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The central contribution of the paper aims to provide a new way of thinking and reflecting about using a more critical public policy approach as opposed to the heretofore dysfunctional dichotomist approach common to the immigration policy debate.

Using critical theoretical approaches primarily based on Debord and Agamben, the author compares and contrasts the approaches made by immigration reform policy advocates and opponents to obtain a better understanding of these complex issues and the motivations behind them.

Viewing the policy immigration and border policy discourse from the market spectacle lens allows the author to see the seemingly never-ending conflict to be fully disclosed. Corporate profit-seekers have used effectively the politics of fear surrounding the terrorist attacks of 9-11, the ongoing fear generated against undocumented border crossers along with the property takings of US citizens through the use of the complexities of the dominant market language in the name of the 9-11 and the subsequent War on Terror. The author's primary intention was to expose the motivations of public policy makers and place their policy decisions into a critical context.

In this original paper, the author analyzes events such as the border fence construction – and the corporatist influence behind its development, the push to politically disenfranchise Latinos in Arizona, and the inability of the US Congress to pass legislation for meaningful immigration reform and border security – that have all been subject to the limitations of language, symbols and images portrayed by protagonists and antagonists of market-driven immigration policy. The value of the paper is that the author demonstrates the problems and limitations on public policy.

Many libraries are now designing and implementing their own tools to meet users' needs for search and data discovery. The aim of this study is to share the experiences of the HAM‐TMC Library, one of the largest US medical libraries, in creating and implementing such a tool.

A narrative of the process demonstrates the genesis of the project and highlights the importance of collaboration with entities outside the usual library sphere.

Results show that libraries have choices to make in designing their own futures and in offering innovative services to their users. Taking a proactive approach can yield exciting results.

Many libraries accept federated search and other technologies directly from their library management system vendors as the simplest way to proceed with implementing new technologies. The HAM‐TMC Library recognized that its particular information environment required learning the “problem space” thoroughly before investigating available options. As a result, the new tool the Library is providing is much more likely to meet specific user information needs.

The purpose of this paper is to show the practicality of a new portfolio design that incorporates distributed content, emphasizes student ownership, encourages social learning, and acknowledges the central importance of ease of use.

The approach's practicality is demonstrated through survey results and usage logs from two case studies.

Students enjoy using this system, and report that its social aspects improve their academic performance and motivation. They also report it as being more social than their past experiences with BlackBoard.

The paper provides support for a vision of distributed educational software centered on portfolios, anchored by course tools, connected to assessment outcomes, and opened for public learning.

To share latest presentations and highlight discussion generated at this Annual Brick and Click Symposium.

The need for new information technology applications to support new library functions is the focus of this annual symposium, now known as a mature conference.

Current technologies and products remain under utilized. Several presentations demonstrated many creative applications using packages such as ColdFusion and RefPole to name a few to provide newer and more efficient ways to handle statistical compilations, manage information services, contribute to in‐house library needs that measure transactions and more expedient and easy ways to do things.

Some very creative thinking and new ideas that have not made the traditional literature are introduced in this forum. Included this year are examples of software to track reference and other staff‐intensive interactions; appropriate technologies to create knowledgebases and institutional repositories, and to deliver government information in more consistent digital formats; compatibilities with course management software, distance delivery platforms and other larger technology‐based services.

The purpose of this paper is to examine alternative sources of retirement income apart from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) pension benefits and the significance of these retirement income sources in the consumption decisions of pensioners in Ghana.

Using household survey data on SSNIT pensioners in Accra, Ghana, this study employ the Garrett and Kendall coefficient of concordance (W-test) to robustly identify the sources of retirement income and determine the significance of these income sources in financing consumption expenditure during retirement.

The findings show that apart from SSNIT pension benefits, other sources of retirement income including rental income, income from post-retirement jobs and remittances from family and friends are significant sources of income for pensioners in Ghana. Personnel savings and investment was the least important source of retirement income.

Further research will be needed to validate these results, particularly using household survey data that covers the entire country.

The study contributes to the scanty literature on retirement income by robustly identifying the alternative sources of retirement income and their importance or significance to pensioners in Ghana.

Westland Technologies company, Normalair‐Garrett (NGL) has appointed Dr Michael Tutcher, executive director (Customer Support).