The Knowledgebase at the Center of the Universe

ABSTRACT

Since its advent more than 15 years ago, the knowledgebase has quietly deposed the catalog as the center of the library management and discovery universe. Knowledgebases provide libraries with an inventory of their e-resources holdings and describe the materials that a library has purchased at a more granular level than the traditional bibliographic record. Knowledgebases power key tools such as link resolvers and unified search platforms, support management needs across the e-resources lifecycle, and more recently have evolved to intersect with areas such as linked open data, community contribution models, and next-generation library management platforms. They have truly become the hub from which our most vital services operate. This report will provide an overview of “The Knowledgebase at the Center of the Universe,” an American Library Association Technology Report assessing the state of knowledgebase technology. Topics covered will include an overview of the current product landscape, an exploration of new directions, and case studies from libraries and vendors using knowledgebases in innovative ways.     

Exploring the teaching of culture in the foreign language classroom within the context of collaborative professional development: a critical participatory action research study

ABSTRACT

This article describes the experience of French language teachers as they explored interculturality within a collaborative professional development environment. Participants studied how to design culture lessons for their classrooms through the lens of Intercultural Communicative Competence with the support of theoretical frameworks for intercultural learning. The findings underscore a need for teacher professional development that creates space for teachers to explore topics of interest in an in-depth and collaborative manner, that makes time for exploration of theoretical frameworks, and that models practical strategies for embedding interculturality in curricula. Furthermore, this study reveals that explicit examples of intercultural lessons taught while using the target language are needed in order for language teachers to gain confidence in this area.     

Nutrition Column An Update on Water Needs during Pregnancy and Beyond

Adequate water intake is essential to maintaining life. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should be encouraged to increase their intake of water and other fluids to meet their bodies' needs. Infants do not need additional water; breast milk or formula contributes adequate amounts of water to their diet.     

Evaluating Discipline-Based Education Research for Promotion and Tenure

Discipline-based education research (DBER) is an emergent, interdisciplinary field of scholarship aimed at understanding and improving discipline-specific teaching and learning. The number of DBER faculty members in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments has grown rapidly in recent years. Because the interdisciplinary nature of DBER involves social science, senior STEM faculty members may find it challenging to evaluate the quality or impact of DBER scholarship. This essay aims to address this issue by providing guidance on evaluating the scholarly accomplishments of DBER faculty members in a way that is useful to departmental colleagues and administrators during the tenure and promotion evaluation process.     

Gender bias and special education referrals

Referrals for special education determine who receives special education services. The most common referring agents are regular education teachers. Today, there is a large discrepancy between the number of females to males found in learning disabilities programs. However, studies have found the number of female and male students with learning disabilities in schools is more proportional than enrollment in special education suggests. The position of this paper is that gender bias among referring agents is a major factor in the unequal distribution of males and females in learning disabilities programs.     

Maternal Sensitivity and the Security of Infant-Mother Attachment: A Q-Sort Study

40 mothers and their 12-month-old infants were observed twice at home by 2 observers for 2 hours. After the second visit, the observers described the infant using the Waters Attachment Behavior Q-sort and the mother's interactive behavior with the Maternal Behavior Q-sort developed by the present authors and Ainsworth's rating scales. Maternal sensitivity was unrelated to maternal age, income, or SES, but correlated positively with maternal education. Mothers of more difficult children were less sensitive. A strong relation was found between infant attachment and maternal sensitivity as measured by the Maternal Behavior Q-sort and by the Ainsworth scales. Using the Q-sort procedure, mothers of more secure infants were more frequently characterized as noticing their babies' signals and using these signals to guide their behavior; they also were more knowledgeable about their infant and appeared to enjoy them more than mothers of less secure infants.     

Primary school literacy in Southern Africa: African perspectives

This research review examines trends in recent scholarship concerning primary school literacy instruction in Southern Africa. Past scholarship, particularly that which originated from western researchers, focused on technical or structural issues facing literacy instruction in the region, such as language of instruction, school conditions, availability of books, and teacher training. Newer scholarship that has emerged primarily from African researchers focuses more on sociocultural and sociopolitical issues such as promoting a ‘reading culture’, shaping language policy, and examining literacy as a local social practice. Increasingly, researchers advocate local, rather than western/northern, solutions to African problems in literacy development and instruction. However, African perspectives are nevertheless influenced by western perspectives and agendas, as a result of colonialism, postcolonialism, and globalisation. Hybrid solutions that combine western and African perspectives therefore may be important for literacy development in the region.     

Creating a Library Orientation Card Game to Reach New Transfer Students

Librarians and staff at a public university drew upon previous experience with instructional games to develop, implement, and assess a card game as a library orientation activity for new transfer students. This project was shaped by a desire to meet transfer students’ unique needs as well as the logistical constraints associated with the university’s transfer student orientation. The card game, modeled after Apples to Apples, presented information about the campus library system in a fun, informal way that allowed transfer students to socialize with each other while learning. Survey responses indicated that students found the game both enjoyable and helpful.     

Maternal obesity from all sides

This column features excerpts from a recent series of articles from the Lamaze International research blog, Science & Sensibility. The eight-part series examined the issue of maternal obesity from various perspectives, incorporating writings from Kimmelin Hull, a physician assistant, a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, and the community manager of Science & Sensibility; Kristen Montgomery, a nursing professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Pamela Vireday, a childbirth educator and blogger; and Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, a health psychologist, lactation consultant, and writer/speaker. The authors of the blog series, titled "Maternal Obesity from All Sides," reviewed current research about risks associated with maternal obesity as well as the humanistic issues and lived experiences of pregnant women of size.