Expectations & Excitations: The Library as a Happening Place

The article discusses the author\u27s experience of conducting a study on how the library meets the expectations of its patrons at the Odum Library at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia

A Herzbergian Look at Academic Librarians and Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction plays a vitally important role in any employee’s success in a profession. This paper presents results and analysis of a study involving job satisfaction among University System of Georgia academic librarians relative to organizational classification status. One interesting conclusion induced from the research was confirmation of Frederick Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory

Academic Librarians and Faculty Status: Mountain, Molehill or Mesa

The article focuses on various issues involving classification status of academic librarians in the U.S. It examines the literature pertinent to academic librarian classification vis-a-vis job satisfaction, sense of worth, and commitment to their profession and educative mission. There is a higher percentage of authors who favor some form of faculty classification for academic librarians. It explores the substantial increase in academic librarians joining the employment pool of many colleges and universities in the country. A brief overview is given on debates and subjects involving how librarians are classified in the traditional academic institution

The Sounds and the Furies: Managing an Active Library in a New Generation of Learners

The article reveals that the Odum Library of Valdosta State University in Georgia participated in the LibQual™ survey to assess how well the library is performing in three specific areas: Effect of Service, Library as Place and Information Control. The Library as Place section was of the greatest interest for survey participants. Noise in the library received by far the most comments, most of them negative. The author examines the noise phenomenon in his library, reviewed its history, contemplated his developing attitudes, and analyzed his thoughts about the noise issue

Signal processing techniques for analysis of heart sounds and electrocardiograms

Audible heart sounds represent less than 5% of the vibrational energy associated with the cardiac cycle. In this study, experiments have been conducted to explore the feasibility of examining cardiac vibration by means of a single display encompassing the entire bandwidth of the oscillations and relating components at different frequencies. Zero-phase-shift digital filtering is shown to be required in producing such displays, which extend from a recognizable phonocardiogram at one frequency extreme to a recognizable apexcardiogram at the other. Certain features in mid-systole and early diastole, observed by means of this technique, appear not to have been previously described. Frequency modulation of an audio-frequency sinusoid by a complex signal is shown to be effective in generating sounds analogous to that signal and containing the same information, but occupying a bandwidth suitable to optimum human auditory perception. The generation of such sounds using an exponential-response voltage- controlled oscillator is found to be most appropriate for converting amplitude as well as frequency changes in the original signal into pitch changes in the new sounds, utilizing the human auditory system\u27s more acute discrimination of pitch changes than amplitude changes. Pseudologarithmic compression of the input signal is shown to facilitate emphasis in the converted sounds upon changes at high or low amplitudes in the original signal. A noise-control circuit has been implemented for amplitude modulation of the converted signal to de- emphasize sounds arising from portions of the input signal below a chosen amplitude threshold. This method is shown to facilitate the transmission of analogs of audible and normally inaudible sounds over standard telephone channels, and to permit the slowing down of the converted sounds with no loss of information due to decreased frequencies. The approximation of an arbitrary waveform by a piecewise-linear (PL) function is shown to permit economical digital storage in parametric form. Fourier series and Fourier transforms may be readily calculated directly from the PL breakpoint parameters without further approximation, and the number of breakpoints needed to define the PL approximation is significantly lower than the number of uniformly-spaced samples required to satisfy the Nyquist sampling criterion; aliasing problems are shown not to arise. Thus data compression is feasible by this means without recourse to a parametric model defined for the signal (e.g., speech) being processed. Methods of automatic adaptive PL sampling and waveform reconstruction are discussed, and microcomputer algorithms implemented for this purpose are described in detail. Examples are given of the application of PL techniques to electrocardiography, phonocardiography, and the digitization of speech

Cardiac pacing in the 1980s: Treatment and techniques in transition

AbstractThe pacemaker of the 1980s is designed to maintain atrioventricular synchrony through dual-chamber pacing. This pacemaker is multiprogrammable and capable of telemetric transmission of biologic, electronic and electrophysiologic data. Several developments have made this therapeutic modality possible: 1) the cumulative survival rate of many lithium-battery pacemakers exceeds 95% at 5 years; 2) lead and connector problems are rare; 3) atrial and ventricular electrode malfunctions occur in less than 2% of implants; and 4) new introducer techniques have simplified implantation (mortality and major morbidity rates are 0.5 and 0.4%, respectively). With multiprogrammability, pacemaker function can be optimized for the patient's needs, and about 20% of reoperations can be avoided.Ninety-six dual-chamber (DDD) pacemakers, 55 of which have been followed up for more than 3 months, have provided trouble-free performance and have yielded salutary clinical results, particularly when implanted to replace previous ventricular inhibited units. Problems with these pacemakers have included unusual pacing electrocardiograms, pacemaker eccentricities, programmer maintenance, pacing and follow-up complexities and costs.In the 1980s, effort will be required to find a balance between rapidly evolving technology and the clinical need for complex pacing systems. From 1978 to 1981, the rate of pacemaker implantation grew from 309 to 513 implants per million population per year, and there are now approximately 500,000 patients with implanted pacemakers living in the United States. Indications for pacing are ill-defined, because in many cases the assessment of clinical response to pacing is largely subjective, lacking satisfactory quantitative indexes. This decade will be a time of reappraisal of the extent of clinical applicability of new techniques, particularly the multi-programmable dual-chamber system which, after 3 years of clinical trial, shows promise of being the predominant pacemaker of the immediate future

Designing for Schadenfreude (or, how to express well-being and see if you're boring people)

This position paper presents two studies of content not normally expressed in status updates—well-being and status feedback—and considers how they may be processed, valued and used for potential quality-of-life benefits in terms of personal and social reflection and awareness. Do I Tweet Good? (poor grammar intentional) is a site investigating more nuanced forms of status feedback than current microblogging sites allow, towards understanding self-identity, reflection, and online perception. Healthii is a tool for sharing physical and emotional well-being via status updates, investigating concepts of self-reflection and social awareness. Together, these projects consider furthering the value of microblogging on two fronts: 1) refining the online personal/social networking experience, and 2) using the status update for enhancing the personal/social experience in the offline world, and considering how to leverage that online/offline split. We offer results from two different methods of study and target groups—one co-workers in an academic setting, the other followers on Twitter—to consider how microblogging can become more than just a communication medium if it facilitates these types of reflective practice

The Nether World of Academic Librarians: Issues of Classification, Educative Mission, and Sense of Place

This mixed-methods study examined correlations between academic librarian organizational classification and sense of place (defined as job satisfaction and personal motivation) and sense of involvement with the educative mission of the institution. Further, this study examined whether there were any significant correlations between academic librarian career path and their sense of place and sense of involvement with the educative mission. An abundance of literature on academic librarians" organizational classification maintains librarians ought to be classified as faculty with commensurate rights and privileges. An often tacit implication of this position is academic librarians classified as faculty are (or would be) happier and have a greater sense of involvement with their school's educative mission. The study surveyed 372 academic librarians at colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia. Analysis of surveys found there were no statistically significant correlations between organizational classification and sense of place or between organizational classification and sense of involvement with the institution's educative mission. Analysis of surveys further found that there were no statistically significant correlations between career path and sense of involvement with the institutional educative mission and there was a slight positive correlation between career path and sense of place. It was concluded though there is strong support and justification for academic librarians being classified as faculty, an academic librarian's sense of place or sense of involvement with the institutional educative mission is not dependent on such classification.Zahner, JaneGibson, NicoleDees, DianneDoctor of EducationEducatio

Odum Library Annual Report FY 2021

1 Electronic record(s) and derivatives. PDF. 70 pages. 871854 bytes.Odum Library (Valdosta State University) Annual Report for fiscal year 2021