Why Your Academic Library Needs a Popular Reading Collection Now More Than Ever

Do popular reading materials belong in college and university libraries? Although some librarians think not, others believe there are compelling reasons for including them. The trend towards user-focused libraries, the importance of attracting patrons to libraries in the age of the Internet, and, most importantly, the need to promote literacy at a time when it has reached its lowest levels are all reasons why academic librarians are reconsidering their ideas about popular reading materials. Librarians who decide to implement a leisure reading collection should consider a number of key issues

Services to the Disadvantaged

published or submitted for publicatio

Demographic Transformation and the Future of Museums

In 2009 the Center for the Future of Museums commissioned Betty Farrell to produce a report to explore in more detail the demographic trends in American society and their implications for museums. The report identifies, synthesizes, and interprets existing research on demographics, cultural consumer attitudes, museum diversity practices, and related topics. It is meant to help the museum field explore the future of museums in a "majority minority" society. Topics of inquiry include national demographic projections for the next 25 years with a focus on the shifting racial and ethnic composition of the United States; current patterns of museum attendance (and cultural participation more generally) by race, ethnicity, cultural origin and other relevant factors; culturally/ethnically specific attitudes towards museums, including perceptual and behavioral barriers to museum attendance; ways that museums currently reach out to diverse audiences; specific models and best practices; and larger trends in societal attitudes towards racial and other classifications

Count Me In: The dimensions of social inclusion through culture and sport

This study was set up to examine claims made for the ability of cultural projects to promote social inclusion (cultural projects are here taken to include those incorporating sport, the arts, media, heritage and outdoor adventure). This was to be achieved primarily by collecting evidence from a sample of 14 projects selected from some 200 that had volunteered their services. The report to the government’s Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) from the Policy Action Team (PAT10) (1999)2 noted the potential. In his foreword, Chris Smith (then Secretary of State for the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS)) wrote: “… art and sport can not only make a valuable contribution to delivering key outcomes of lower long term unemployment, less crime, better health and better qualifications, but can also help to develop the individual pride, community spirit and capacity for responsibility that enable communities to run regeneration programmes themselves”. Similar statements have followed from other politicians, particularly in the recent Commons debate on sport and social exclusion (22/11/01), and again in the public health debate (13/12/01). However, the PAT 10 report also came to the same conclusion as previous commentators (e.g. Glyptis, 19893; Allison & Coalter, 19964; Long & Sanderson, 19985) that there is little ‘hard’ evidence of the social benefits that accrue

Marketing Youth Services

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Gentrification, immigration and community cohesion in Melbourne's multicultural north

Executive summary: This report analyses processes of social change affecting two multicultural suburbs in Melbourne’s north, Coburg and Fawkner, focusing on factors that impact on community cohesion. The Moreland Council (2006, 2011) has identified that national trends of rising housing costs and spikes in unemployment disproportionately affect culturally diverse communities. This report seeks to contribute to an in-depth understanding of these issues, drawing on existing demographic data as well as residents’ perceptions. The report is based on ABS data, interviews and focus group discussions with residents and local service providers, and participant observation in the neighbourhoods. It provides a brief social profile of each suburb before presenting the narrative data gleaned through this project. The report focuses on the issues of gentrification, immigration, employment, housing and community cohesion in the two suburbs. The report makes the case that these two suburbs share some broad experiences of social change:•    The de-industrialisation of Melbourne’s former industrial heartland for textiles, footwear, food and auto manufacturing.•    The rapid increase in housing costs across Melbourne in the context of a growing population.•    Increasingly skills-focused immigration in the context of a labour market dominated by service jobs.•    Socio-demographic transitions (differently affecting the two suburbs), including: the ageing of established migrant communities; the influx of new migrant groups; and gentrification.•    Relatively harmonious inter-ethnic and community relations.•    A relative lack of new public infrastructure including public transport, public housing and public education facilities, with some recent investment in recreation facilities

Abstracts from the Nineteenth Annual Conference National Association for Ethnic Studies. Inc. Ethnic Studies for the Twenty-first Century

With the leadership of James H. Williams, Tengemana Thumbutu, and the staff of the College of Arts at California State Polytechnic University, NAES had one of its best-attended conferences ever. Participants enjoyed the sunny and smog-free skies of spring in California and the amenities of the Kellogg West Conference Center while renewing their commitment to the need to study and implement current research in ethnic studies

A review of the literature on sport and physical activity in relation to drug misuse prevention and adolescents

The purpose of this review was to examine the evidence base in published work (refereed journal articles and expert reports) for the contention that participation in sport or related physical activity is beneficial within the specific contexts of health promotion aimed at preventing young people from becoming involved in using harmful substances, or specific intervention with young people using illicit drugs

Visualization of database structures for information retrieval

This paper describes the Book House system, which is designed to support children's information retrieval in libraries as part of their education. It is a shareware program available on CD‐ROM or floppy disks, and comprises functionality for database searching as well as for classifying and storing book information in the database. The system concept is based on an understanding of children's domain structures and their capabilities for categorization of information needs in connection with their activities in schools, in school libraries or in public libraries. These structures are visualized in the interface by using metaphors and multimedia technology. Through the use of text, images and animation, the Book House encourages children ‐ even at a very early age ‐ to learn by doing in an enjoyable way, which plays on their previous experiences with computer games. Both words and pictures can be used for searching; this makes the system suitable for all age groups. Even children who have not yet learned to read properly can, by selecting pictures, search for and find those books they would like to have read aloud. Thus, at the very beginning of their school life, they can learn to search for books on their own. For the library community, such a system will provide an extended service which will increase the number of children's own searches and also improve the relevance, quality and utilization of the book collections in the libraries. A market research report on the need for an annual indexing service for books in the Book House format is in preparation by the Danish Library Centre A/S