Food (in)security communication: a Journal of Applied Communication Research forum addressing current challenges and future possibilities

ABSTRACT

This forum brings together food, (in)security, and communication. The authors participating in this forum center communication as both process and tool for understanding, mitigating, and making meaning of food (in)security. The nine authors together discuss the role of communication in food (in)security, the central challenges for scholars and practitioners working on food (in)security, and the creative possibilities and impacts influencing the future of food (in)security. The forum produces a call for applied scholars to re-imagine communication frameworks in order to make meaningful differences in their communities.     

Characteristics of early adopters of end-user online searching in the health professions

This paper examines end-user, online searching using data from a questionnaire mailed to 150 Canadian health professionals in practice settings. The response rate was 83% (n = 124). The data provide a demographic profile of early adopters of end-user searching in the health care community. Positive correlations with the user's level of implementation of end-user searching were found for the following variables: amount of time spent in research activities, amount of system training received, and use of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). There was a negative association between the amount of time spent in patient care and implementation level. General practitioners and family physicians had lower implementation levels than physicians in other specialties. Successful implementers were more likely to be computer literate and to place a high value on formal information sources such as books, journals, and libraries. Health professionals using so-called "user-friendly" or menu-based software had lower levels of personal commitment to using online databases, as measured by a combination of continuance of use, willingness to pay personally, type of recommendations made to colleagues, and hardware ownership.     

Standards for the academic veterinary medical library.

The Standards Committee of the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section was appointed in May 2000 and charged to create standards for the ideal academic veterinary medical library, written from the perspective of veterinary medical librarians. The resulting Standards for the Academic Veterinary Medical Library were approved by members of the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section during MLA '03 in San Diego, California. The standards were approved by Section Council in April 2005 and received final approval from the Board of Directors of the Medical Library Association during MLA '04 in Washington, DC.     

Conservation Heating 24 Years On

ABSTRACT

Control of relative humidity (RH) for collections care is challenging in U.K. historic houses because they are often highly ventilated with poor heat retention, a porous building fabric and naturally tend to high (60–80%) RH if unheated. The significance of the building means that large-scale modifications and installation of air handling systems may be unfeasible and undesirable for the conservation of the building. In the late 1980s the National Trust, for English, Wales and Northern Ireland, investigated conservation heating as an RH control method that works with the natural environment of historic buildings, mimicking historic heating and requiring only modification of existing heating services or a light touch installation of new heating systems. The National Trust adopted conservation heating as its preferred method for environmental control in historic buildings from the 1990s. This method was presented at the IIC 1994 Ottawa congress on preventive conservation. Conservation heating has since been adopted by many historic house management organisations, particularly across north-west Europe, where it is well suited to the climate. This paper reviews conservation heating developments implemented by the National Trust since 1994, in response to a changing external context, new knowledge and developments in operational practice.     

They’re good blogs,Brent: (Mostly) painless branding for information professionals

ABSTRACT

Social media is a powerful tool for building an online presence, but it asks a lot. While it affords plentiful opportunities for professional development and networking, building a professional brand in an online space is not without its drawbacks and risks. By working from a set of actionable principles and benchmarks, users can minimize frustrations and setbacks to build a useful professional presence, all while imbuing the web with the tenets of good information stewardship.     

OER evaluation as a means of teaching information literacy in individual and small group settings

ABSTRACT

Open education resources represent a great opportunity to reduce textbook costs, but many of them have not been evaluated for quality. Librarians and former students in an introduction to engineering course collected and evaluated open education resources to supplement the course textbook in future semesters. Both searching for and evaluating these resources created opportunities for the librarians to evaluate information literacy skills of these students and to provide instruction to improve these skills.