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Transportation librarians name the Transportation Information Research Services (TRIS) database as a critical resource to meet research needs of the US transportation community. This paper seeks to question the claim with evidence from a small‐scale pilot study seeking to answer the question, “How is TRIS Online meeting the needs of transportation professionals?” The paper also aims to offer an outline of the information‐seeking behaviours of transportationists who participated in the pilot study.

Using a mixed‐methods pilot study, researchers present observed information‐seeking behaviours of transportation professionals, compared with formal studies about the user group and the consensus of library and information professionals who serve the community.

Questions remain about the efficacy of TRIS serving its target audience. The results demonstrate that search results received mixed reviews from users and they favoured keyword searching to the near total exclusion of the sophisticated information retrieval features that librarians/information professionals maintain.

The study focuses on a specific, one‐time interaction between a small pool of professionals and an online database. The results are highly valuable but should not be generalized to describe the information‐seeking behaviour of all transportation professionals.

The researchers recommend that all elements of this pilot study remain, should the project be reproduced on a larger scale; it provides a feasible framework and yields data necessary for extensive analysis.

Baldwin notes, “Although there is a general assumption that a large portion of transportation‐related materials are available on the internet, few, if any, studies have been done on the topic. For most of the transportation community TRIS Online is seen as the most important single means of identifying transportation‐related information resources”.

This research seeks to answer, “How do everyday Second Life users go about finding needed information?” as the primary research question.

A virtual ethnographic approach couched in grounded theory was utilized to conduct semi‐structured interviews with everyday users of Second Life, accompanied by participant observation.

Information seeking behaviors within the virtual world of Second Life were found to be rich, complex interaction with multiple facets. Five themes emerged to illuminate how users seek information.

This research took place over a six‐week period, although most enthographies last at least one year. Conclusions were drawn solely from interviews because participant observation did not penetrate a given community with enough depth to adequately address the research question.

Virtual worlds offer the promise of becoming an integrated part of the information seeking landscape for an increasing number of users. Understanding the factors influencing information seeking behavior that are outlined in this article will equip librarians and information professionals to best utilize virtual worlds and continue to create innovative, user‐focused services there.

This article extends current scholarship by offering a practical, five‐factor approach to understand how people seek information in virtual worlds. The literature is robust in description about library services and the nature of information in virtual worlds. Yet, investigation into information seeking behavior in this environment is in its nascent stages.

This paper aims to examine the experiences of new users of Second Life in order to identify potential barriers and attractors to the expansion of the userbase and therefore the market for in‐world information services.

A multi‐faceted methodological approach was taken utilising two questionnaires (pre‐ and post‐immersion), non‐participant overt observation, structured interviews, and online diary keeping. Data was then analysed to identify barriers and attractors.

More negative experiences were recorded than positive, with the costs, time commitment, stigma of using, the lack of structure, social interaction, and the complexity of the control interface all provoking negative responses. Avatar creation, and the creativity and quality of graphical presentation produced positive responses.

Due to the investment in time required to participate in the research, the sample size is smaller than ideal thus limiting the conclusions that can be generalised. The research also did not directly include interaction with online library or information services.

For librarians using SL the research demonstrates that the response from new users is less than enthusiastic and that when designing virtual library services care should be taken to avoid the barriers identified here and to focus on the features found attractive by participants.

Previous studies have examined the implementation of in‐world information services without examining the experience of new users. Those studies that have looked directly at the user's interaction with virtual worlds are more focused on MMORPGs and on current users.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss research articles from authors who have just left school.

This is an opinion piece.

Bad research should not be accepted just to help young professionals get published, but the best can be offered opportunities like this special issue with explicit invitations to publish their research via a peer‐review process.

This paper identifies the potential of young professionals and peer‐reviewed journals.

Born in Pittsburgh, PA, on November 1, 1910, Taylor Ostrander grew up in Westchester County, back in New York, his family's home state for many generations. He went to public schools in White Plains and Scarsdale and graduated from Hackley School in Tarrytown in 1928; that fall he entered Williams College in Williamstown, MA, where his mother's father was in the class of 1882.

Chester Whitney Wright (1879–1966) received his A.B. in 1901, A.M. in 1902 and Ph.D. in 1906, all from Harvard University. After teaching at Cornell University during 1906–1907, he taught at the University of Chicago from 1907 to 1944. Wright was the author of Economic History of the United States (1941, 1949); editor of Economic Problems of War and Its Aftermath (1942), to which he contributed a chapter on economic lessons from previous wars, and other chapters were authored by John U. Nef (war and the early industrial revolution) and by Frank H. Knight (the war and the crisis of individualism); and co-editor of Materials for the Study of Elementary Economics (1913). Wright’s Wool-Growing and the Tariff received the David Ames Wells Prize for 1907–1908, and was volume 5 in the Harvard Economic Studies. I am indebted to Holly Flynn for assistance in preparing Wright’s biography and in tracking down incomplete references; to Marianne Johnson in preparing many tables and charts; and to F. Taylor Ostrander, as usual, for help in transcribing and proofreading.

Using data from a multi-method study with a national reproductive justice coalition, this chapter examines the emergence of the US reproductive justice movement. I first examine how reproductive justice emerged in relation to the mainstream women's movements. Then I demonstrate how, due to the relationship between reproductive justice and social identity, the boundaries of the reproductive frame and movements are simultaneously broader and more constrained in meaning than reproductive rights. Finally, I show how (perceived) co-optation leads to tensions between movement sectors and weakens the potential for reproductive justice to reinvigorate activism around reproductive issues. I conclude with how the success of the reproductive justice movement, including around diversity and coalition building, can inform other social movements.