift implications are drawn for how museums might initiate a reconsideration of the force of history in social life.     

Employee mistreatment and muted voices in the culturally diverse workplace

This study examines mistreatment through the perspectives of employees with different cultural backgrounds and positions in order to understand the ways in which some voices are muted and others are privileged. Mistreatment is interactional, distributive, procedural, or systemic abuse of employees taking place at both interpersonal and institutional levels on the basis of cultural diversity. Narrative analysis of semi-structured interviews with employees of a large research and development organization revealed three types of muted narratives used to respond to mistreatment (muted-but-engaged, angrily disengaged, and resigned) as well as one type of privileged response. The narratives provided evidence of two processes by which voices became muted: repeated silencing over time and silencing through ambiguity of policies.     

Indianapolis I3: the third generation Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems.

In 2001, the Regenstrief Institute for Health Care and the Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) began an IAIMS planning effort to create a vision and a tactical plan for the first Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS) implementation to cross a large area and include unaffiliated institutions. A number of elements made this planning effort unique. Among these elements were the existence of a network infrastructure that supported the Indianapolis Network for Patient Care, the existence of a mature medical informatics program at the Regenstrief Institute, and the existence of a wide-area knowledge network fostered by the IUSM libraries. However, the leadership for a strong information technology role in the IUSM that could promote collaboration in support of education and research across the diverse Indianapolis hospital systems had been lacking. By bringing together various groups, each with a commitment to improve health care quality and public health across the Indianapolis metropolitan area, regardless of individual institutional affiliation, the strategic directions for I3-Indianapolis IAIMS Initiative have been defined and the foundations for a third generation IAIMS construct have been laid in Indianapolis, Indiana.     

Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprojekte Virtuelle Maschinen: zSeries- und S/390-Partitionierung

Der gleichzeitige Betrieb mehrerer Gast-Betriebssysteme auf einem einzigen physischen Rechner unter einem Host-Betriebssystem ist eine leistungsfähige moderne Entwicklung. Bekannte Beispiele sind VMware für die IA32-Architektur sowie das Betriebssystem z/VM und die PR/SM-LPAR Einrichtungen der zSeries-Architektur. Die Nutzung eines Betriebssystems als Gast bedingt einen Leistungsverlust. Die als Partitionierung bezeichnete Zuordnung von Systemressourcen zu den einzelnen Gast-Betriebssysteme ist schwierig, wenn eine dynamische Anpassung an sich ändernde Lastprofile erforderlich ist. Diese Probleme lassen sich mittels Erweiterungen der Hardwarearchitektur adressieren, sowie durch Softwarestrukturen, welche diese Erweiterungen nutzen. Die Erweiterungen der Hardwarearchitektur gehen über das hinaus, was auf heutigen Rechnerarchitekturen wie IA32 oder Mips verfügbar ist. Der vorliegende Beitrag erläutert den optimalen Betrieb von Gast-Betriebssystemen und die begleitenden Partitionierungsmöglichkeiten auf der zSeries-Plattform und beschreibt die zusätzlichen Hardware- und Software-Einrichtungen, welche dies ermöglichen.