Cost Per User: Analyzing EZProxy Logs for Assessment

Cost per use has long been a staple of collection development decision‐making for electronic resources, but what of the users behind those retrieval and search counts? Questions about the interdisciplinary usage of an e‐resource, the depth of integration into a given program or course, and who will miss it if it is cancelled are generally relegated to the realm of anecdotal evidence. Researchers at Nevada State College have made efforts to remedy this gap in knowledge by analyzing EZProxy logs, which can be set up to capture unique user identifiers at the point of authentication into library electronic resources. When matched with institutional data about those users, this data can answer questions such as cost per user, percent of users within the institution as a whole or a specific department, and frequency and depth of use for the average user. Ultimately, librarians can even discover if library users have higher GPAs or make better grades on research assignments. This paper will provide a summary of the work of the research team at Nevada State College, currently in the midst of their first year of EZProxy log analysis

Facilitating Public Participation in the Eastern Cape Province: A Case Study of the Centre for Governance in Africa

Decreasing amounts of public participation threaten to undermine the legitimacy of democracy in South Africa. Numerous surveys, academic resources and Internet and print media indicate general trends among the citizenry that a disconnection and dissatisfaction towards government is prevalent. As a result, the South African public has extremely low levels of public participation for a nation with such a politically charged past. It has become the objective of many civil society organizations to help with the delivery of vital developmental goals, including democracy advocacy, on behalf of the citizens. This paper seeks to examine the efforts of a single NGO, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) through its Centre for Governance in Africa (CGA) programme, in facilitating public participation. The CGA runs programmes in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, a region identified in numerous reports as having low levels of infrastructure and public participation. The organization engages with local partners to develop a variety of methods that encourage public participation amongst civil society organizations. These include the development of a reference toolkit for civil society organizations and the facilitation of public hearings. These steps are taken to provide the capacity and means for individuals and organizations to engage with formal government structures. The research for this paper revolves around a practicum completed with the CGA during three weeks. I used a variety of research methods, including interviews with CGA staff members, independent research on public participation in South Africa and Internet and print media sources. The conclusions section of this piece contextualizes CGA programmes within the broader scope of public participation. It is concluded that the CGA’s efforts in the Eastern Cape are still in the midst of development. There are various obstacles to be addressed to facilitate public participation, including that of logistics and capacity-building. By adopting the middle ground and creating new solutions to identified problems, the CGA programme appears to be effective in linking civil society to government structures

Custom astrocyte-mediated vasomotor responses to neuronal energy demand

Brain astrocytes regulate local blood flow and neuronal energy supply by modulating blood vessel tone in response to changes in oxygen levels

Journal of the Southwest, 42 (1), printemps 2000, 194 p. Torres José de Jesús, El hostigamiento a « el costumbre » huichol, El Colegio de Michoacán / Universidad de Guadalajara, 2000, 338 p.

La déjà longue bibliographie huichole s’est enrichie l’année dernière de deux publications qui, pour différentes qu’elles soient dans leur objet d’étude et leur méthode d’approche, n’en sont pas moins complémentaires. À la recherche des catégories de l’entendement huichol et cora qui forment la toile de fond des huit articles du Journal of the Southwest, répond, dans le travail plus socio-économique de Torres, une critique sans concession de la politique indigéniste locale dont l’échec manife..

Alvarado Solis Neyra Patricia, Atar la vida, trozar la muerte. El sistema ritual de los mexicaneros de Durango (préface de Jacques Galinier), Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, 2004, 349 p., bibl., index, gloss., ill., cartes, fig., tab.

Les Mexicaneros du Sud du Durango (Mexique) posent, depuis un siècle, une série de problèmes irrésolus aux chercheurs travaillant dans l’aire géographique et culturelle nommée El Gran Nayar (du nom du chef cora qui combattit l’armée espagnole au début du xviiie siècle). Cette région, au relief particulièrement tourmenté, de la Sierra Madre occidentale, abrite au sud les Huichol (plur. : Wixaritari ; sing. : Wixarika), à l’ouest les Cora (Nayari), au nord les Tepehuan (O’dam) et les Mexicanero..

The Quest for the Holy Grail: Too Many ERM Systems Are Not Enough!

Combining punctual statistical data compilation, access to real-time order and payment information, and harmonious workflow and reporting tools in one place has long been the Holy Grail for libraries seeking a reliable means for tracking costly electronic resources. This is the tale of two academic libraries that have adopted very different types of electronic resource management systems (ERMS) to attain these goals. This proceeding will provide complementary case studies of the implementation process at Binghamton University where two commercial ERM systems are used, and at The University of Texas at Tyler where an open source ERM is utilized

Role Reinvention, Structural Defense, or Resigned Surrender: Institutional Approaches to Technological Change and Reference Librarianship

In a comparative field study of ten libraries, we show how technological advances in electronic and digital resources have led to an onslaught of technology questions at the reference desk while prompting new and challenging work away from the desk. Libraries in our sample varied in their approaches to dealing with technological change, with institutional factors appearing to strongly shape their choice. Large, four-year academic libraries adopted a role reinvention approach that reduced reference librarians\u27 desk hours and permitted librarians to follow creative, often technical, pursuits. Small, four-year academic libraries took a structural defense approach that maintained the sanctity of the reference desk as the locus for substantive reference questions. Two-year academic and public libraries followed a resigned surrender approach where reference librarians staffed busy desks and were inundated with patron requests to aid with computer equipment. We discuss the implications of each approach for the work of reference librarians