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In a paper which he gave to the Institute of Information Scientists Annual Conference in Harrogate in 1989, Phil Holmes spoke of his concern that the searching systems now used are little more than tidied‐up and sophisticated versions of what was available 25 years ago. What, he wondered, were the new approaches to interrogating bodies of data, and who was investigating them? As a result of this paper, Phil was asked to expand on these ideas at one of the regular IIS Southern Branch meetings.

A scenario is given of a possible library of the future. Such a library might have shelves containing talking books, video cassettes, computer programs on floppy disks and the entire contents of Chemical Abstracts and Encyclopaedia Brittanica on biochips. The catalogue of the library stock and the reference books might well be stored on optical disks and viewed on flat screens. Information on the classification scheme and how to use the collection might be provided by listening to tape recordings and voice synthesisers might inform borrowers where to return items. Robots collect these items from dispensers and replace them on the shelves. Each item in the library has a barcode which is scanned by a laser to provide details of loans/returns and patrons. Terminals linked to computers via satellites enable distant files to be searched on demand for information not stored in the library. Most of the journals taken by the library will be in digital form but a touch of a button on the terminal causes the images to be printed out locally. Fact or fiction? The paper goes on to describe some of the equipment that is currently available to them in the future (such as holography, robotics and satellites). Where we are now in terms of technological developments in libraries and information centres is discussed with reference to some actual projects such as Maggie's Place and Dave's Den. Finally, the impact of such futuristic, electronic libraries on the user as well as the librarian is considered.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the food innovation strategies carried out by an Italian firm, Argotec, responsible for the development and supply of space food (SF) for European astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), can also be applied to food suitable to be eaten on Planet Earth. This study aims at showing the relationship between SF innovation and terrestrial strategies directed at implementing this kind of food also on terrestrial tables.

This research focusses on a case study. The subject of the case study under analysis is Argotec, an internationally recognised Italian aerospace engineering company, dealing with research, innovation and development in various sectors, including engineering, information technology, system integration, small satellites and “Human Space Flight and Operations”. The company produces innovative SF for European astronauts performing long-duration missions on-board the ISS. Moreover, the SF is made available also for terrestrial beings as a solution for everyday eating necessities.

Argotec is characterised by strong innovation in terms of products and processes. Throughout the case study, the authors focus on the relationship between SF innovation and its terrestrial applications, since this company also manufactures products, traded under the brand “ReadyToLunch”, suitable for daily meals on Earth. Innovation applied to SF can thus offer advantages also for terrestrial daily meals and therefore help the company achieve other competitive advantages: as to the authors’ knowledge, this is a unique case.

This study also has some limitations, typical of the applied methodology. In relation to the interview technique, further interviews would be required in order to fully understand the end-user perspectives regarding the importance and interest of this kind of “ready-to-eat” food.

Practical implications relate to astronauts and to terrestrial consumers. For astronauts, SF is not any more intended only to satisfy humans’ basic needs, and to provide the necessary nutrients during space missions, but has become an important factor in the quality of life in space. For terrestrial consumers, SF may represent a healthy, tasty and nutritious “ready-to-eat” choice: single courses for the main meals and snacks for a break.

This research fills a gap in literature: to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper presenting a case study on a company responsible for the development and supply of SF for European astronauts on-board the ISS, as well as encouraging the consumption of SF by terrestrial beings, as an ordinary “ready-to-eat” lunch/dinner.

Reducing fatalities and increasing the number of students able to remain safe during an active shooter event is paramount to the health and well-being of schools and communities. Yet, methodological limitations and ethical concerns have restricted prior research on security measures during school shooter lockdown drills. This study aims to fill that gap by using virtual reality (VR) to statistically examine the effectiveness of active shooter response protocols in a simulated high school.

Using a full factorial, within-subjects experimental design, this exploratory investigation used VR technology to investigate whether automatic classroom door locks, centralized lockdown notifications and the presence of a school resource officer (SRO) significantly impacted student safety and casualty mitigation. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 37 individuals who volunteered to participate in 24 school shooter scenarios within a simulated virtual environment.

Multiple one-way analysis of variances indicated significant main effects for automatic classroom door locks and SRO presence. Automatic locks yielded faster lockdown response times, and both factors were significantly associated with higher numbers of secured classrooms.

Findings from the current study address the gap in existing literature regarding evidence-based school safety protocols and provide recommendations for using VR simulations to increase preparedness and reduce fatalities during an active school shooter event.

Departing from an online interactive Gender Café on the topic of Knowledge Management (KM), jointly hosted by a UN agency and the Society of Gender Professionals, this chapter seeks to provide gender practitioners and others with practical examples of how to “gender” KM in international development. Through analyzing the travel of feminist ideas into the field of KM with inspiration from Barbara Czarniawska’s and Bernard Joerge’s (1996) theory of the travel of ideas, the chapter explores the spaces, limits, and future possibilities for the inclusion of feminist perspectives. The ideas and practical examples of how to do so provided in this chapter originated during the café, by the participants and panellists. The online Gender Café temporarily created a space for feminist perspectives. The data demonstrate how feminist perspectives were translated into issues of inclusion, the body, listening methodologies, practicing reflection, and the importance to one’s work of scrutinizing underlying values. However, for the feminist perspective to be given continuous space and material sustainability developing into an acknowledged part of KM, further actions are needed. The chapter also reflects on future assemblies of gender practitioners, gender scholars and activists, recognizing the struggles often faced by them. The chapter discusses strategies of how a collective organizing of “outside–inside” gender practitioners might push the internal work of implementing feminist perspectives forward.

From one angle, abortion law appears to confirm the regime politics account of the Supreme Court; after all, the Reagan/Bush coalition succeeded in significantly curtailing the constitutional protection of abortion rights. From another angle, however, it is puzzling that the Reagan/Bush Court repeatedly refused to overturn Roe v. Wade. We argue that time and again electoral considerations led Republican elites to back away from a forceful assertion of their agenda for constitutional change. As a result, the justices generally acted within the range of possibilities acceptable to the governing regime but still typically had multiple doctrinal options from which to choose.

Children experience toxic stress if there is pronounced activation of their stress-response systems, in situations in which they do not have stable caregiving. Due to their exposure to multiple poverty-related risks, African American children may be more susceptible to exposure to toxic stress. Toxic stress affects young children’s brain and neurophysiologic functioning, which leads to a wide range of deleterious health, developmental, and mental health outcomes. Given the benefits of early care and education (ECE) for African American young children, ECE may represent a compensating experience for this group of children, and promote their positive development.

Research examining the experiences of women in the workplace has, to a large extent, neglected the unique stressors pregnant employees may experience. Stress during pregnancy has been shown consistently to lead to detrimental consequences for the mother and her baby. Using job stress theories, we develop an expanded theoretical model of experienced stress during pregnancy and the potential detrimental health outcomes for the mother and her baby. Our theoretical model includes factors from multiple levels (i.e., individual, interpersonal, sociocultural, and community) and the role they play on the health and well-being of the pregnant employee and her baby. In order to gain a deeper understanding of job stress during pregnancy, we examine three pregnancy-specific organizational stressors (i.e., perceived pregnancy discrimination, pregnancy disclosure, and identity-role conflict) that are unique to pregnant employees. These stressors are argued to be over and above the normal job stressors experienced and they are proposed to result in elevated levels of experienced stress leading to detrimental health outcomes for the mother and baby. The role of resilience resources and learning in reducing some of the negative outcomes from job stressors is also explored.