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Informally computer scientists reported they could access free copies of research papers they needed via tools such as Google Scholar. To ascertain whether this perception came from widespread free access or from unnoticed employer-paid access, the purpose of this paper was to locate computer science papers and determine what proportion was freely available using Google Scholar.

A sample of 1,967 conference papers and periodical papers from 2003 to 2010, indexed in the ACM Guide to Computing Literature, was searched for manually in Google Scholar, using the paper or article title and the first author's surname and supplementary searches as needed.

Free full-text versions were found for 52 per cent of the conference papers and 55 per cent of the periodical papers. Documents with older publication dates were more likely to be freely accessible than newer documents, with free versions found for 71 per cent of items published in 2003 and 43 per cent of items published in 2010.

Results were limited to the retrieval of known computer science publications via Google Scholar. Future research could examine whether the decline found in this study is specific to Google Scholar or reflects a decrease in the free sharing of research by computer scientists.

Previous research for computer science found lower levels of free access than this research determined, but the decline found in this study runs contrary to increases that have been found. This research confirms many computer science papers are available for free but also that subscription holdings are necessary for complete coverage of papers in the field.

As virtual reference and online discovery tools evolve, so do interactions with patrons. This study aims to describe how synchronous virtual reference transactions changed over a six‐year period at a university library.

Transcripts from October and February from October 2004 to February 2010 were coded for question type, interlibrary loan discussions, and referrals. Subcategories for holding types and referrals were also recorded.

The number and types of questions changed with the virtual reference platform used, both increasing and decreasing. The number of questions more than doubled from the beginning to the end of the six‐year study period. The number of holdings questions at the end of the study period was six times higher than the number at the beginning. Patterns relating to interlibrary loan discussions and referrals were noted.

The study examined transcripts from one university library. Findings cannot be generalized but provide examples that may be similar in other libraries.

The number and type of online reference questions that a library receives can change dramatically in a short time. Libraries should monitor question transactions, especially after software changes. Libraries also should consider how the placement of chat widgets changes the quantity and nature of questions and train staff appropriately.

This study examines transcripts across a longer time span than previous studies. It is unique in its examination of virtual reference widgets embedded in proprietary databases and link resolvers.

To report on the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference held in June 2007 in Denver, Colorado.

Conference report.

The annual conference aims to provide attendees continuing professional education, vendor presentations, invited papers and social events. Exhibits from library vendors include technology, information materials and services.

A conference report of interest to information professionals in academia, corporate and governmental information centers and libraries.

On Justification: Economies of Worth (Boltanski & Thévenot, 1991/2006) was a synthetic and comprehensive parsing of common goods, goods that could and had to be justified in public. In response to Bourdieu’s critical sociology, they rather provided a robust and disciplined sociology of critique, the situated requirements of justification. They refused power and violence as integral to the operability of justification. They emphasized the ways in which conventions of worth afforded coordination, not their constitution of or by domination. They refused to make either capitalism, or the state, into primary motors of social order. Indeed, they refused social sphere, structure, or group as the ground of the good. They emphasized the cognitive capacities of agents. There was no passion, no desire, no bodily affect in these justified worlds. There wasn’t even any account of production of value, of children, or of money. And while they recognized the metaphysical aspect of the good and even used Christianity as a template for one of their cités, they rigorously excluded religion. The theory was designed to analyze moments of controversy, not quiescence or quietude. In his subsequent work, Boltanski aimed to address these absences. In this essay, we examine how Boltanski sought to restore love, violence, religion, production, and institution across five texts: Love and Justice as Competences (1990/2012), The New Spirit of Capitalism, co-authored with Eve Chiapello (1999/2007), The Foetal Condition: A Sociology of Engendering and Abortion (2004/2013), On Critique: A Sociology of Emancipation (2009/2011), and La «Collection», Une Forme Neuve du Capitalisme – La Mise en Valeur Economique du Passé et ses Effets (2014) co-authored with Arnaud Esquerre.

This chapter discusses the significance of Sally Tomlinson’s article, The Irresistible Rise of Special Education and of her sociological thinking more generally. The paradox highlighted in the Tomlinson’s article, that is, the constantly evolving expansion, globally, of special education, alongside a simultaneous growth in support for the idea of inclusive education, is discussed in this chapter. Tomlinson’s influence on the sociological direction of Julie Allan’s work is traced and exemplified, and the continuing tensions in inclusive education are explored.

This chapter examines the relative absence of critique in inclusive education research, policy and practice, and in education more generally – and consider the consequences of doing without critique. It responds to Bruno Latour's (2004, p. 243) urgent call for progress towards “a fair position” and for the development of “new critical tools” to work positively and constructively towards social change. The potential for criticality is explored in relation to disability studies, disability arts and children's perspectives. Each of these sources is evaluated in terms of their affordance of criticality and for their potential to mobilise political action. They are also considered in relation to the epistemological shifts and altered power relations that are necessary to create an inclusive educational environment.

Purpose: Mentioning a criminal’s country of origin in crime news is a divisive and much-discussed issue among both journalists and members of society. Scholars assume that mentioning a criminal’s foreign origin could develop and maintain prejudices against individuals with a migrant background among news recipients. However, until now, no attention has been paid to what increases the likelihood that a journalist does or does not mention a criminal’s country of origin when reporting on crimes. Methodology/approach: One possible explanation is that the frequency and intensity of specific news factors could lead to mentioning a criminal’s origin, since increased importance of a news story is usually assigned when many high-intensity news factors occur. Even though numerous studies have determined the frequency of specific news factors in (crime) news, the explanation hypothesized in this chapter has not yet been examined. To investigate this supposition empirically, a quantitative content analysis of four German prime newscasts (n = 290), including public and private broadcasts, was conducted in the current study. Findings: The findings indicate that mentioning criminals’ origins is still common practice in journalism; furthermore, criminals with foreign origins are explicitly represented as foreign almost ten times more often than German-origin criminals are explicitly mentioned as German. News factors such as personalization, location, and influence show some effects of positively predicting journalistic mentioning of a criminal’s country of origin.

This essay addresses the interplay between structure and agency, oppression and resistance, as pertains to the Refugee and Forced Migration subject, and the particular opportunity revealed through artistic form. First, a critique of the structures and predominant discourse surrounding the subject presents the ramifications and constraints inherent in traditional modes, which objectify, simplify, and oppress. Into this context enters the unique intervention and alternative presented by the Bildungsroman, that is, the “novel education” provided by this literary form, which grants agency to the Refugee and Forced Migration subject in the re-construction of his or her own coming-of-age through narrative. Through the delineation of this process in the critical reading of three such novels, a dynamic view of subject-formation and non-canonical experience challenges the norm – indeed, as this essay argues, discourse becomes the means through which the Refugee and Forced Migration subject (re)-constitutes him- or her-self, in a narrative space for releasing, expressing, and connecting what has otherwise been repressed, denied, or disconnected through exile and displacement. To conclude, this project’s efforts for further examination and appreciation of such works may be seen to open the field for more shared insights and co-mingled understandings of identity, belonging, and communication.

This paper reconsiders the role of critical theory within the field of consumer culture theory.

The paper is documentary evidence of a roundtable held at the 10th annual Consumer Culture Theory conference on the subject. The roundtable uses discussion and conceptual methods.

The author begins with a brief introduction to the use of critical theory in the academy and in CCT more specifically. In the course of the roundtable, it was discovered that the reason we do not talk about critical theory more often may be attributable to its success, rather than failure – indeed, it has inspired so many new academic traditions, that we rarely pause to think of the various critical traditions in one place. Building on this foundation, participants were asked to discuss what critical theory means to them; what theorists they have used; what engagement they have had with critical theory traditions in CCT; and what their vision for critical theory influenced consumer research would be. Participation came from both planned and emergent participants. The final conclusion was the felicitous discovery that critical traditions are alive and well in consumer culture theory, and that there are many pathways to pursue critical consumer research in the future.

The roundtable session and paper are a direct response to the conference theme, which asked conference attendees to reflect on the history of consumer research, and specifically the role of critical theory within it. Moreover, the paper builds upon important debates about the philosophy of science and the role of critical theory within consumer research.