Federal publications cutbacks: Implications for libraries

Since President Reagan's April 1981 moratorium on new government publications and audiovisual products, the restrictions this administration has imposed on executive agency data collection and publishing activities have provoked considerable controversy both in Congress and in the media. This article attempts to characterize the impact on libraries of the restrictions. An examination of the Office of Management and Budget's List of Government Publications Terminated and Consolidated by Agency as compared with depository distribution patterns, agency publication policies established by the President's Task Force on Management Reform, and reductions in data collection activities directed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs are reported. A pattern of neglect in federal information collection and dissemination is shown to increase libraries' dependence on private sector publishing of government information, and to reduce the availability and comparability of certain federal statistical documentation collected by libraries.     

Intercultural marriages: An intrareligious perspective

This study examines 108 intercultural and 62 intracultural, intrareligious marriages in Hawaii in terms of inferred causality or internal and external variables affecting the satisfaction of the relationship. Personal questionnaires were conducted privately by an interculturally trained interviewer with each marriage partner. Intercultural couples reported significantly more external problems (intercultural experiences attributed to extended family members, relatives, friends and community), greater assimilation pressures on the female towards accepting the husband's culture and greater negative responses toward intercultural marriage per se than intracultural couples. Responses were in concurrence with the idea that for an intercultural, intrareligious marriage to suceed it demands considerable more sacrifice, patience, and commitment.     

Quality markers and use of electronic journals in an academic health sciences library.

OBJECTIVES: Patterns of use of electronic versions of journals supplied by an academic health sciences library were examined to determine whether they differed from patterns of use among corresponding print titles and to relate the applicability of print collection development practices to an electronic environment. METHODS: Use data supplied by three major vendors of electronic journals were compared to reshelving data for corresponding print titles, impact factors, and presence on Brandon/Hill Lists. RESULTS: In collections where one-click access from a database record to the full text of articles was possible, electronic use correlated with print use across journal pairs. In both versions, Brandon/Hill titles were used more frequently than non-Brandon/Hill titles, use had modest correlations with journals' impact factors, and clinical use appeared to be higher than research use. Titles that had not been selected for the library's print collections, but which were bundled into publishers' packages, received little use compared to electronic titles also selected in print. CONCLUSIONS: Collection development practices based on quality and user needs can be applied with confidence to the electronic environment. Facilitating direct connections between citation databases and the corresponding journal articles regardless of platform or publisher will support scholarship and quality health care.     

THE EFFECT OF SENIOR AUDITORS ON COLLEGE CLASSES: AN ASSESSMENT BY FACULTY MEMBERS

College and university programs that permit older persons to audit regularly scheduled classes free of charge through tuition waiver programs are open to those aged 60 and over or 65 and over in at least 44 states. A study of such a program at a medium‐sized state university included a survey of 135 faculty members teaching classes audited by elder students. Seventy‐four percent of faculty members surveyed returned a one‐page survey questionnaire that asked them to describe the behavior of older auditors and compare them to younger students. Findings indicate that senior auditors are conscientious, most attending classes regularly and some completing written assignments and taking tests. Faculty members indicated that older auditors make a positive difference in class, learn as quickly as younger students, and are more motivated than younger students. Ninety percent of faculty respondents felt that the free audit program offers older students something of value. No significant differences in responses were found when controlling for the teaching experience of faculty members, for their age, or for the number of older students who had audited their classes.