False Uniqueness: the Self‐Perception of New Entrants to Higher Education in the UK and Its Implications for Access – a Pilot Study1

A central tenet of contemporary education policy relates to the desire to extend higher education (HE) provision to less advantaged groups (‘widening participation’). Our paper contends that a key behavioural obstacle to widening participation lies in the erroneous belief that persists among potential entrants from disadvantaged backgrounds as to their capabilities of succeeding within the HE environment – a perception that serves to deflate application/recruitment rates from such groupings. We test this ‘false uniqueness’ thesis using a sample of 127 new UK undergraduates, finding that students drawn from lower social class backgrounds consistently underestimated their abilities vis‐à‐vis the overall cohort.     

Metadata Collaboration between the Swiss National Library and Research Institutions in the Field of Swiss Historiography

Abstract

This article presents examples of metadata collaborations between the Swiss National Library (NL) and research institutions in the field of Swiss historiography. The NL publishes the Bibliography on Swiss History (BSH). In order to meet the demands of its research community, the NL has improved the accessibility and interoperability of the BSH database. Moreover, the BSH takes part in metadata projects such as Metagrid, a web service linking different historical databases. Other metadata collaborations with partners in the historical field such as the Law Sources Foundation (LSF) will position the BSH as an indispensable literature hub for publications on Swiss history.     

The Impact of Process Instructions on Judges’ Use of Examinee Performance Data in Angoff Standard Setting Exercises

Despite being widely used and frequently studied, the Angoff standard setting procedure has received little attention with respect to an integral part of the process: how judges incorporate examinee performance data in the decision‐making process. Without performance data, subject matter experts have considerable difficulty accurately making the required judgments. Providing data introduces the very real possibility that judges will turn their content‐based judgments into norm‐referenced judgments. This article reports on three Angoff standard setting panels for which some items were randomly assigned to have incorrect performance data. Judges were informed that some of the items were accompanied by inaccurate data, but were not told which items they were. The purpose of the manipulation was to assess the extent to which changing the instructions given to the judges would impact the extent to which they relied on the performance data. The modified instructions resulted in the judges making less use of the performance data than judges participating in recent parallel studies. The relative extent of the change judges made did not appear to be substantially influenced by the accuracy of the data.     

Refocusing a gift program in an academic library

Colorado State University Libraries' recent decision to eliminate its general gift program—and to restrict future gifts-in-kind to materials supporting archives and special collections—came within the context of a number of converging external pressures. In this article, the authors will examine issues arising from a major change in gift operations, as well as report on the collaborative efforts to formulate, implement, and communicate to constituencies a new policy on gift acquisitions.