Google Forms and Sheets for library gate counts

Building usage statistics are vital for supporting causes of funding, space, and staffing, but they can be cumbersome and costly to track and cull for useful data. Institutions already using Google Drive and its apps can implement a free solution to greatly reduce the amount of time and labor involved in utilizing this metric. Google Forms and Google Sheets allow the Binghamton University Libraries to easily and accurately collect gate counts for four separate locations, using automatic calculations to maintain up-to-the-hour reporting ability. With the support of these data, the Libraries are able to support decisions regarding resources, staffing, and hours of operation.     

Dictamen: The medieval rhetoric of letter‐writing

Dictamen was one of the two major directions of medieval rhetoric theory. Beginning as a series of rules for church letters based on classical antecedents, the art was spread widely through the use of formularies.     

Criterion Bias in Examine Centered Standard Setting: Some Thought Experiments

How can a thought experiment be used to examine issues in the selection and use of criteria in standard setting? How does the selection of a criterion affect the decisions which are made about examinees?     

Creating a consumer health outreach program for Western New York senior citizens: continuing a library school project

The Internet has made accessing information a simple task. Each day millions of Americans log on to the Web in search of information on a variety of subjects. One of the most sought after type of information is medical information. Individuals are taking a more proactive role in their personal health care and the health care of their friends and families. Attempting to locate and evaluate quality health care information can pose a variety of problems for the consumer. Academic libraries have an opportunity to play a crucial role in facilitating the consumer's access to quality, reliable health information by developing and implementing consumer health outreach programs designed to address search problems and information interpretation difficulties. The benefits for both the community and the library are numerous when a consumer health information outreach program is successfully employed. This article will chronicle the creation of a Consumer Health Outreach program, entitled "WNY Consumer Health," intended for senior citizens in Western New York. This program was designed to satisfy the requirements of a graduate special project for the completion of the authors' MLS degree.     

An Exploratory Study of Part-Time Minorities: Finding Home as a Minority Member

This study examines an atypical population of immigrants in Taiwan who immigrated in search of home, self-discovery, and career opportunities. Many of these immigrants sit at the nexus of privilege and othering with their ability to pass as Caucasian. Through the participatory method Photovoice and semi-structured interviews, I investigate the fluid nature of identity processes, the extent that acculturation hinges on predetermined factors, and the benefits and costs of biculturalism, which include cultural fusion and liminality. Additionally, I investigate the impact of context on acculturation strategies and the experience of transformation.     

Doing a science project: Gender differences during childhood

By adolescence, men's participation and achievement in science exceeds women's. This article reports a case study that examined the beginnings of this gender differentiation during a naturally occurring academic activity that was designed to support and guide young children's interest in doing science. Data were collected during 2 successive years of a science fair for children in Grades 1–6 of a progressive private school. A total of 268 projects were characterized in terms of achievement and area of science. Parents provided information about the way children selected and created projects. In both years and in all grade levels, boys tended to choose to work in the physical sciences, and girls in the biological and social sciences. Peer collaborations were exclusively same sex. Achievement and parental involvement were not gender related. Factors are discussed that might lead to an early divergence of boys' and girls' interests in science within a context that promotes its exploration. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 845–857, 1998.     

Correction to: The summer learning effect in writing in New Zealand

Reading and Writing - The original publication of the article contained an error.     

The pragmatics of payment: adventures in first-person economy with Bill Maurer

Bill Maurer, Dean of the School of Social Sciences, Professor of Anthropology and Law, and Director of the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion, all at the University of California, Irvine, has recently joined the Journal of Cultural Economy editorial team. Here, we reproduce an interview with him by Lauren Tooker from September 2014.     

Effects of degree of segmentation and learner disposition on multimedia learning

The construction of asynchronous learning environments often involves the creation of self‐paced multimedia instructional episodes that provide the learner with control over the pacing of instruction (segmentation); however, does the amount of segmentation impact learning? This study explored the effects of the degree of segmentation on recall and application of new knowledge and the nature of learner dispositions toward segmentation. Undergraduate students (n = 212) were randomly assigned to engage in a 9‐minute multimedia tutorial (ie, instructionally designed video‐based presentation) addressing historical inquiry that was divided into 1, 7, 14 or 28 segments (degree of segmentation) where students had control over when each segment began via a “Continue” button. Students' dispositions toward the segmentation—helped learning, made learning easier, made learning confusing, was annoying or seemed appropriate—were also measured. Results indicated that increased segmentation facilitated recall and application; however, learners perceived a high degree of segmentation (28 segments) more negatively. Overall, these results indicate that increased segmentation within a multimedia instructional environment has a positive influence on recall and application, regardless of the learner's disposition toward the segmentation.