Applying the lessons learnt: community involvement in regeneration

Community involvement is now seen as central to regeneration policy and practice. Yet it is by no means easy to achieve. This article explores the popularity of community involvement and points to some of the key lessons that can be drawn from recent, and past, research on the topic. I suggest that many of these lessons are not being applied and provide some suggestions for why this may be the case. I conclude that central government could do a lot more to enable the application of both individual and organizational learning

Erroneous error correction

[FIRST PARAGRAPH] Libraries have been using computers for years now. Many librarians are not mystified by mega-byte-sized jargon and take MOP-buckets in their stride. Nonetheless those black boxes can still come up with a surprise or two. I know a library which has just installed a new issue system (it hardly matters which brand, since this is just a cautionary tale). This computer has been told to capitalise each word in the book-title (machines don’t have to write in CAPITALS now), which looked a little odd when it came to Richard Iii. It was also given a list of stop-words (The, A, Le, La … ) which are not searchable, frustrating anyone looking for titles like A B C of … or A E Houseman or books by Mr Das or Ms Lo. On one occasion the index ‘slipped’ overnight and to look up SMITH one actually had to enter TNJUI

Citation Counts [Letter to the Editor]

[FIRST PARAGRAPH] One measure by which the central funding agency for universities in the United Kingdom is seeking to assess appropriate levels of support for various disciplines is that of citation counts. The first subject area in which this has been applied is the earth sciences. A questionnaire sent to relevant academic departments included a request for information on citation or ‘impact’ counts, and forthcoming reviews of chemistry and physics may be expected to do the same. It is therefore appropriate that attention should be drawn to some of the dangers inherent in the use of this form of bibliometrics as a ‘research indicator’

Erroneous error correction

[FIRST PARAGRAPH] Libraries have been using computers for years now. Many librarians are not mystified by mega-byte-sized jargon and take MOP-buckets in their stride. Nonetheless those black boxes can still come up with a surprise or two. I know a library which has just installed a new issue system (it hardly matters which brand, since this is just a cautionary tale). This computer has been told to capitalise each word in the book-title (machines don’t have to write in CAPITALS now), which looked a little odd when it came to Richard Iii. It was also given a list of stop-words (The, A, Le, La … ) which are not searchable, frustrating anyone looking for titles like A B C of … or A E Houseman or books by Mr Das or Ms Lo. On one occasion the index ‘slipped’ overnight and to look up SMITH one actually had to enter TNJUI

Spiritual Literacy: a New Concept for a New Reality

The idea of literacy is prevalent in today’s society, especially among librarians.There is much discussion of technological literacy and the digital divide. There are volumes written on cultural literacy and how we interact with different groups such as younger generations. There are books dedicated specifically to literacy in the 21st century. There are growing specialized “literacies” but none dealing with religion, per se. It is critical that librarians are aware of spiritual undertones inherent in information, in order to provide balanced information to patrons

A Philosophy Of Christian Librarianship

While a number of Christian librarians have explored the implications of the Christian world view for particular issues in library practice, few have attempted to develop a thoroughgoing philosophy of Christian librarians/zip. Those who have done so have generally failed to center their proposals around the Christian view of truth. The knowability, objectivity, unity, practicality, and spirituality of truth should impact the way librarians at Christian colleges carry out major library functions, including collection development, reference services, bibliographic instruction, research and publication, and management