Creating a BUZZ: Attracting SCI/TECH Students to the Library!

In the land of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, we are "swarming" the campus with a multi-targeted publicity campaign. The Library's newly formed Information Services Marketing Group has launched several dynamic initiatives in 2005 -- all in an effort to raise the profile of the Library, to increase gate count and resource usage, and to expand campus-wide partnership opportunities in a fast-paced urban environment. Shattering the image of the library as a book mausoleum, our new programs include Tuesday Talks, an afternoon speaker series spotlighting exciting campus research, and T-Paper, a hip, student-oriented restroom newsletter. Emerging projects include a stereotype-bursting library entry in the University's Homecoming Parade and posters of "STAR" student-athletes promoting library resources. The Marketing Group is meeting some key challenges facing today's academic science libraries, by fostering campus connections, creating new collaborative opportunities with faculty, and helping to rebrand our Library as a progressive 21st century "apiary.

A comparison of peer-directed and teacher-directed employment interview training for mentally retarded adults.

Interview skills deficits may limit employment prospects of mentally retarded adults. Although numerous papers highlight the importance of interview skills, few have validated effective strategies for use with mentally retarded persons. Further, there has been a lack of research contrasting rival interview skills training strategies. The present study was conducted with two mentally retarded young adults. It contrasted peer-directed instruction, in which both participants were equally deficient in the target skills, with teacher-directed instruction. Results of the investigation indicated that instruction, rehearsal, and feedback may be effective strategies regardless of who provides instruction. Comparisons of teacher-directed and peer-directed instruction indicated little or no difference in the effectiveness of the two procedures. However, the peer-directed procedure involved considerably less staff time than did the teacher-directed procedure

Development and Certification of a Standard Reference Material for Vitamin D Metabolites in Human Serum

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements (NIH-ODS), has developed a Standard Reference Material (SRM) for the determination of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25­(OH)­D] in serum. SRM 972 Vitamin D in Human Serum consists of four serum pools with different levels of vitamin D metabolites and has certified and reference values for 25­(OH)­D₂, 25­(OH)­D₃, and 3-epi-25­(OH)­D₃. Value assignment of this SRM was accomplished using a combination of three isotope-dilution mass spectrometry approaches, with measurements performed at NIST and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Chromatographic resolution of the 3-epimer of 25­(OH)­D₃ proved to be essential for accurate determination of the metabolites

Development of an Improved Standard Reference Material for Vitamin D Metabolites in Human Serum

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed Standard Reference Material (SRM) 972a Vitamin D Metabolites in Frozen Human Serum as a replacement for SRM 972, which is no longer available. SRM 972a was developed in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements. In contrast to the previous reference material, three of the four levels of SRM 972a are composed of unmodified human serum. This SRM has certified and reference values for the following 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25­(OH)­D] species: 25­(OH)­D₂, 25­(OH)­D₃, and 3-<i>epi</i>-25­(OH)­D₃. The value assignment and certification process included three isotope-dilution mass spectrometry approaches, with measurements performed at NIST and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The value assignment methods employed have been modified from those utilized for the previous SRM, and all three approaches now incorporate chromatographic resolution of the stereoisomers, 25­(OH)­D₃ and 3-<i>epi</i>-25­(OH)­D₃