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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between social and gender inequalities and how they have been studied over the last 30 years. What have we learned, as academic sociologists in higher education, about how the socio‐cultural context, policies and global social transformations in the UK, and North America influence social stratification? The key focus is on how gender differences influence forms of social stratification through complex relations between “work”, family and education.

The paper reflects on changing research methodologies from their origins in sociology and second wave feminism by addressing three international studies about the troubled question of mothers’ work. All three studies reflexively address the question of changing knowledge and methodologies about social inequality or stratification.

The paper finds that while all three studies are from a feminist perspective and consider methodologies in the light of the so‐called “neo‐liberal project” and the knowledge economy, they come to rather divergent conclusions. The three studies illustrate the complexities of knowledge and methodologies about social stratification and gender inequalities.

The paper demonstrates how alternative methods contribute to our knowledge and the rich diversity of sociological work as an academic practice.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss overdose among those with criminal justice experience and recommend harm reduction strategies to lessen overdose risk among this vulnerable population.

Strategies are needed to reduce overdose deaths among those with recent incarceration. Jails and prisons are at the epicenter of the opioid epidemic but are a largely untapped setting for implementing overdose education, risk assessment, medication assisted treatment, and naloxone distribution programs. Federal, state, and local plans commonly lack corrections as an ingredient in combating overdose. Harm reduction strategies are vital for reducing the risk of overdose in the post-release community.

Therefore, the authors recommend that the following be implemented in correctional settings: expansion of overdose education and naloxone programs; establishment of comprehensive medication assisted treatment programs as standard of care; development of corrections-specific overdose risk assessment tools; and increased collaboration between corrections entities and community-based organizations.

In this policy brief the authors provide recommendations for implementing harm reduction approaches in criminal justice settings. Adoption of these strategies could reduce the number of overdoses among those with recent criminal justice involvement.

A non-governmental organisation (NGO) with schools in Sierra Leone prioritises admission of the most disadvantaged children but nevertheless achieves high educational and social standards. These schools were asked to provide continuing professional development and learning (CPDL) for other schools. This paper aims to report the design, development and delivery of CPDL which aimed to mobilise effective practices more widely. It also reports the design and results of an impact evaluation.

It was recognised that CPDL delivered by foreigners would be (1) unaffordable in this impoverished West African country and (2) culturally inappropriate. It was therefore delivered by local teachers from the NGO's own schools. Most had obtained no formal teaching qualification. They were trained to collect data using a quasi-experimental design for an impact evaluation of children's attendance and literacy. A total of five schools participated in the CPDL, with ten control schools.

A largely unqualified team succeeded in mobilising knowledge in the experimental schools. Children's attendance in experimental schools improved over that in control schools. Performance in literacy also improved significantly and was maintained at follow-up.

Findings of the impact evaluation are seen as indicative rather than causal because a quasi-experimental study was conducted rather than a randomised controlled trial.

This lies in (1) teachers in schools with a severely disadvantaged intake providing a structured programme of CPDL for teachers in other schools; (2) school improvement through knowledge mobilisation in CPDL; (3) an impact evaluation with a quasi-experimental design showing improvement in children's performance.

Few issues in recent times have so provoked debate and dissention within the library field as has the concept of fees for user services. The issue has aroused the passions of our profession precisely because its roots and implications extend far beyond the confines of just one service discipline. Its reflection is mirrored in national debates about the proper spheres of the public and private sectors—in matters of information generation and distribution, certainly, but in a host of other social ramifications as well, amounting virtually to a debate about the most basic values which we have long assumed to constitute the very framework of our democratic and humanistic society.

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.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories:

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

Young women who entered the Dominican Sisters in the years before the Second Vatican Council3 lived in semi‐enclosure and took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. As women religious they engaged in a life of teaching and prayer that was underpinned by notions of sacrifice and self‐effacement. In order to understand the teaching experiences of these women it is necessary to first understand something about the history of Catholic education in New Zealand and the context in which the New Zealand Dominican Sisters lived and worked.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between information and coping from the experiences of young people coping with long term illness.

Situational analysis was used as a methodological approach. It has roots in the Chicago Symbolic Interactionism School. Cartographic approaches enabled the analysis, mapping the complexities emerging from the data.

As the young people became more informed about their health conditions, and gained knowledge and understanding both about their illnesses, their own bodies and boundaries, their confidence and capacity to cope increased. Gaining confidence, the young people often wanted to share their knowledge – becoming information providers themselves. From the data, five positions on an information-coping trajectory were identified: information deficiency; feeling ill-informed; needing an injection of information; having information health; and becoming an information donor.

The research was limited to an analysis of 30 narratives. The paper contributes to information theory by mapping clearly the relationship between information and coping.

The study establishes a relationship between levels of information and knowledge and the ability to cope with illness.

The information theories in this study have originality and multi-disciplinary value in the management of health and illness, and information studies.