The changing role of school/media resource libraries in secondary schools in Singapore and the need to implement mandatory standards, 1946–2010: Issues, challenges and opportunities

The aim of this paper is to study the development and evolution of secondary school libraries into Media Resource Libraries (MRLs) in Singapore after the Second World War and the rationale to have mandatory school library standards. It is an historical survey analysing published data about the linkages of libraries and librarianship, school library standards, education and school reforms in Singapore. It analyses historical and current documents on the roles played by stakeholders like the Library Association of Singapore (LAS) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) in the introduction and development of school library standards. The need for school libraries standards was first discussed when the Malayan Library Group (MLG) organised the first course on librarianship for school teachers in 1955, but, with no follow through. The need for school libraries standards was also mentioned by the LAS in 1962 in a memorandum to the Commission of Enquiry into Education to train teacher librarians and adopt school library standards. However, this was left out in the final report of the Commission published in 1964. The need for school library standards was discussed in a school library seminar for 150 teacher librarians in 1970. The first Recommended Minimum Standards for Secondary School Libraries was published two years later by the Standing Committee on Libraries set up by the MOE, but it was not mandatory for schools to adopt the standards. In 1997 the MOE launched its “Thinking School Learning Nation” vision to teach thinking skills. Students were expected to do multidisciplinary project work and be independent users of information. The MOE began to convert school libraries into Media Resource Libraries (MRLs) with print and non-print materials. However, a survey conducted in 2001 on the roles and competencies of 112 Library Coordinators (LCs) or teacher librarians revealed that they lack the skills and knowledge to manage MRLs effectively. This is because subsequent school library standards published in 1983 and 2002 did not require trained and full-time teacher librarians to manage the MRLs. Furthermore, it is essential for the standards to be periodically updated with regards to professional staff, collection development, facilities, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure and school library programs. Otherwise, MRLs risk being “hollow shells still considered on the periphery of core educational requirements, and are run by teachers not professionally prepared to do the work” (Hart, 2001, p. 25). The national standards published in the United States from 1918 to 2008 are well researched and provide substantive guidelines to develop school libraries. Therefore, it is essential for the MOE to formulate MRL standards by doing comparative studies of school library standards in other countries. These standards have to be mandatory and fully adopted by the schools. It provides opportunities for stakeholders like the LAS, National Library Board (NLB), the National Institute of Education (NIE), and the Singapore Teachers’ Union, to collaborate in the formulation of these standards and take collective ownership to implement them.     

高师心理学多媒体授课:理论指导与应用整合

多媒体技术的应用是高师心理学教学改革的方向。本文从理论与应用整合两个方面进行了分析论述,并提出了相应的整合模式与基本原则和策略要求。     

高校图书馆的媒体素养教育责任

本文讨论了媒体素养的意义，介绍了国内外媒体素养教育概况，对高校图书馆可以实行的策略提出具体的建议。     

利用CDN技术为现代远程教育提速

本文从目前网络教育的传输效率瓶颈出发,结合远程教育的特点深入探讨了实现CDN的关键技术。并针对电大远程教育的特点,提出了实施CDN技术对解决当前问题的可行性建议。     

传媒集团化趋势与其影响

传媒产业自 1970年开始向整合、集团化发展。媒体企业之间基于综效及强化竞争力等因素而引起的并购活动是近年来企业成长 ,以及媒体集团快速出现、整合的主要方式。而集团整合的结果使得目前全球主要的大型媒体集团 ,皆为多元化经营的大型媒体集团公司 ,跨足了平面及电子媒体等各项传播领域 ,并造成市场占有率的集中化现象。本文还从媒体垄断 ,以及对新闻传统和个人的重击等方面 ,探讨了媒体集团化所带来的影响     

Building bridges across fields, universities, and countries: Successfully funding communication research through interdisciplinary collaboration

Even though there are few directorates explicitly dedicated to communication research at places like the National Science Foundation, there are significant opportunities for funding of interdisciplinary research on "communication problems." This article informally shares some principles, rules of thumb, and ideas about funding communication technology research projects, though it applies to other areas as well. The article draws on the experience of the communication technology research experience at the international, cross-university, and interdisciplinary network of Media Interface and Network Design (M.I.N.D.) Labs.     

上市公司治理结构存在的问题及根源分析

公司治理结构是公司持续发展和核心竞争能力的制度基础。建立科学、规范、完善的公司法人治理结构，是深化公司改革、建立现代企业制度、实现公司价值与股东利益最大化的关键环节，是完善社会主义市场经济的根本要求。对现有公司治理结构存在问题及其根源进行较全面的分析，目的在于提出改革完善我国上市公司治理结构的措施。     

试论我国公司自治存在的主要问题及对策

我国公司自治发展的历史不长,其主要依据是现行的公司法。但现行公司法是10多年前制定的,具有过渡性和时代局限性,存在着对公司的管制过多、过强、过滥等问题,对我国社会经济政治文化生活特别是公司自身发展产生了诸多不良影响。因此,有必要对其进行大刀阔斧的改革,以更新其观念,完善其制度,促进其自治。     

我国上市公司信息披露中存在的问题、原因及治理对策

当前,我国上市公司存在着信息披露违规、不真实、不及时等问题,产生这些问题的原因主要是法制和公司治理结构不健全、有监督权的中介机构处弱势地位、中小股东无为等。为此我们应针对以上原因制定相应的措施来加强上市公司信息披露的管理。     

浅谈公司治理与会计信息披露的互动影响

公司治理与会计信息披露相辅相成,公司治理机制有效,才能保证信息披露的质量;而会计信息披露的真实、及时和完整是公司治理的基本条件。