Search results

Nene College in Northampton was the first of BLCMP's customers to migrate from its existing BLS system to the new UNIX‐based Talis. The article outlines the rationale behind the migration and the on‐site experiences. These highlight some of the hazards, and offer pointers for consideration by libraries intending to migrate.

A fashionable cant in education is that teachers are not so much concerned with teaching as with learning. This belief emerged mainly as a result of the work of new thinkers in the 1960's who directed attention to the importance of the learner in the learning process and who heightened an awareness of knowledge as a variable rather than as a given. The resulting re‐appraisal of teaching methods focussed on learning as “acts of cognition, not transferrals of information”, with the teacher as a facilitator.

To ascertain to what extent academic librarians in Nigeria satisfy the bibliographical and information requirements of scholarship and research, and whether the institutional settings in which staff work are conducive to effective professional service, this study, based upon the six oldest Nigerian University libraries, was undertaken. Among major elements examined were the librarians' perceptions of their responsibilities; their academic and professional backgrounds; work environments; job satisfaction and opportunities for continuing education and professional development. It was found that effective professional library service has been hindered by such factors as the inability of the library administrators to conceptualize the proper role of a librarian; rigid bureaucratization in the libraries; failure to separate professional from non‐professional duties or to match job content with relevant knowledge and capability; and by limited incentives and opportunities for continuing education and professional growth.

Six African-American, heterosexual couples with a toddler son in a southeastern United States county were interviewed about their beliefs and practices. Couples shared reflections of joys and challenges in their lives right before and during the pregnancy, delivery and right after the birth of their son. Through thematic analysis, results showed that most parents shared similar experiences of planning the pregnancy, breastfeeding from birth, and both being involved in caregiving. However, variability in preparation, emotions, and adjustment existed during this period. Although differential pregnancy outcomes could be race-related (i.e. gestational period length and preterm delivery), other aspects of this universal experience were similar to the average couple in the United States. This study aims to consider the implications for how race might impact the variability across families.

INTEREST IN THE YOUNG has gradually filtered down the age scale so that now even babies come under the spotlight of serious attention. Whereas at one time children were treated as miniature adults and expected to behave as such, nowadays the character of each age group is respected and its needs are catered for. In many cases formal education from the age of two and a half replaces the free activity of the play group for the under‐fives. But parents are constantly exhorted to evoke response from their baby even earlier by dangling brightly coloured objects over his cot, filling his environment with gay pictures and selecting educational toys.

FRANK HAMEL, the remarkable woman, who for about fifty years has owned and edited The Library World, and described herself as author, publisher and antiquarian bookseller died in the early hours of March 28th. She had been at her desk at 51 Great Russell Street the previous day but for about two years her usually vivid health had been failing.

Fiscal support from endowments is a longstanding tradition in many institutions of higher education. The first known endowment in an American academic library resulted from a bequest of £500 from Thomas Hollis to the Harvard College Library in 1774. The number of endowments grew steadily in the 1800s, and by the turn of the century there were significant endowments in many libraries, including Yale, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, the University of Virginia, and the University of North Carolina. Some institutions came to be heavily dependent on trusts for library funding. Between 1928 and 1956, for example, endowment supplied the total budgetary allocation for acquisitions at the Dartmouth College Library. Similarly, as late as the early 1950s, all of the book funds for the Harvard College Library came from its endowment.

A SURVEY of the information available regarding the application of the results of tests of models in towing basins to the design of floats for seaplanes was made by the National Advisory Committee lor Aeronautics in 1929. It was found that the development of flying boats and seaplanes had been assisted very much in the United States, and possibly more in other countries, by tests of models in towing basins or tanks (References 1 and 2). Some tanks already existed which were designed especially for testing models of seaplane floats and the construction of other tanks for this special purpose was projected (References 3 and 4). There was no such tank in the United States; in fact, there were only two tanks, both constructed before the appearance of the seaplane and designed originally to test models of ships. The construction in the United States of a special towing basin that could be devoted to tests of models of seaplane floats and hulls might reasonably be expected to be of great assistance in the further development of this type of aircraft, the importance of which appeared to be increasing.

The chapter aims to evaluate the efficacy of stakeholder participation in the solid waste management system of Mauritius in view of providing a possible mechanism to attain the goals of a sustainable waste management framework.

The study employs qualitative indicators, namely, User Inclusivity and Producer Inclusivity of the Wasteaware Benchmark Indicators. Secondary data are used to conduct a critical and comprehensive analysis of the sub-indicators falling under each of the two main indicators to determine the overall compliance level with respect to stakeholder engagement of the waste management sector of Mauritius.

The results of the study show a LOW/MEDIUM compliance level for both User Inclusivity and Provider Inclusivity indicators, which indicates that improvement is required in the stakeholder engagement mechanism in Mauritius. The main weaknesses identified comprise of lack of an adequate legal framework with clear definition of waste types with regards to segregation, especially for non-hazardous wastes, low efficiency of sustainable waste management awareness campaigns and lack of inclusion of the informal sector. The main strengths identified consist of a proper bidding mechanism in place and a good level of equity in the provision of waste management services with respect to comingled waste collection. Suggested improvement areas include a revamping of the existing legal framework related to waste management to cater for higher inclusivity of all stakeholders together with including sustainable waste management topics in the formal education curriculum.

The User Inclusivity and Producer Inclusivity indicators were previously applied only to cities to measure the level of stakeholder participation, but this study has demonstrated that these indicators can also be adopted on a nation-wide level to evaluate stakeholder engagement. The use of these indicators together with secondary data presents a less time-consuming method to assess stakeholder participation in the waste sector, which can be particularly useful for Small Island Developing States.