The Future of the Profession of Librarianship: Constructed or Ordained

This paper continues a series exploring the perceptions of students entering university about the roles of librarians as well as other occupations by examining the role of professionalism in perceptions of occupations. A model of professionalism developed by Elizabeth Graddy that focuses on the informational relationship between the professional service provider and those who receive the service, rather than on internal characteristics of the field of the service, is tested. While Graddy\u27s focus on the relationships between occupations and the public, rather than on conditions within various professions, is reinforced as predicting an occupation\u27s ability to meet the challenges of a changing society, the data from this study demonstrate more predictive variables than those identified by Graddy. A more complex view of the future of librarian ship is emerging

(Re)Positioning Librarians: Young People\u27s Views on the Information Sector

More than 2,000 students entering their first year of university studies completed questionnaires about the work roles, future employment prospects, educational requirements, status, and starting salaries of twelve occupations. Their responses were compared with U.S. and Canadian government labor-force projections. The results revealed a complex interplay of gender relations in the students\u27 perceptions of the occupational world and their roles within it. The results also revealed an interesting positioning of the job title librarian relative to other fields. Unlike their assessment of the other occupations included in the study, the students considerably underestimated the level of education required to be a librarian (most did not believe that librarians require a university education). They also underestimated librarians\u27 average starting salary and rated the occupation\u27s social status and future prospects to be lower than the other job titles. Taken together, the results indicate that young people beginning their university studies hold views about career prospects in the information sector that are consistent with some laborforce analysts\u27 views of occupational winners and losers. The students see status, opportunity, and success to be attainable in fields such as computer engineering and systems analysis. Unfortunately, they view the occupational present and future for librarians in a somewhat dimmer light, a worrisome result in view of labor-force data that suggest reasonably strong salary and employment opportunities for this occupation in both the United States and Canada. The implications of these findings for library and information science (LIS) education are discussed in the context of gender and identity politics

Beyond Librarianship: Are Librarians Becoming Isolated in the New Information Age?

This paper continues a series exploring the perceptions of entering university students about the roles of librarians and others. A model developed by Elizabeth Graddy, suggesting that the extent to which an occupation receives legal sanction reflects the public\u27s perception of its social relevance, is tested. While Graddy\u27s focus on the relationships between occupations and the public, rather on conditions within various professions, is reinforced as predicting an occupation\u27s ability to meet the challenges of a changing society, the data from this study demonstrate more predictive variables than those identified by Graddy. A more complex view of the future of librarianship is emerging

Inner action in the novels of George Meredith with special reference to "One of Our Conquerors"

My case for Meredith is that a discussion of his novels in terms of his acknowledged concern for analysing and representing inner action shows him as a more interesting and significant figure than is generally allowed. The usual ways of regarding his work, in terms of his ideas about the Comic Spirit or Nature, tend to overlook his conscious and responsible exploration of the capacities of fiction throughout a career which spanned half a century. In his earlier works Meredith modified various popular forms of fiction, always resisting what he took to be conventional expectations of excitement in external action in favour of stressing the complex reality of the inner life. From The Egoist on his independence was even more strikingly manifested, and in both the themes and the techniques of his late novels he experimented further with reading the inner as well as exhibiting the outer". Meredith's idiosyncratic style has always been subject to criticism and abuse because of its elliptical tortuosity. While it is both a dense and a mercurial mode, it is by no means ungoverned : the voice of Meredith as omniscient narrator is always present in his narrative, but subtle and rapid stylistic variations are used to project attitudes in his characters and evoke atmosphere. This ventriloquial technique is one of his main methods of representing inner action : to the same end he also makes more than mechanical use of documentary devices such as tutelary books and letters; and his congenital allusiveness leads him to some peculiar exercises with imagery. As well as presenting Meredith's stylistic excesses in an extreme form, One of Our Conquerors provides a particular opportunity for considering Meredith's aims and methods since the manuscript of the novel survives, as well as an early draft. Consideration of Meredith's revisions points to a pressure to intensify his treatment of inner action, to modify the national theme, and to continue his expatiations on the purpose of fiction. <p

Effect of reality therapy/control theory on predictors of responsible behavior of junior high school students in an adolescent pregnancy prevention program

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of Dr. William Glasser's Reality Therapy/Control Theory, presented as part of an adolescent pregnancy prevention program, on the predictors of responsible behavior of junior high school students. Curriculum was developed and implemented for a semester through an exploring home economics class during the 1991-92 school year at Mattamuskeet School in the Hyde County Schools, North Carolina. Two groups of 27 students were randomly selected to participate in the study: (a) students who received the Reality Therapy/Control Theory-based instruction and (b) students who did not receive the Reality Therapy/Control Theory-based-instruction. Self-esteem, locus of control, and decision-making skills served as predictors of responsible behavior in this study. There was a significant increase on the self-esteem measures in the students who received the Reality Therapy/Control Theory instruction and those who did not receive the instruction. There was no significant difference on locus of control; however, it approached significance. No relationships were found among self-esteem or locus of control and gender, socioeconomic status, and academic achievement

Neural responses to a modified Stroop paradigm in patients with complex chronic musculoskeletal pain compared to matched controls: an experimental functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Background: Chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMSKP) is attentionally demanding, complex and multi-factorial; neuroimaging research in the population seen in pain clinics is sparse. A better understanding of the neural activity underlying attentional processes to pain related information compared to healthy controls may help inform diagnosis and management in the future. Methods: Blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) compared brain responses in patients with CMSKP (n=15) and healthy controls (n=14) while completing a modified Stroop task using pain-related, positive-emotional, and neutral control words. Results: Response times in the Stroop task were no different for CMSKP patients compared with controls, but patients were less accurate in their responses to all word types. BOLD fMRI responses during presentation of pain-related words suggested increases in neural activation in patients compared to controls in regions previously reported as being involved in pain perception and emotion: the anterior cingulate cortex, insula and primary and secondary somatosensory cortex. No fMRI differences were seen between groups in response to positive or control words. Conclusions: Using this modified Stroop tasks, specific differences were identified in brain activity between CMSKP patients and controls in response to pain-related information using fMRI. This provided evidence of differences in the way that pain-related information is processed in those with chronic complex musculoskeletal pain that were not detectable using the behavioural measures of speed and accuracy. The study may be helpful in gaining new insights into the impact of attention in those living with chronic pai

The Iowa Homemaker vol.26, no.2

Alma Mater, J. C. Harris, page 2 Travel With Poise, Mary Ann Hakes, page 3 Report From Athens, Joan Kelleher, page 4 Blanche Pederson Interviews an Aussie Bride, Blanche Pederson, page 5 Coeds are Veterans, Too, Mary Margaret Ryan, page 6 Future Home Economics Classroom, Helen Hochriem, page 7 Vicky Grins at the Sun, Breta Soldat, page 9 What’s New in Home Economics, Marjorie Clampitt, page 10 Wardrobe Worries? Here’s What We Wear, Textiles and Clothing Club, page 12 “I Have a Dozen Bosses”, Genevieve Callahan, page 14 Albino Rats Get in on the Ground Floor, Margaret Waterland, page 17 Alums Prove Chemistry can Pay, June Welch, page 18 Education Begins Egyptian Modernizing, Lois Bronson, page 19 Across Alumnae Desks, Mary Neff, page 21 Keeping Up With Today, Joyce Edgar, page 22 How Does Your Garden Grow?, Irene Meyer, page 23 Alums in the News, Goldie Rouse, page 2

WormBase: a comprehensive resource for nematode research

WormBase (http://www.wormbase.org) is a central data repository for nematode biology. Initially created as a service to the Caenorhabditis elegans research field, WormBase has evolved into a powerful research tool in its own right. In the past 2 years, we expanded WormBase to include the complete genomic sequence, gene predictions and orthology assignments from a range of related nematodes. This comparative data enrich the C. elegans data with improved gene predictions and a better understanding of gene function. In turn, they bring the wealth of experimental knowledge of C. elegans to other systems of medical and agricultural importance. Here, we describe new species and data types now available at WormBase. In addition, we detail enhancements to our curatorial pipeline and website infrastructure to accommodate new genomes and an extensive user base