Information-seeking behavior of basic science researchers: implications for library services

Objectives:

This study examined the information-seeking behaviors of basic science researchers to inform the development of customized library services.

Methods:

A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was conducted on a sample of basic science researchers employed at a university medical school.

Results:

The basic science researchers used a variety of information resources ranging from popular Internet search engines to highly technical databases. They generally relied on basic keyword searching, using the simplest interface of a database or search engine. They were highly collegial, interacting primarily with coworkers in their laboratories and colleagues employed at other institutions. They made little use of traditional library services and instead performed many traditional library functions internally.

Conclusions:

Although the basic science researchers expressed a positive attitude toward the library, they did not view its resources or services as integral to their work. To maximize their use by researchers, library resources must be accessible via departmental websites. Use of library services may be increased by cultivating relationships with key departmental administrative personnel. Despite their self-sufficiency, subjects expressed a desire for centralized information about ongoing research on campus and shared resources, suggesting a role for the library in creating and managing an institutional repository.

Highlights

• Basic science researchers rely on a small network of individuals in their institution and at other institutions to satisfy their information needs.
• Basic science researchers tend to ignore institutional boundaries when searching for information and do not necessarily view the library as the primary source of scholarly information.
• Basic science researchers use the interlibrary loan service regularly but otherwise rarely use traditional library services such as mediated literature searching and instruction.

Implications

• The library must establish a presence in researchers'' work environments, rather than expect them to seek out library resources and services.
• The increased emphasis by funding agencies on clinical translational science may impact the information needs of basic science researchers in the future.
• Libraries have an opportunity to capitalize on their positive reputation and basic scientists'' desire for more centralized information to create new information resources and services such as institutional repositories.

     

Youth voices: connections between history, enacted culture and identity in a digital divide initiative

The design of educational experiences is often mediated by historical, institutional, and social conceptions. Although these influences can initially shape the way that educational opportunities are created and implemented, this preliminary form has the potential to reorganize. In this paper, we illustrate how history shows its presence in the ways that instructors systematically arrange a technology course for urban youth. This original approach to the course inhibits youth participation. Incrementally, however, the cultural enactments of instructors and students lead to a reorganization of activity. Through highlighting history and examining the intersection of culture, we provide insight into the ways in which adolescents of color become successfully engaged in learning technology. We focus our study by asking how co-existence and the dialectic of structure and agency play a role as youth develop an identity as a technology user. Further, this emergent learning design affords outsiders a unique view of the educational and contextual experiences of these youth. Our illustration of how history, enacted culture and identity mediate the emergent learning design stems from a grounded theory approach to analyzing video, interview and artifact data in this after-school technology course.

Emergent fields through adaptation and identity: overcoming social distance

We examine the inseparability of one’s environment with the elements of adaptation and identity. Specifically, we revisit the Project H.O.M.E. learning environment as we suggest that the entities of adaption and environment are not only binding, but also naturally in constant flux as they interact with each other. Contrary to nature, however, the social distance between the instructors and learners is the result of a human construct that often hinders adaptation and identity development. We address the factors that afforded participants overcoming social distance and ultimately cultivating a shift in the learning structure of Project H.O.M.E.

The contribution of children's advocacy centers to felony prosecutions of child sexual abuse

ObjectiveTo describe trends of felony sexual abuse prosecutions between 1992 and 2002 for two districts of a large urban city that differed primarily in their use of children's advocacy centers (CACs) for sexual abuse evaluations in children.MethodsAggregate data for two districts of a large urban city were provided from 1992 to 2002 from the district attorney's office, child protective services (CPS) agency, and all CACs serving both districts. Summary statistics were calculated over time and compared between both districts for ecologic trends using negative binomial regression.ResultsOver the time period of the study, substantiated reports of child sexual abuse declined: District 1 experienced a 59% decrease in the incidence of reports, while District 2 experienced a 49% decrease in the incidence of reports. Despite this decrease, felony prosecutions of child sexual abuse increased in District 1 (from 56.6 to 93.0 prosecutions/100,000 children, rate ratio 1.64, 95% CI 1.38–1.95), but did not significantly increase in District 2 (from 58.0 to 54.9 prosecutions/100,000 children, rate ratio 0.94, 95% CI 0.73–1.23); by 2002, the rate of felony prosecutions in District 1 was 69% greater (95% CI 37–109%) than the rate in District 2. In 1992, CACs in District 1 evaluated approximately 400 children, increasing to 1,187 children by 2002. The number of children evaluated by CACs in District 2 increased modestly from nearly 800 in 1992 to 1,000 in 2002.ConclusionFelony prosecutions of child sexual abuse doubled in a district where the use of CACs nearly tripled, while no increase in felony prosecutions of child sexual abuse was found in a neighboring district, where the use of CACs remained fairly constant over time.Practice implicationsThough many limitations exist when bringing together ecological data from different agencies, the strength of the association we observed between increased CAC use and increased felony prosecutions, and the stepwise fashion in which it occurred should support future research to confirm our findings and to delineate which attributes of CAC performance might impact the likelihood of prosecution of child sexual abuse.     

Public Pedagogy and Social Justice in Arts Education

In this article we explore examples of public pedagogical actions and interventions, reading them through a social justice education framework lens. In our discussion we start with definitions of social justice, public pedagogy and case study methodologies. Then, we look at a variety of international examples to highlight the pervasiveness of public pedagogical opportunities in visual culture that include a festival, an individual, a citywide symposium, an online community, a cultural group and a museum exhibition. They are divided into three categories based on social justice principles suggested by Ayers et al. and later interpreted by Dewhurst: (1) Public pedagogy and social justice is rooted in people's experiences: Fiesta del Señor de Choquekillka: Ollantaytambo, Peru and Janet Weight Reed – an artist's public pedagogy utilising social media; (2) Public pedagogy and social justice is a process of reflection and action together: Ideas City Festival and the Vlogbrothers; (3) Public pedagogy and social justice seeks to dismantle systems of inequality to create a more humane society: CULTURUNNERS and sh[OUT]: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex art and culture. It is our hope that in looking more closely at these international examples of public pedagogy and social justice education that the power of such alternative sites of learning is apparent and encourages further interventions and investigations in such spaces of inquiry.     

Lower extremity kinematics of curve sprinting displayed by runners using a transtibial prosthesis

The purpose of the study was to determine if the kinematics exhibited by skilled runners wearing a unilateral, transtibial prosthesis during the curve section of a 200-m sprint race were influenced by interaction of limb-type (prosthetic limb (PROS-L) vs. nonprosthetic limb (NONPROS-L)) and curve-side (inside and outside limb relative to the centre of the curve). Step kinematics, toe clearance and knee and hip flexion/extension, hip ab/adduction for one stride of each limb were generated from video of 13 males running the curve during an international 200 m transtibial-classified competition. Using planned comparisons (P < 0.05), limb-type and curve-side interactions showed shortest support time and lowest hip abduction displacement by outside-NONPROS-L; shortest step length and longest time to peak knee flexion by the inside-PROS-L. For limb-type, greater maximum knee flexion angle and lower hip extension angles and displacement during support and toe clearance of PROS-Ls occurred. For curve-side, higher hip abduction angles during non-support were displayed by inside-limbs. Therefore, practitioners should consider that, for curve running, these kinematics are affected mostly by PROS-L limitations, with no clear advantage of having the PROS-L on either side of the curve.