Carrot or stick? – Would information concerning the economic value of nutrient losses, and their impact on food quality achieve greater environmental protection than regulation?

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Organic standards have, since their origin (Soil Association 1967) required high standards of manure management, but in reality, these have not been implemented, possibly because of perceived costs of improved handling. However, a cost/benefit analysis of intermediate steps of nutrient conservation and manure handling may provide a practical solution, optimising retention of nutrients, financial and time inputs and environmental protection. Recent research on composting with conventional manures has quantified nutrient losses from heaps with different treatments (Parkinson et al, 2001). Financial and environmental costs and benefits of different management approaches are discussed

Montessori and Non-Montessori Early Childhood Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Inclusion and Access

Montessori and non-Montessori general education early childhood teachers were surveyed about their attitudes toward including children with disabilities and providing these students access to the curriculum. Both groups reported similar and positive system-wide supports for inclusion within their schools. Montessori teachers reported having less knowledge about inclusion and less special education professional development than their non-Montessori counterparts. Implications for professional development and teacher preparation are described

The Development of the Systematic Reviews Special Interest Group of MLA

Objectives: This poster will cover the reasoning behind the development of the Systematic Reviews SIG and the aims of the group. It will also provide a background of systematic reviews and support services. Methods: In summer of 2014 the Systematic Reviews SIG was proposed to MLA. The conveners followed the procedure for developing a SIG, including writing up a short proposal and collecting signatures. The proposal covered 5 assertions on the need for a SIG: importance of systematic reviews in healthcare, sharp increase in production of reviews, standards covering librarian involvement, complexity of review methods, and the evolving nature of review methods. A quick informal survey was sent out to members of MLA who had given a paper, poster, workshop, or had attended a continuing education course. Results: Over 150 signatures were collected supporting the creation of the SIG. A website was created to support sharing information, training, and experiences in systematic review support services. Conclusions: A SIG is an effective method to collaborate with other MLA members on specific topic. The Systematic Review SIG will strive to provide a platform for discussing systematic review methods, highlighting professional development opportunities, promoting standards, and more

Standards for Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators: A Practical Guide

As the role of instruction and information literacy continues to grow in the academic library, librarians are faced with a need to develop a more focused set of skills to teach effectively in library instruction programs. At the same time, many libraries struggle to offer meaningful training and professional development to improve instruction, especially without a set of established standards for what makes a good instructor. This document is intended to help instruction librarians define and gain the skills needed to be excellent teachers in library instruction programs and to foster collaboration necessary to create and improve information literacy programs. In many academic libraries, instruction librarians also serve as coordinators of instructional services and as instructional leaders in their organization. In addition to proficiencies needed for librarians with teaching responsibilities are the skills required for instruction coordinators to manage programs. They also must operate effectively at all levels of the academic organization in order to implement broad-reaching, curriculum-integrated information literacy programs

Electronic health record: integrating evidence-based information at the point of clinical decision making

The authors created two tools to achieve the goals of providing physicians with a way to review alternative diagnoses and improving access to relevant evidence-based library resources without disrupting established workflows. The “diagnostic decision support tool” lifted terms from standard, coded fields in the electronic health record and sent them to Isabel, which produced a list of possible diagnoses. The physicians chose their diagnoses and were presented with the “knowledge page,” a collection of evidence-based library resources. Each resource was automatically populated with search results based on the chosen diagnosis. Physicians responded positively to the “knowledge page.