Automated Control of Subject Headings at the OSU Libraries

As more libraries acquire online catalogs, the interest and attention given to automated authority control continues to increase. Baer and Johnson recently did a survey of the authority control literature produced since 1974. They found that most of it (some seventy references) did not support the idea that advanced computer-searching capabilities are making authority control less necessary in online catalogs. In addition, their survey of the uses of authority control in American college and university libraries inspired "a number of comments to the effect that maintaining authority control online was just as time-consuming as maintaining authority control manually."(1). If automation has not made authority control unnecessary or even less time-consuming, what has it done in this area? Baer and Johnson express the hope that automation has enabled libraries to provide better authority control even if it has not allowed them to save time.(2). Such has been the case at the Ohio State University Libraries (OSUL). What follows is a description of how automation has recently been used to improve authority control of subject headings in the online catalo

Electronic Journal Usage at Ohio State University

E-journal, printed journal, and database usage data from campus polls conducted annually, 1998-2000, at one large research university show increased use of e-journals and decreased use of printed journals by faculty and graduate students as the number of available e-journals increased from two hundred to more than three thousand. Little or no statistical correlation between age and frequency of use was found. The majority of frequent users of all three types of resources were from departments in the sciences. Transcripts from the 1998 poll provided insights into attitudes toward replacing printed journals with e-journals. The advantages and disadvantages mentioned were consistent with previous studies

Automated Workstations for Professional Catalogers: A Survey of ARL Libraries

A survey of ARL libraries was conducted in the spring of 1988 to determine how many libraries had, or soon would have, individual automated workstations for their professional catalogers. The number of libraries expecting to acquire these workstations at some future time was determined as well. The study also covered: (1) costs and types of equipment being used or considered for this purpose, (2) current and projected uses of automated workstations, and (3) their impact on cataloger productivity, processing costs, and the quality of catalog records

New Directions in Library Education: A Young Practitioner's View

Over the past several years library literature has included a number of articles concerning proposed changes in library education programs in the United States. Two-year master's degree programs have received the most attention, and some library schools have already revised their curricula to allow for increased specialization and to provide opportunities for students to acquire practical experience through internships. Many of the articles regarding these new directions in library education have been written by library educators and administrators. As a recent graduate of a one-year master's degree program with several years of professional experience, I would like to express some of my views concerning these proposed change

The understanding of time concepts by selected high school students using Friedman's measuring instrument

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThis thesis is an attempt to determine the extent to which a selected group of students from the history department of Beverly High School possesses understanding of time concepts. It proposes to measure their comprehension of time by means of an objective test. The results of this test are evaluated and compared to those established by Kopple C. Friedman ia 1942 in an attempt to validate further his work in this area. An adequate understanding of time words and the principles of chronology is necessary in order to create an alert and well-informed citizenry which is able to think about current political events, relate those events to happenings in the past, and make intelligent decisions on the basis of this understanding. Accordingly, it becomes mandatory for the teachers of social studies to evaluate present methods of teaching time concepts and to develop a clearer perspective of their own comprehension of time. To facilitate this work, students were selected who represented a normal senior high school population in terms of IQ (102.5) and socio-economic status. Two hundred and seventy-six students were chosen from the various courses within the history department and represented all grades and curricula within the high school. These pupils were given a time comprehension test which was devised as part of a doctoral dissertation at the University of Minnesota by Kopple C. Friedman. The test is divided into four parts which measure the understanding of time words, chronology, time lines (simple and complex), and a fifth section determining date preference by students. After the administration of the test, scores were obtained on individual performances which were categorized by grade to aid in the evaluation. Correlations were made between performance of the group as a whole and certain factors which might be considered predictive of success on the test--IQ, socio-economic status, and tne number of history courses taken by grade-twelve students. Mean performances of the boys were compared to those of the girls and analyzed for any statistical significance. The results of Part I (time word comprehension) showed a surprisingly low degree of understanding among all groups except the seniors. Grades ten and eleven achieved satisfactory comprehension for only ten words out of twenty-three. Since the words are common and many of them used in daily conversation, these results are alarming. Grade-twelve students achieved adequate comprehension for sixteen out of twenty-three words. Friedman had established that maturity in comprehension of time words is reached when twelve of twenty-three words are satisfactorily understood by a group. He found such understanding came at the age of sixteen, or the end of grade ten. The present experiment shows that the Beverly group is at least a year late in arriving at maturity in this test; that is, the comprehension of time word5. The results of Part II, involving a knowledge of chronology, were higher than those of Part I, and the peak of performance came in grade twelve. The general averages were remarkably similar to the results obtained by Friedman. Yet, comprehension of the principles of chronology, especially knowledge of B. C., is not adequate for any grade in the present experiment except grade twelve. Comprehension of individual items of both Part I and Part II in the present experiment does not increase consistently throughout the grades but remains fairly constant in grades ten and eleven and jumps sharply in grade twelve. This is contrary to the findings of Friedman. Parts IV and V tested tne students on the use of the simple and complex time lines. From the very poor results obtained on these parts, it may be stated that the time line is a learned device. Although Friedman's group did well on the simple time line, he found poor results on the complex time line. Both experiments point to the fact that the time line should be used sparingly by the teacher and taught With great care. The results of student preference on learning dates indicate a trend toward choosing century dates. Friedman found no definite pattern of preference, and a survey of the choices shows little similarity between the two experiments. The conclusion seems evident in the present experiment that students need motivation for learning dates. Correlations were made between performance on Parts I, II, and IV and possible indices of achievement--IQ, socioeconomic status, and number of courses taken. With the exception of a significant negative correlation existing between performance on Part I and the number of courses taken, no significant correlations were established. A certain degree of relationship was found to exist between IQ and performance by students on all parts of the test. Upon setting up critical ratios to determine any significance in difference of performance by sex, it was discovered that the boys made a significantly superior performance on Part I of the test. The scores for Part V were so low that no meaningful evidence could be gained from correlating the results with the various factors. The findings of the present experiment clearly emphasize the fact that time concepts are not fully understood by high school students, and that there is evident need for developing more effective methods of teaching time comprehension

Systematic Review of Supported Housing Literature 1993 – 2008

Supported housing for individuals with severe mental illness strives to provide the services necessary to place and keep individuals in independent housing that is integrated into the community and in which the consumer has choice and control over his or her services and supports. Supported housing can be contrasted to an earlier model called the “linear residential approach” in which individuals are moved from the most restrictive settings (e.g., inpatient settings) through a series of more independent settings (e.g., group homes, supervised apartments) and then finally to independent housing. This approach has been criticized as punishing the client due to frequent moves, and as being less likely to result in independent housing. In the supported housing model (Anthony & Blanch, 1988) consumers have choice and control over their living environment, their treatment, and supports (e.g., case management, mental health and substance abuse services). Supports are flexible and faded in and out depending on needs. Results of this systematic review of supported housing suggest that there are several well-controlled studies of supported housing and several studies conducted with less rigorous designs. Overall, our synthesis suggests that supported housing can improve the living situation of individuals who are psychiatrically disabled, homeless and with substance abuse problems. Results show that supported housing can help people stay in apartments or homes up to about 80% of the time over an extended period. These results are contrary to concerns expressed by proponents of the linear residential model and housing models that espoused more restrictive environments. Results also show that housing subsidies or vouchers are helpful in getting and keeping individuals housed. Housing services appear to be cost effective and to reduce the costs of other social and clinical services. In order to be most effective, intensive case management services (rather than traditional case management) are needed and will generally lead to better housing outcomes. Having access to affordable housing and having a service system that is well-integrated is also important. Providing a person with supported housing reduces the likelihood that they will be re-hospitalized, although supported housing does not always lead to reduced psychiatric symptoms. Supported housing can improve clients’ quality of life and satisfaction with their living situation. Providing supported housing options that are of decent quality is important in order to keep people housed and satisfied with their housing. In addition, rapid entry into housing, with the provision of choices is critical. Program and clinical supports may be able to mitigate the social isolation that has sometimes been associated with supported housing.National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Grant # (H133A050006

Telehealth for expanding the reach of early autism training to parents.

Although there is consensus that parents should be involved in interventions designed for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), parent participation alone does not ensure consistent, generalized gains in children's development. Barriers such as costly intervention, time-intensive sessions, and family life may prevent parents from using the intervention at home. Telehealth integrates communication technologies to provide health-related services at a distance. A 12 one-hour per week parent intervention program was tested using telehealth delivery with nine families with ASD. The goal was to examine its feasibility and acceptance for promoting child learning throughout families' daily play and caretaking interactions at home. Parents became skilled at using teachable moments to promote children's spontaneous language and imitation skills and were pleased with the support and ease of telehealth learning. Preliminary results suggest the potential of technology for helping parents understand and use early intervention practices more often in their daily interactions with children