Clinical Office Safety: Strategies to Enhance the Safety of Staff and Clients

Mental health practitioners' exposure to threats and acts of nonfatal violence are among the highest of all professions. Implementing a comprehensive workplace violence prevention program specific to the clinical setting is paramount to decreasing these risks. However, generic security recommendations at times come in conflict with the professional, legal, ethical, and budgetary constraints unique to the clinical environment. This article discusses how the various types of security surveys, policy considerations and practical training applications can be implemented with sensitivity to those challenges and still enhance the safety of staff and clients alike.     

Validating a teaching survey which drives increased response rates in a unit survey

At Curtin University, student perceptions of teaching and learning are gathered and reported online through eVALUate, a system that includes separate unit and teaching surveys. This article reports the development and validation of one of those surveys, the eVALUate teaching survey, which was developed based on the research literature on excellent teaching and evaluation. Since its development in 2006, repeated statistical testing using progressively larger samples has shown that the survey is valid and reliable. Moreover, the way in which the teaching survey is deployed within eVALUate, appended to the unit survey, which provides crucial institutional data, has significantly increased university response rates. This validated instrument is used for self-reflection, professional development, and rewarding staff.     

The Cataloging of Self-Published Items

Abstract

This article presents the results of a 2015 survey of librarians who catalog self-published items. The survey was conducted in response to the growing popularity of self-publishing and the increasing prevalence of self-published items in libraries. Survey respondents were asked to describe how they are cataloging these items and to provide representative examples of the records they have created. An analysis of both the survey responses and the records is presented, followed by suggestions for best practices for cataloging these items.     

Budgeting for and Controlling the Cost of Other in Library Expenditures

No abstract available for this article.     

Collection Condition Assessment in a Midsized Academic Library

In 2014, Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks conducted its first collection condition survey. The institutionally significant Alaska Collection was chosen as a manageable project. Research design based on the literature review led the researcher to conduct two surveys: one examining the entire collection and one looking at only those books most recently circulated. The combined surveys revealed that the circulating books are much more badly damaged that the books in the collection that do not circulate, across a variety of attributes.     

“I Fell into Librarianship”: Experiences of Post-Soviet Librarians at the National Academic Library in Astana,Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the attitudes of librarians in post-Soviet Kazakhstan regarding their roles at the new National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NAL). Using ethnographic observation, interviews, and surveys of library staff (n = 24), we find that Kazakhstani librarians either sensed a “calling” to librarianship or “fell into” library careers given life circumstances, and value their library for its contribution to cultural preservation and digital access on a national scale. This pilot project presents NAL to an international community, sharing the voices of Russian- and Kazakh-speaking librarians to highlight the role of libraries in the development of the post-Soviet nation.     

Slavic and East European Web Catalogs as a Resource for Catalogers

ABSTRACT

Web catalogs of libraries in Slavic and East European countries are a useful resource for catalogers outside the region. The author gives some tips for using such catalogs and lists a few that she has found helpful.     

The Jewish Archival Survey: Tracing Jewish Records in the Former Soviet Archives

SUMMARY

As the rigors of the Soviet-era prohibitions in the post-Soviet archives were eased in the early 1990s, students of Russian-Jewish history in the former Soviet Union, as well as from abroad, have been using this opportunity to search for records of the Russian-Jewish past. The Jewish Archival Survey, a joint program of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and the Russian State University for the Humanities has been among the earliest initiatives in this field.     

The University of Texas at Arlington's Virtual Reference Service

Abstract

The University of Texas at Arlington's Library began using an online chat reference in 2002. The service, called Collaborative Digital Reference Service, later became “Ask a Librarian.” Slightly over one year later, the library joined the University of Texas System's “Ask a Librarian” service. Both services are powered by software suite called QuestionPoint. In May 2003 and May 2004, the library's reference staff shared their views towards this new reference tool by completing a questionnaire. Statistics and staff members' responses are analyzed in this study.