Public Library Services for Veterans: Selected Brief Case Studies

Public libraries across the country design and deliver programs for military veterans and their families, often collaborating with other organizations and agencies. The examples were assembled from both general and specialized interviews with librarians, and literature and Internet searches, with summaries of programs assembled and written by multiple researchers. The specific limitations on the listing in this article are clearly outlined in the first section. Overall, however, the article provides a good introductory overview of what’s going on in veteran’s programs and services in America’s public libraries in over seventy libraries in forty states. We hope this list of what public libraries have organized or are doing will supply other public librarians with ideas on how to provide new services or enhance their existing ones.     

The inheritance of behavioral wildness in house mice (Mus musculus L.)

Fourteen behavioral measures were ranked according to their ability to differentiate performances of a wild population of mice from three domestic inbred strains. These “wildness” rankings were then analyzed for their ability to predict genetic and Genotype by Environment interactions. Genetic parameters were derived from analysis of three inbred domestic strains and their three hybrid crosses via the diallel technique of genetic analysis. Genotype by Environment interactions were assessed both as mean differences in stock performances resulting from rearing in a laboratory vs naturalistic environment and as differences in environmental variability within stock genotypes. Behavioral characters ranking high on “wildness” failed to demonstrate any unitary pattern of Genotype by Environment interactions. The diallel genetic analysis revealed many examples of additive variation but relatively few examples of dominant variation. An extremely wide range of interactions occurred between genotype and rearing environments, with “wildness” and “developmental homeostasis” concepts both failing to account for all the observed interactions.     

Reference Education: Lessons from Our Students

Students reflecting on their time as students in a school of information provide advice and commentary for their faculty. By revealing their challenges as well as their successes, educators can themselves reflect on the impact of their teaching and the potential it has to assist students on their career paths.     

Discriminating between Competent and Not Yet Competent Beginning Teachers: an analysis of principals’ reports

Principals’ written assessments of 50 high school teachers whom they judged competent for full registration and 32 whom they judged not yet competent and in need of an extended period of provisional registration were analysed in terms of the characteristics used to describe and determine beginning teacher competence. It was found that principals consistently refer to a narrow range of characteristics when describing competent beginning teachers and focus on an even narrower range in deciding whether or not full registration should be granted. Characteristics that describe approaches to teaching are used most often in this regard. While the majority of beginning teachers possess an adequate knowledge base in their subject area, success in the first year of school experience hinges on the ability to communicate such knowledge and concepts to students. The need for further refinement of the appraisal process, including professional development programmes for principals, is highlighted.     

ATTITUDINAL ROOTS OF POPULAR PROTEST: THE FRENCH UPHEAVAL OF MAY 1968

On the basis of logistic regression and employing individual-leveldata from a national panel sample survey, participation in demonstrationsand strikes during the French upheaval of May 1968 is analysed,in terms of attitudes measured during the spring of 1967, morethan a year before the May events occurred. Among the potentialexplanatory factors considered, conventional political orientationswere found to be of pervasive importance, forms of satisfactionand opinions on major issues were operative in a highly selectivefashion, particular to the protesting group, and more genericpsychopolitical values such as trust in government or politicalefficacy, were virtually without independent effects.     

Manifestations of Quality Learning in Computer-Mediated University Courses

A prototype computer-mediated communication system was assessed for its capability to stimulate intellectual activity through mandating peer comments in graduate and undergraduate computer science classes. Measured against Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, about half the total comments in two classes exhibited no evidence of classifiable intellectual activity. Of the remaining half, a positive correlation was found between number of characters and level of cognition exhibited by a comment, though exceptions were found at every level. A significant but weak relationship was also shown between cognitive level of comments and level of classes. The results suggest modifications to the computer-mediated communication system so that students more effectively engage in peer–peer assessment.     

Educational planning for scientific socialism in Mozambique: A view from the left

Two years (1978–1980) of working with educators and the Ministry of Education in Mozambique form the basis of this appraisal of the directions which socialist education is taking there. The influence of East European advisers from centrally planned economies appears to be encouraging a form of education which is authoritarian and, because of planning manpower for rapid industrialisation, elitist, technocratic and inherently undemocratic. Particular note is taken that the techniques of manpower planning applied do not seem appropriate to the changing economy of Mozambique.