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Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.

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 eighteenth to be published in Reference Services Review, includes items in English published in 1991. A few are not annotated because the compiler could not obtain copies of them for this review.

In 1970, the median earnings of American women employed on a full‐time basis were approximately 60 percent of men's earnings. This figure, taken from the Current Population Reports of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is circulated widely by individuals concerned with pay inequities in the labor market. Unfortunately, it is sometimes used without qualification, tending to cloud the problem of equal pay for equal work. Some writers fail to mention that the Commerce Department's figure relates to all workers in diverse occupations.

The following is an annotated list of materials that discuss the ways in which librarians can provide library users with orientation to facilities and services, and instruct them in library information and computer skills. This is RSR's 11th annual review of this literature, and covers publications from 1984. A few items from 1983 have been included because of their significance, and because they were not available for review last year. Several items were not annotated because the compiler was unable to secure them.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

Because of the special “State of the States” issue of Library Hi Tech and other circumstances beyond my control, the four quarterly “Comp Lit” compilations for 1996 appear here in a single and possibly peculiar chunk. A lot changes in a year of personal computing, but on reflection it seemed useful to include the citations and comments as I originally wrote them.

Parental illness can affect child and adolescent psychosocial well‐being. Mental health effects of parental bereavement generally and HIV‐related bereavement specifically have been poorly explored in children. HIV‐related illness has a number of specific features that may directly affect mental health considerations. Infection is clustered in families. Bereavement is often multiple. Death is often preceded by severe illness and multiple opportunistic infections. AIDS is stigmatised, which may impede disclosure, social support and adjustment. In low‐income countries where HIV infection is concentrated, access to palliative care as well as medical care may be limited. This review systematically identifies studies on HIV and bereavement in children. Searches of electronic databases for relevant articles revealed 14 studies examining bereavement with sufficient measurement and controlled methodology providing standardised behavioural and emotional outcome measures. Scrutiny of the results revealed the majority (12: 86%) recorded an adverse behavioural or emotional impact on the child. A detailed analysis of the studies provides insights to risks as well as protective factors that may inform future interventions. Only one systematic intervention was identified whereby a coping skills intervention had positive and long‐lasting effects. This paper examines urgent future needs and the requirement for evidence‐based policy and provision.

With this number the Library Review enters on its ninth year, and we send greetings to readers at home and abroad. Though the magazine was started just about the time when the depression struck the world, its success was immediate, and we are glad to say that its circulation has increased steadily every year. This is an eminently satisfactory claim to be able to make considering the times through which we have passed.

Drawing on the scientific literature, the purpose of this paper is to elucidate the harmful effects of toxic stress on the developing brain. It explains how severe, chronic adversity during development, in the absence of responsive caregiving, can impair brain architecture. It also outlines policy implications for preventing or mitigating the effects of toxic stress in early childhood.

The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, based at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, is a multidisciplinary, multiuniversity panel of scholars that seeks to bring science to bear on public decision making. Council members selected excessive stress as a topic meriting translation for a general audience and conducted extensive peer review in drafting the paper's key scientific concepts.

The paper discusses how healthy development can be derailed by excessive or prolonged activation of the biological stress response systems and how that increases lifetime risk for certain behavioural and physiological disorders. It finds that supportive relationships with caregivers can help buffer the negative consequences of toxic stress.

The paper calls for improvements to family support programmes, mental health services, and the quality and availability of early care and education.

This paper describes an original taxonomy of positive, tolerable, and toxic stress and demonstrates the need to translate scientific knowledge about the developing brain into actionable strategies for the prevention and treatment of the effects of adverse childhood experiences.