Academic Library Management Issues and Practices

This book is partially based on the contents of the course on Academic Library Management which I have been teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The contents are designed to be used in connection with additional readings to be selected from the extensive lists of references at the end of each chapter as well as from other databases available to students in university and public libraries and library systems. Examples of best practices found in some academic libraries are mentioned in order to blend theory with practice.https://dc.uwm.edu/sois_facbooks/1000/thumbnail.jp

Study on open science: The general state of the play in Open Science principles and practices at European life sciences institutes

Nowadays, open science is a hot topic on all levels and also is one of the priorities of the European Research Area. Components that are commonly associated with open science are open access, open data, open methodology, open source, open peer review, open science policies and citizen science. Open science may a great potential to connect and influence the practices of researchers, funding institutions and the public. In this paper, we evaluate the level of openness based on public surveys at four European life sciences institute

Thriving to Survive: Examining Spirituality as a Strategy for Coping and Perseverance Among Christian College Students at an Urban Public College

Low college graduation rates continue to be a great concern for institutions of higher education. There is a need to examine and employ strategies that will help students cope, persevere, and graduate. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the perceptions of Christian college students to determine if they identify spirituality as a mechanism to help them cope and persevere at a 4-year urban public college. Social cognition (Bandura, 1986), self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977), and student involvement (Astin, 1984) provided the theoretical framework. Five research questions guided the study. Eight students participated in a one on one in-depth face to face interview. Twelve interview questions were presented to each student. The researcher extracted rich data from the interviews that provided substantial evidence to support the study. The results from the study indicated the student’s definition of spirituality is directly related to their beliefs, values, and practices. God, prayer, and reading the Bible underscored the principles of their faith. Findings indicated the student’s faith was cultivated by their family, friends, and church family. Interacting with other Christian students at the college provided additional support the students indicated they needed to cope and persevere in college. Based on the findings from this study further research into the lived experiences and perceptions of underrepresented minorities, Christians and non-Christian students, and male students would provide valuable insight into this emerging phenomenon. Perhaps, spirituality is a strategy that may help to increase the graduation rates for college students and institutions of higher education

NASA RECON: Course Development, Administration, and Evaluation

The R and D activities addressing the development, administration, and evaluation of a set of transportable, college-level courses to educate science and engineering students in the effective use of automated scientific and technical information storage and retrieval systems, and, in particular, in the use of the NASA RECON system, are discussed. The long-range scope and objectives of these contracted activities are overviewed and the progress which has been made toward these objectives during FY 1983-1984 is highlighted. In addition, the results of a survey of 237 colleges and universities addressing course needs are presented

Honors College 2015 APR Self-Study & Documents

UNM Honors College APR self-study report, review team report, and initial action plan for Fall 2015, fulfilling requirements of the Higher Learning Commission

A Study to Determine if the Implementation of the School Resource Officer (SRO) in a County School System has been Effective in Providing Overall Positive Changes in School Environments that have Resulted in Improved Scholarship and Decreased Adverse Behaviors by Students

On May 14, 2004, two students from the Russell Middle School in Winder, Georgia were arrested after it was learned that they had planned a Columbine style massacre on the last day of school (Johnston, 2004, June 8). The 1999 Columbine High School tragedy in Littleton, Colorado resulted in fourteen students and teachers being killed in a rampage by two socially alienated students (Vossekuil, Fein, Reddy, Borum and Modzeleski, 2002). The Georgia middle school students had diagrams of the school, a list of eighth graders plus a teacher to kill, firearms, and had planned to kill themselves in the end (Johnston, 2004, June 7). A student confided in the School Resource Officer to alert the authorities to the plot. The SRO took appropriate action and a tragedy was averted. The two boys were convicted of making terroristic threats on June 8, 2004 in the Barrow County Georgia Juvenile Court (Teenagers, 2004, June 9). This recent national story underlines the importance of the SRO efficacy debate. Following the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks on September 11, 2001, additional questions were raised concerning the status of school safety from terrorist threats. Although not a long term environmental learning issue, SRO participation in protecting a school from this type of threat also became an issue. The September 1, 2004 Chechen terrorist takeover of School Number 1 in Beslan, Russia, which resulted in over 300 deaths, has re-opened the debate (Lively and Barnes, 2004, September 11). The Chechen incident resulted in 1200 hostages, 338 deaths (half of them children), and the school building itself being destroyed (Classes, 2004, September 16). Further similar attacks by the Chechen terrorist leader have been threatened (Chechen, 2004, November 1). Beyond the research issues raised in this paper, the broader questions of the SRO’s role or benefit within a potential terrorist scenario is a legitimate one for additional discussion as a computer disc containing particulars on selected U.S. schools was recently found on an unidentified Iraqi man’s computer in Iraq (Cavanagh, 2004, October 6). A safe and disciplined learning environment is essential for academic achievement as it enables learning and teaching in a direct link (Barton 2001) and (DOE, NCES 2001-030, December, 2000). Without this safe educational setting, teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn. Where there is chronic disorder, the possibility of learning is markedly compromised (Barton, Coley, and Wenglinsky, 1998). The SRO presence is being heralded as an essential brick in a school’s foundation, helping support a solid learning environment for the students. Fifty-two percent of teachers now report that there is now an armed police officer presence on their school grounds (Vogel, 2004). The question of whether the SRO presence actually improves or in some way enhances a school’s environment to the extent that either student learning is measurably enhanced and/or student adverse behavior is measurably reduced is the subject of this research. The syncopated SRO implementation over a five year period within the school district in this research allowed within year and between year comparisons of much of these data over the course of that implementation. A descriptive review of other SRO research history to date was also included in conjunction with this study for reader understanding of the current and pending SRO quantitative and qualitative research landscape. To evaluate the possible SRO impact on school environments, changes in measured juvenile court data, school district data, SRO data, student achievement test data, and student value-added test data over a ten year period were assessed and compared with the appropriate statistical conclusions drawn. Multiple achievement and SRO measures from a total of twelve middle schools and seven high schools, with and without SROs assigned, were assessed from the 1993-1994 through the 2002-2003 school years. Relevant issues associated with the exercising of these descriptive and statistical data comparisons are presented. Attempts were made to triangulate the five data source results to form a quantitative mosaic of the overall impact of an SRO’s presence in these nineteen schools. Conclusions and recommendations are presented, including the SRO evaluation listings and descriptions. This research concludes with a recommended listing of “School Indicators of Well-Being” based on the knowledge gained while performing the research. The major study conclusion drawn was that there was no measurable overall positive quantitative change within the affected district’s middle and high schools due to the SRO implementation through multiple measures and a continuing SRO presence. Recommendations included the conducts of additional quantitative studies on SRO efficacy, the establishment of a consistent federal definition of a “persistently dangerous” school, the adoption of nationally standardized school resource officer reporting protocols, and research on the postulated “covert aversion” behaviorism concept. An additional section detailing proposed “School Indicators of Well-Being” is presented for adoption by schools to track overall school system health

Four Passages to Information Use Related Phenomena in Bachelor Theses at the Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences

Peer reviewe

The Advantage of Mapping Gentrification with Geographic Information Systems: Comparisons of Three New York City Neighborhoods, 1980 - Present

This dissertation adopts a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach to map gentrification. It explores the combination of GIS and publicly available data as a new research tool to investigate gentrification at the Census Tract level within three New York City neighborhoods (Park Slope, Williamsburg and the Lower East Side). Results are compared to contemporary gentrification studies to argue the advantages of utilizing this methodology. Since the term “gentrification” was coined (Glass, 1964), scholars with different research methods have produced a considerable body of literature. However, debates on causes and effects persist. While disciplinary differences could be the reasons for disagreement, another explanation is the various study geographical scales that can range from a single property to an entire city. This dissertation argues neighborhoods are the suitable spatial scale to study gentrification. Three neighborhoods are defined with selected Census Tracts. Rather than aggregating these selected Census Tracts into a single neighborhood, the gentrification maps were created by connecting socio-economic status indicators from Census Surveys to each Census Tract. This approach demonstrates the different degrees of gentrification within these three neighborhoods. Data from 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010 Census Surveys are used for cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons. The advantages of this design are: first, the cross-sectional maps demonstrate the different degrees of gentrification within the neighborhoods at a given time. Second, the longitudinal maps show where gentrification moved and expanded through time. Third, as the surrounding Census Tracts outside the defined neighborhoods are also mapped, the “spillover effect” is also examined. Fourth, the clearly defined geographical boundaries of neighborhoods ensure exact comparisons with other researchers and future studies. These gentrification maps revealed that the gentrification of these neighborhoods has been spatially uneven. Certain areas were gentrified first and subsequent gentrification anchored these initial sections. Further, gentrification did not spread equally or endlessly. There were several factors that either facilitated or impeded the expansion of gentrification, and these factors usually worked in tandem with each other. In summary, the gentrification maps in this study provided an enhanced understanding of the spatial-temporal patterns of gentrification in these three neighborhoods