Aging and Work in Canada: Firm Policies

Few Canadian firms have explicit policies dealing with the aging of their workforces, other than pension policies geared to a conventional retirement age. However, other firm policies have unanticipated consequences that apply differentially to older and younger workers. This paper reviews several relevant firm practices used in Canada, including pension and benefits practices, training policies and programs, and work and family practices. The most dramatic firm practice that has an impact on the older worker is restructuring through downsizing the workforce by means of retirement incentives and layoffs. We introduce the issue by considering available national-level Canadian data, and then consider five case studies representing different configurations of firm practices. These cases are: Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, NOVA Corporation, Slater Steels, Bell Canada, and the garment industry in Montreal. Both management and employee level data are presented. We argue the importance of organizational latitude in establishing firm-based policies that dramatically change the nature of the life course in Canada.aging workforce; firm policies

Linking research to practice: the rise of evidence-based health sciences librarianship

The lecture explores the origins of evidence-based practice (EBP) in health sciences librarianship beginning with examples from the work of Janet Doe and past Doe lecturers. Additional sources of evidence are used to document the rise of research and EBP as integral components of our professional work

Examining the role of MEDLINE as a patient care information resource: an analysis of data from the Value of Libraries study

Objective: This study analyzed data from a study on the value of libraries to understand the specific role that the MEDLINE database plays in relation to other information resources that are available to health care providers and its role in positively impacting patient care.Methods: A previous study on the use of health information resources for patient care obtained 16,122 responses from health care providers in 56 hospitals about how providers make decisions affecting patient care and the role of information resources in that process. Respondents indicated resources used in answering a specific clinical question from a list of 19 possible resources, including MEDLINE. Study data were examined using descriptive statistics and regression analysis to determine the number of information resources used and how they were used in combination with one another.Results: Health care professionals used 3.5 resources, on average, to aid in patient care. The 2 most frequently used resources were journals (print and online) and the MEDLINE database. Using a higher number of information resources was significantly associated with a higher probability of making changes to patient care and avoiding adverse events. MEDLINE was the most likely to be among consulted resources compared to any other information resource other than journals.Conclusions: MEDLINE is a critical clinical care tool that health care professionals use to avoid adverse events, make changes to patient care, and answer clinical questions

Examining the role of MEDLINE as a patient care information resource: an analysis of data from the Value of Libraries study

Objective: This study analyzed data from a study on the value of libraries to understand the specific role that the MEDLINE database plays in relation to other information resources that are available to health care providers and its role in positively impacting patient care. Methods: A previous study on the use of health information resources for patient care obtained 16,122 responses from health care providers in 56 hospitals about how providers make decisions affecting patient care and the role of information resources in that process. Respondents indicated resources used in answering a specific clinical question from a list of 19 possible resources, including MEDLINE. Study data were examined using descriptive statistics and regression analysis to determine the number of information resources used and how they were used in combination with one another. Results: Health care professionals used 3.5 resources, on average, to aid in patient care. The 2 most frequently used resources were journals (print and online) and the MEDLINE database. Using a higher number of information resources was significantly associated with a higher probability of making changes to patient care and avoiding adverse events. MEDLINE was the most likely to be among consulted resources compared to any other information resource other than journals. Conclusions: MEDLINE is a critical clinical care tool that health care professionals use to avoid adverse events, make changes to patient care, and answer clinical questions

The value of library and information services in patient care: results of a multisite study

The research conducted a large-scale, multisite study on the value and impact of library and information services on patient care

Using the Life Course Perspective to Study Library and Information Science Careers

This article provides an overview of the life course perspective as an approach to studying work and careers, and outlines the ways in which it was used by the Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science 1 (WILIS1) survey to capture the context of LIS graduates' career choices, transitions, outcomes, and perceptions over time. We describe the types of analyses that can be conducted when a survey instrument is grounded in the life course perspective. We will argue that the approach taken to understanding individual lives in a broader social context implicit in the life course perspective is particularly appropriate for studying library and information science careers using either or both quantitative or qualitative measures. As such, we can add the life course perspective to the wide range of theories from the social sciences that can be used as frameworks for examining issues of importance to the field.published or submitted for publicatio

Public Librarianship as a Career: Challenges and Prospects

Over twenty-five years of research has shown that in spite of low salaries, few opportunities for advancement, and challenging work environments, most public librarians are satisfied overall with their jobs and careers, primarily because of the intrinsic rewards of the profession. In this article we present results from the Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science 1 (WILIS 1) project1 that are related to public librarianship. We give an overview of the careers and perspectives of current and former public librarians with respect to their experience of the challenges and rewards of public library service, and compare their views with those found in previous research.published or submitted for publicatio

Designing and Implementing a Career Retrospective Web-based Survey of Library and Information Science Graduates

Over the last decade the library and information science (LIS) field has experienced an increasing concern with workforce issues, including the aging of the workforce, the lack of minority presence in the field, and the need for succession planning. Little systematic research has been done to characterize the exact nature of the problems and to develop data collection models that can be used to track the workforce on an ongoing basis. The Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science 1 (WILIS 1) project is a three-year research project designed to study the career patterns of graduates of library and information science (LIS) programs in North Carolina. The purpose of this paper is to describe the study design and methodology of the career retrospective study fielded by the WILIS study and to discuss the methodological lessons learned from this experience. The WILIS 1 career retrospective survey was fielded as a Web-based survey with complex skip patterns and achieved a 35 percent response rate. Topics for which lessons were learned include: the identification of effective strategies for updating graduate contact records, the relative efficacy of paper versus e-mail contacts in the survey recruitment process, the contributions of a nonresponse study to issues of generalizability, issues related to survey length, and the use of incentives.published or submitted for publicatio