AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION OF ETHICAL ISSUES IN LIBRARIES AS PREDICTORS OF SERVICE DELIVERY BY LIBRARY PERSONNEL FROM SELECTED POLYTECHNICS IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA

Abstract Polytechnic libraries exist because they deliver services to the patrons. However, reports of previous studies, personal observations and anecdotal evidence have shown that the level of service delivery in some polytechnic libraries in Nigeria is low. Out of the several factors that could enhance the level of service delivery, compliance with ethical issues appears to be the least studied. This study therefore examined the contributions of awareness and perception of ethical issues in libraries to service delivery by library personnel in selected polytechnics in Southwest Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design of the correlational type was used and the total enumeration technique was adopted. All 169 library personnel in Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, The Polytechnic, Ibadan and Yaba College of Technology participated in the study. The questionnaire was the research instrument and data were analysed with the use of frequency counts, percentages, mean, standard deviation, correlation and regression analysis. Results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between awareness of ethical issues and service delivery (r=.235**) and also for perception of ethical issues in libraries and service delivery (r=.495**). The joint influence of awareness and perception of ethical issues in libraries on service delivery was significant (R=.505 and Adj. R2 of .245). It was recommended that the management of the polytechnic libraries should organise seminars and workshops that will enlighten the staff on different ethical issues and guide their conducts, in order not to violate the ethical standards. Keywords: Awareness, perception, ethical issues in libraries, service delivery, polytechnics, Nigeri

Texas Clipping Effort Doesn’t Leave Placement Tracking to Sheer Luck

A goal of Texas A&M University’s Agricultural Communications unit is to regularly place its news in Texas daily papers. By the 1990s, a professional clipping service used for decades had become ineffective. The team noticed that many of the news articles they found in Texas dailies were not received in the monthly clipping service packet. Also, many of the articles received in the packet pertained to items not requested in the keyword list. Handling clips received from the service also was a problem. An in-house clipping service was designed to be a baseline of all agricultural coverage in Texas daily newspapers, including that of the A&M system’s agricultural program. All clips were arranged in an Internet-accessible database from which various statistics could be determined

Autonomic Dysfunction in Heart Failure and Renal Disease

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User Education Programmes, Resources Availability And Use: The Experience Of College Of Education Students In Kwara State, Nigeria

The aim of user education programme is to assist library users make the most effective use of library with little or no assistance from the library staff. Due to the greater relevance of libraries in information, education and the increasing complexity of libraries as a result of information explosion and a deluge of educational and information resources, it is imperative that libraries engage in user education programmes. In addition, availability of information resources and services to students is crucial but more importantly it is to ensure that students for whom these resources and services are provided utilise them adequately to satisfy their needs. The study therefore examines user education programmes, resources availability and use: the experience of college of education students in Kwara state, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted and the study population consisted 443 students in the department of chemistry, school of sciences, college of education, Kwara state, Nigeria. The simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 199. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics for the five research questions. Findings revealed that textbooks 57.5% and Internet resources 52.2% were readily available to the respondents. 39.8% respondents strongly agreed that, user education developed their capabilities as self-sufficient users. Also, 34.4% respondents revealed that their library skills were developed and made them become more independent in locating and retrieving information materials. 81.7% respondents strongly agreed that crowdedness/largeness of the class capacity was a major barrier hindering user education in their libraries, 72.6% also indicated that lack of periodic user education programme was a barrier while 69.8% of respondents revealed that lack of relevant and up-to-date resources were user education challenges which negatively affect the use of library resources by the students

Fill’er Up: Automating Hometown News Releases

Everyone wants to see their name in print when a special award or honor is won. And such releases bring praise to the news staff. But preparing these individualized news articles for just one or two papers is time-consuming and detracts from writing other releases that have mass market appeal. Assigning students to write the articles and seek addresses for papers requires a lot of supervision. To address these needs, a form was created on the World Wide Web to generate automatic news stories for award winners. The form allows the recipient of the award to share in the responsibility for accurate dissemination

The role of cellular antioxidant pathways in protecting neurons during photodynamic therapy

The effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on neurons is an important consideration when treating cancers within or adjacent to the nervous system. The photosensitiser, meta-tetrahydroxyphenyl chlorin (mTHPC) is effective in destroying tumour cells but can spare neurons in culture. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of cellular antioxidant pathways in protecting neurons from damage during mTHPC-mediated PDT. Exposing cells to 4 µg/ml mTHPC-mediated PDT in a 3D culture system resulted in substantial cell death among tumour cells and glia, but survival of neurons. To investigate this phenomenon, prior to PDT neurons were treated with drugs to block antioxidant pathways; L-buthionine sulfoximine (L-BSO) depleted glutathione, and diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC) and 2-methoxyoestradiol (2MeOE2) were used to inhibit superoxide dismutase SOD 1 and SOD 2 respectively. Neuronal cell death was assessed 24 h later. Neuronal death following mTHPC-mediated PDT was significantly increased in the presence of either DDC or L-BSO compared to PDT-only controls. There was a slight increase in neuronal death following PDT in neurons treated with 2-MeOE2, but this was not statistically significant. Overall, inhibition of glutathione resulted in 63 ± 7 % of neurons dying and inhibition of SOD 1 resulted in 42 ± 7 % neuron death. These results suggest that the mechanism by which neurons show reduced sensitivity to mTHPC-mediated PDT involves endogenous antioxidant pathways, the blocking of which results in neuronal cell death. Of the antioxidant pathways investigated here it is apparent that glutathione and SOD 1 play an important role, whereas inhibition of SOD 2 had little effect. Further studies are required to understand fully the cellular mechanisms involved in protecting neurons during this treatment, and the culture system described here is a useful tool for such research. Ultimately, understanding the conditions under which neurons may be able to survive PDT or other oxidative damage is important in developing strategies for treating tumours within or adjacent to the nervous system, where avoidance of neuronal damage has the potential to reduce side effects