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Southeast Missouri is prosperous today as a rich, agricultural center partly because of the Little River Drainage District (LRDD), the body responsible for digging the levees, channels, and canals during the early twentieth century that drained the swampland which covered much of Southeast Missouri. The LRDD collected all the records related to the engineering project and to various aspects of people’s lives during that time, including tax records, plats, maps, catalogs, field reports, etc., and asked Southeast Missouri State University’s Kent Library to house them. Because of space considerations, the collection has been placed at the Bootheel Center, in Malden, Missouri. This article gives a brief history of Southeast Missouri and the LRDD, describes the collection, and highlights why these papers are of fundamental importance to the citizens of Southeast Missouri.

Julie Abrams, President, Microfinance Analytics, has been a consultant to the microfinance industry for 15 years. She has authored or co-authored 16 publications on microfinance topics including international financial institution funding, foreign investment, MFI debt default, foreign exchange risk, an e-course on financial risk management, capital structure, profitability, financial performance, and MFI appraisals. Julie has been on the review panel and jury for CGAP's Financial Transparency Awards. She currently serves as an advisor for Research and Analysis to the International Association of Microfinance Investors (IAMFI) and is a member of the Calvert Foundation's External International Investment Committee, including reviews of MicroPlace and all syndicated lending. She began working in microfinance in 1985 with Women's World Banking. Julie was a fellow at the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies, where she earned an MBA from the Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BA in Economics from Oberlin College.

The automation of the reserve system at Southeast Missouri State University prompted a call for determining usage patterns of the reserve collection and services by the faculty. Reports the findings of the survey used to collect this information. Examples of questions are: whether the faculty knew the reserve system had been automated; whether the computerized list of a faculty’s reserve material was beneficial; and which semester the faculty used reserves the most? Presents raw data, along with comments about answers to several of the questions, conclusions that can be drawn from the survey, and a recommendation.

The weeding project at Southeast Missouri State University presented an opportunity to identify different variables, i.e. shelf level, book jackets, added entries, and untraced series, that impacted a book’s circulation behavior and to consider the relationship between circulation and the Internet/online database activity. Using the political science collection, the investigator found that shelf level has the strongest impact on circulation among the variables studied, but the Internet and electronic reference databases have an even greater influence on circulation. Surprisingly, one of the conclusions was that 61 percent of the political science collection either circulated only once or never circulated. It is argued that because of the pressures the Internet and electronic reference databases are placing on book collections and their use it is more important than ever to identify new collection development strategies to pinpoint which titles will be used.

Following the automation of the reserve system, Kent Library at Southeast Missouri State University decided to ascertain student use of the reserve collection via a survey. Reports the findings of that survey, which asked questions such as how students know items are on reserve, how they request items, whether the reserve printout is useful, and what action is taken if the material is already charged out. Raw data are presented, along with comments about answers to several of the questions, a discussion about three correlations, conclusions that can be drawn from the survey, and recommendations.

The purpose of this article is to describe the quantitative evaluation of an engineering monograph approval plan using circulation analysis.

The circulation frequency of titles purchased under the approval plan was analyzed, and compared with the circulation frequency of all engineering books during the same time period, purchased both individually and through the plan.

It was found that 23 percent of the approval plan books circulated, compared with 6 percent of engineering books as a whole. There was considerable variation in circulation frequency between engineering disciplines, but approval plan books circulated much more frequently in all subject areas.

This study assesses circulation only during the most recent complete year, which means that the approval plan books are all new books. However, more than half of the books in the engineering collection are less than ten years old, so age is unlikely to be the only reason for the much higher circulation of approval books.

Since this evaluation concludes that the approval plan does have value for Rowan University's users, such a plan might be worth considering by other academic libraries looking for a better way to obtain new engineering monographs which serve user needs.

While the circulation data described in this study reflect the unique needs of the Rowan University user community, they can serve as a useful benchmark for engineering librarians who want to assess the usage of their monograph collections. The study also has value for academic librarians who are evaluating an approval plan from YBP or another vendor.

This article reports on a critical race theory (CRT) analysis of the perspectives of providers of employer-supported educational opportunities and adult learners, who identified as Black, indigenous or as a person of color, and were employed in service industries.

A review of the literature was used to shape an initial interview protocol. Data were collected from working learners in retail, hospitality, restaurants and healthcare industries. An “a priori” coding scheme that drew from CRT was applied to transcripts during analysis.

Analysis revealed that working learners' skills, experiential knowledge, learning mindset, language flexibility and knowledge gained from previous learning experiences were not consistently acknowledged by employers. CRT analysis illustrated that endemic racism exists within educational opportunities and in workplace learning.

CRT has not been widely used to examine adult education practice, especially for workforce development and employer-based education programs. This research expands the use of CRT in adult education and encourages critical conversations around equity in learning opportunities offered by employers. CRT informed data analysis uncovered barriers to equitable learning opportunities and workplace learning. A discussion of inequities in work-based learning illustrates there is insufficient awareness of implicit bias, which points to the need for initiatives focused on social justice.

The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with information literacy including instruction in the use of information resources, research, and computer skills related to retrieving, using, and evaluating information. This review, the seventeenth to be published in Reference Services Review, includes items, in English published in 1990. A few are not annotated because the compiler could not obtain copies of them for this review.

The purpose of this paper is to identify important elements of a strategy to facilitate small farmer participation in international supply chains for fresh produce.

The study employs survey data collected from a national sample of US fresh produce importers. Their concerns and suggestions regarding potential for transactions with small Mexican farmers were assessed, with factor analysis providing a thematic summary of their perspectives.

Results of the study reveal that US importers are not uniformly pessimistic about the ability of small farmers to meet their demands. On the contrary, almost one‐third said they probably would work with small farmers in the near future. In general, importers are interested in transactions in which the product meets consumer and government expectations and is grown on the buyer's terms, the grower is reliable over time, the transaction is simplified, and the grower handles transportation. Importers rate small farmers poorly on their ability to achieve the last two factors, but these are also the items rated least important to the importers. New approaches to building market capacity in small farmers are also highly valued by the importers, including government investment guarantees, and arrangements for facilitating contact between importers and growers. More traditional methods, such as cooperatives and use of brokers, were not rated as highly.

The study relies on cross‐sectional, self‐report data from one side of the grower/importer dyad. Incorporating longitudinal data with a dyadic perspective could provide additional insight.

A practitioner perspective on the challenges in international fruit and vegetable supply chains, particularly as relates to developing countries, is of considerable value. Not only can governments choose improved policies for improving market readiness for the growers, but also members of supply chains themselves can identify tactics for ensuring successful transactions by enhancing coordination. The prospects for a win‐win outcome for growers and importers are improved.

Time banking is a form of alternative consumer market where members trade services, non-reciprocally creating a local marketplace for services. Time Banks facilitate dyadic exchanges, meeting members’ practical needs and building diverse skills. The purpose of this research was to determine the broad capabilities developed in the Time Bank economy, and to demonstrate how these capabilities were mobilised following a series of earthquakes, contributing to the larger community’s resiliency.

Taking an ethnographic approach, data were collected using a variety of methods including interviews, focus groups, participant observation and secondary research.

Over time, this alternative consumer market developed a significant communication and social network that members activated to solve diverse practical problems facing the community. Similar to other exchange communities, the Time Bank also fostered a strong sense of community based on reciprocity and egalitarian values. Although the Time Bank was created as a marketplace to exchange local services, during a series of devastating earthquakes, it galvanised adaptive capacities, increasing the resiliency of the local community during disaster relief and reconstruction.

The data were drawn from one alternative exchange system in New Zealand.

The study shows how grassroots alternative consumer markets like Time Banks build community capacities alongside the formal economy. During normal times, this system meets consumer needs, but in extraordinary times, this system provides community shock absorbers, thereby enhancing community resiliency.

The Time Bank was particularly adept at leveraging local knowledge to provide social support to those residents who were most vulnerable.

Data were collected before, during, and after the earthquakes, providing a rare opportunity to explore the process of community resiliency in action. This research extends existing theories of community resiliency explaining the development and activation of capacities by a local alternative consumer market.