What’s to Argue? A Comparison of Opposing Viewpoints in Context to the Updated Points of View Reference Center, with a Nod to the Original Points of View Reference Center

As one of the traditional rhetorical modes – along with narration, description, exposition, etc. – argument, or persuasion, has long been a staple in the curricula of speech and English at the secondary and higher education levels. Students are given an assignment in which they must select an issue or topic and argue in support of or opposition to it, marshaling evidence to support their position. While it has always been possible for students to locate evidence through standard searches in library catalogs for books and print periodical indexes for magazine and journal articles, such searches can be unwieldy. Some publishers saw this as an opportunity to serve what they perceived as a specific market demographic, and created book series designed to offer pro and con viewpoints on various social issues or “controversial” topics. Among these are H.W. Wilson’s The Reference Shelf, which dates as far back as 1924, and Greenhaven Press’s Opposing Viewpoints series. Reference Shelf titles select articles from respected publications while offering abstracts of twenty to thirty additional articles and a bibliography of other sources. Opposing Viewpoints follows the same pattern of offering articles culled from reputable sources which cover a topic from various points of view in a pro/con format. Gale Group, not yet Gale/Cengage Learning, introduced Opposing Viewpoints (OV) in digital format as the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (OVRC) database, which in mid-2010 was “enhanced” and renamed Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Between Gale’s introduction of Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center and its repackaging as Opposing Viewpoints in Context, EBSCOhost rolled out its Points of View Reference Center database. While there is a common purpose shared by the two databases, because of their proprietary nature duplication of content is minimal, and each database possesses unique strengths and weaknesses

Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man and the Academic Instruction Librarian: Striving for Balance

The one-shot lecture format used in most information literacy/library instruction sessions generates a conflict between the objectives of the subject faculty member requesting the session and the objectives of the librarian conducting it. Trying to satisfy both sets of objectives often makes the librarian feel pulled in too many directions. Sometimes something as simple as an effective handout can resolve, or at least ameliorate, the conflict

Customization of Web-Scale Discovery Tools in Alabama’s Public & Independent College and University Libraries: A Longitudinal Study

This longitudinal survey of the library websites of sixteen Alabama senior universities tracks customizations done to these libraries’ web-scale discovery tools over a twenty-one month period. The findings of this survey could serve as reference points that could benefit libraries who have had web-scale discovery for some time as well as libraries considering purchase of web-scale discovery

From Both Sides Now: A Recently-Hired Librarian and a Library Veteran Respond to the Loss of a Favorite Database

The recent economic downturn has disrupted libraries no less than it has other sectors, causing cutbacks in funding which have resulted in hiring freezes and layoffs, reduced operating hours and services, and smaller acquisitions budgets for both print and electronic materials. These cutbacks have been most acutely felt by library acquisitions departments and collection development librarians, but the public services areas -- especially instruction librarians -- feel the blow too and must adapt their practices to the reductions in resources. This paper details the response of two instruction librarians -- one a veteran of some two decades’ service and the other a fairly recent hire -- to the loss of a favorite database

Pathfinders On-Line: Adding Pathfinders to a NOTIS On-Line System

For decades, print pathfinders have complemented card catalogs and been useful reference tools. They\u27re overlooked as components of on-line catalogs, even though they can extend the depth of the catalog. To encourage librarians to consider integrating pathfinders into on-line catalogs, the authors discuss problems in OPAC searching, describe the value and styles of pathfinders, and illustrate how to include them in a NOTIS system

Toward an optimal search strategy of optical and gravitational wave emissions from binary neutron star coalescence

Observations of an optical source coincident with gravitational wave emission detected from a binary neutron star coalescence will improve the confidence of detection, provide host galaxy localisation, and test models for the progenitors of short gamma ray bursts. We employ optical observations of three short gamma ray bursts, 050724, 050709, 051221, to estimate the detection rate of a coordinated optical and gravitational wave search of neutron star mergers. Model R-band optical afterglow light curves of these bursts that include a jet-break are extrapolated for these sources at the sensitivity horizon of an Advanced LIGO/Virgo network. Using optical sensitivity limits of three telescopes, namely TAROT (m=18), Zadko (m=21) and an (8-10) meter class telescope (m=26), we approximate detection rates and cadence times for imaging. We find a median coincident detection rate of 4 yr^{-1} for the three bursts. GRB 050724 like bursts, with wide opening jet angles, offer the most optimistic rate of 13 coincident detections yr^{-1}, and would be detectable by Zadko up to five days after the trigger. Late time imaging to m=26 could detect off-axis afterglows for GRB 051221 like bursts several months after the trigger. For a broad distribution of beaming angles, the optimal strategy for identifying the optical emissions triggered by gravitational wave detectors is rapid response searches with robotic telescopes followed by deeper imaging at later times if an afterglow is not detected within several days of the trigger.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters (2011 April 22

Enhancing gravitational wave astronomy with galaxy catalogues

Joint gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) observations, as a key research direction in multi-messenger astronomy, will provide deep insight into the astrophysics of a vast range of astronomical phenomena. Uncertainties in the source sky location estimate from gravitational wave observations mean follow-up observatories must scan large portions of the sky for a potential companion signal. A general frame of joint GW-EM observations is presented by a multi-messenger observational triangle. Using a Bayesian approach to multi-messenger astronomy, we investigate the use of galaxy catalogue and host galaxy information to reduce the sky region over which follow-up observatories must scan, as well as study its use for improving the inclination angle estimates for coalescing binary compact objects. We demonstrate our method using a simulated neutron stars inspiral signal injected into simulated Advanced detectors noise and estimate the injected signal sky location and inclination angle using the Gravitational Wave Galaxy Catalogue. In this case study, the top three candidates in rank have $72\%$, $15\%$ and $8\%$ posterior probability of being the host galaxy, receptively. The standard deviation of cosine inclination angle (0.001) of the neutron stars binary using gravitational wave-galaxy information is much smaller than that (0.02) using only gravitational wave posterior samples.Comment: Proceedings of the Sant Cugat Forum on Astrophysics. 2014 Session on 'Gravitational Wave Astrophysics

SkyPy: A package for modelling the Universe

SkyPy is an open-source Python package for simulating the astrophysical sky. It comprises a library of physical and empirical models across a range of observables and a command line script to run end-to-end simulations. The library provides functions that sample realisations of sources and their associated properties from probability distributions. Simulation pipelines are constructed from these models using a YAML-based configuration syntax, while task scheduling and data dependencies are handled internally and the modular design allows users to interface with external software. SkyPy is developed and maintained by a diverse community of domain experts with a focus on software sustainability and interoperability. By fostering co-development, it provides a framework for correlated simulations of a range of cosmological probes including galaxy populations, large scale structure, the cosmic microwave background, supernovae and gravitational waves. Version 0.4 implements functions that model various properties of galaxies including luminosity functions, redshift distributions and optical photometry from spectral energy distribution templates. Future releases will provide additional modules, for example to simulate populations of dark matter halos and model the galaxy-halo connection, making use of existing software packages from the astrophysics community where appropriate