Essential Skills for Corporate and Special Librarians

Abstract

Library science programs must be responsive to the wide variety of workplace needs to ensure that graduating students are prepared with appropriate knowledge and skills regardless of where their career path brings them, and to do so they must understand the various needs and expectations of the field. Through a nationwide study of over 2,000 current professionals and LIS faculty, this study examines the knowledge, skills, and abilities identified as core for special and corporate librarians. The results help establish a baseline of skills for corporate and special librarians, which will be of interest to current and emerging professionals interested in a career in these settings and could have implications for LIS education.     

Metacognitive activity in the physics student laboratory: is increased metacognition necessarily better?

In this study natural-in-action metacognitive activity during the student laboratory in university physics is explored, with an aim towards quantifying the amount of metacognition used by the students. The study investigates whether quantifying natural-in-action metacognition is possible and valuable for examining teaching and learning in these contexts. Video recordings of student groups working during three types of introductory physics laboratories were transcribed and then coded using a coding scheme developed from related research on mathematical problem solving. This scheme identifies a group’s general behaviour and metacognitive activity. The study recognizes that reliably identifying metacognition is challenging, and steps are taken to improve reliability. Results suggest that a greater amount of metacognition does not appear to improve students’ success in the laboratory—what appears to matter is whether the metacognition causes students to change behaviour. This study indicates that it is important to consider the outcome of metacognition, not just the amount.

Income is not enough: incorporating material hardship into models of income associations with parenting and child development

Although research has clearly established that low family income has negative impacts on children's cognitive skills and social-emotional competence, less often is a family's experience of material hardship considered. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (N=21,255), this study examined dual components of family income and material hardship along with parent mediators of stress, positive parenting, and investment as predictors of 6-year-old children's cognitive skills and social-emotional competence. Support was found for a model that identified unique parent-mediated paths from income to cognitive skills and from income and material hardship to social-emotional competence. The findings have implications for future study of family income and child development and for identification of promising targets for policy intervention.     

Infant joint attention, temperament, and social competence in preschool children

Infant joint attention has been observed to be related to social-emotional outcomes in at-risk children. To address whether this relation is also evident in typically developing children, 52 children were tested at 12, 15, 24, and 30 months to examine associations between infant joint attention and social outcomes. Twelve-month initiating and responding to joint attention were related to 30-month social competence and externalizing behavior, even when accounting for 15-month temperament ratings, 24-month cognition and language, and demographic variables. These results suggest that, in addition to associations with language and cognition, infant joint attention reflects robust aspects of development that are related to individual differences in the emergence of social and behavioral competence in childhood.     

本期话题：多元语境中的话语场——文艺复兴时期关于亚里士多德《修辞学》的论争：传播理论的跨文化解读

本演讲探讨了欧洲早期艺复兴期间（大约1350—1700）为解读亚里士多德的（修辞学）中的论述所做出的努力,讨论了欧洲的注释在理解亚里士多德的（修辞学〉中所遇到的困难,关注了当时学意料之外的某些论争,并力图阐释引起这些论争的原因。作认为,人们力图阐释关于一种化的论述并力图从另一种化的需求和兴趣来解读这种论述的努力对中美两国具有重要意义,这些阐释所可能引发的结果也具有积极意义。作的这种解读对当今世界——对中国和“西方”国家富有更为广泛的意义——因为他在试图解读产生于一种化而被转译到另一种化的修辞学和传播学理论。作指出,在欧洲艺复兴时期,人们相信修辞学和社会很大程度上是一回事。修辞学能够使人们避免暴力、摆脱兽性,使许多不同人的思想统一起来,促成一种包容各种矛盾的和谐社会。修辞学使我们变得明。[第一段]     

Changing roles in sustaining successful charter school leadership in high poverty schools: Voices from the field

Effective educational leadership is essential for the success of schools and ultimately student achievement. The impact of school leadership may be even more pronounced in charter schools. Due to current and unprecedented growth, unique design, and complexities of political, financial, and governance issues they face, there is a need for more highly qualified charter school leaders and perhaps even “differently” prepared leaders. In this qualitative study, the authors documented the characteristics and skills of two successful, sustained charter school leaders who retrospectively described their evolved and evolving roles over twenty five years. Each transformed high-poverty, low-performing schools with at-risk populations and led with vision, passion, and a relentless desire to positively influence their organizations and ultimately improve student success in their communities. Although many of their skills and characteristics fall within existing theories, such as situational leadership, transformational leadership, and distributive leadership, they embodied a level of dedication and commitment to the original communities in which they founded charters lasting over a quarter of a century. The findings suggest that founding a charter school and seeing it through to success over time may more closely resemble missionary work than traditional school leadership.     

Let's Talk About Maths: The Role of Observed “Maths‐Talk” and Maths Provisions in Preschoolers' Numeracy

Developmental cognitive neuroscience highlights the importance of interactions between children and their environment. As young children spend increasing time in childcare, it is key to investigate the impact of “maths‐talk” and maths provisions in preschools. Qualitative insights from early educators indicate a greater bias toward counting activities than would be expected given the Early Years curriculum. In addition, we quantified the observed breadth of preschool practitioners' maths language (e.g., place‐value language), setting‐based maths provisions (e.g., quality of maths‐related activities), and their relation with children's early numeracy skills. In settings with greater practitioners' breadth of maths language, children display greater cardinality skills although our data call for the further investigation of parental socioeconomic status and education. We conclude with a discussion on the need to operationalize children's maths learning environments as diversely as possible. Enriching practitioners' skill sets may be an effective and needed way of improving early maths outcomes.     

Next Steps for Mind,Brain, and Education: Strengthening Early‐Career Development

An increasing number of scholars are being trained in the field of mind, brain, and education (MBE), yet discussions of trainees' needs and how to meet them are rare. We, the inaugural International Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES) Trainee Board, identify three broad needs of MBE trainees: guidance and support, greater access to and connections among the MBE community, and professional development. We report a first step to address these needs: a daylong trainee conference, which included sessions to foster connections among trainees, provide mentorship from MBE leaders, and provide knowledge and skill building for careers. Attendees' survey results suggest the conference successfully supported trainees' development. As substantial trainee needs remain, we offer specific ways that principal investigators, institutions, funding agencies, future IMBES trainee boards, and the MBE community can further address trainees' needs to support early‐career development and strengthen the MBE field generally.