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Family and social networks are widely believed to influence important life decisions but identifying their causal effects is notoriously difficult. Using admissions thresholds that directly affect older but not younger siblings' college options, we present evidence from the United States, Chile, Sweden and Croatia that older siblings' college and major choices can significantly influence their younger siblings' college and major choices. On the extensive margin, an older sibling's enrollment in a better college increases a younger sibling's probability of enrolling in college at all, especially for families with low predicted probabilities of enrollment. On the intensive margin, an older sibling's choice of college or major increases the probability that a younger sibling applies to and enrolls in that same college or major. Spillovers in major choice are stronger when older siblings enroll and succeed in more selective and higher-earning majors. The observed spillovers are not well-explained by price, income, proximity or legacy effects, but are most consistent with older siblings transmitting otherwise unavailable information about the college experience and its potential returns. The importance of such personally salient information may partly explain persistent differences in college-going rates by geography, income, and other determinants of social networks.

The digital revolution and automation are accelerating changes in the labour market and in workplace skills, changes that are further affected by fluctuations in international and regional economic cycles and employment opportunity. These factors pose a universal policy challenge for all advanced economies and governments. In the workplace, people seek to acquire contemporary and relevant skills to gain employment and retain transferable skills to maintain employment. The central purpose of this paper is to investigate how other nations or regions are dealing with these issues. What approaches are they taking to understanding the mix and dynamics of the skills attained by individuals and, more broadly, the totality of skills that in aggregate constitute a highly capable and adaptable labour force, one that supports firm viability and greater national productivity. This research has examined a range of initiatives and approaches being developed or in use in selected countries, including the United States, Singapore and New Zealand, and agencies/organisations; for example, the European Commission and the Skills for the Information Age Foundation. In doing so, it showcases the good practices used to ensure that occupational-level skills information remains current and widely accessible. [For "Identifying Work Skills: International Case Summaries. Support Document," see ED579875.]

American universities, we are often told, are the best in the world. Rankings of schools worldwide done by organizations in both China and Great Britain consistently are dominated by U.S. institutions. More than half of the top 100 schools (and eight of the top 10) in the Shanghai rankings, for example, are American schools. A huge portion of Nobel Prize award winners are individuals with close associations with American universities. Foreign students flock to America to derive the benefits of U.S. institutions of higher education. College graduates, on average, command significant pay premiums over those with lesser education. On the surface, it seems like we have a great high education system that works beautifully. But below the surface, there are a large number of flaws in the system. In this paper, the author addresses what can be called the "12 inconvenient truths about American higher education." These truths are: (1) High Costs; (2) Not Engine for Growth; (3) College Degrees Don't Guarantee Success; (4) College Students Work and Learn Little, Party Hard; (5) Undergraduate Students Are Often Neglected; (6) Most Students Do Not Graduate On Time; (7) Colleges Hide Vital Information from Consumers; (8) Freedom of Expression Is Curtailed; (9) Colleges Are Not a Force for Income Equality; (10) Colleges Are Run to Benefit Staff, Not Students; (11) Federal Student Financial Aid Doesn't Work; and (12) Intercollegiate Athletics Is Costly and Corrupt. (Contains 2 tables, 5 figures, and 14 notes.)

Digital textbooks will soon be part of every classroom in the United States. This trend accompanies an imperative for schools to facilitate 21st century learning in which educators prepare students to learn and live productively in a global society where accurate and current information is a meaningful part of everyday learning. As technology and the Internet have gained presence in classrooms, instructional materials and activities have become digitally rich. The use of digital textbooks is rapidly gaining ground in education. While colleges and universities have moved headlong into digital textbooks as a means to reduce costs for students, K-12 education is venturing cautiously, but steadily, into using digital textbooks. State laws, many of which have been rewritten to include digital content as an acceptable use of state textbook funding, will serve as catalysts that spur the transition to digital textbooks School librarians can provide school-wide leadership to assist students, teachers, and parent concerns when transitioning to digital textbooks. Working in collaboration with teachers, school librarians promote comprehension through questioning, clarifying, seeking meaning, and discussion. Digital textbooks may represent a way to continue advocacy for the importance of reading as well as for the school librarian's leadership role in technology integration. (Contains 2 tables.) [This report was produced by the Florida State University PALM (Partnerships Advancing Library Media) Center.]

For Americans to engage in a global information society, it is critical that they have access to high-speed, high-bandwidth Internet, meaning broadband. Network connectivity opens up a wealth of possibilities to K-12 educators. While it has the potential to result in fundamental changes in teaching methods, it can definitely be used to enhance already effective teaching methods. However, schools must have confidence in their network infrastructure before network connectivity will be integrated into the classroom. Networks must be reliable and quick; and, if they do not function, as expected and technical support is not readily available, then educators will not use them. Schools face challenges to the integration of broadband in teaching and learning in the areas of access, skills, policy, and motivation. Last mile support is essential and all stakeholders must work together to address the main issues facing the improvement of broadband in schools. A solution to these situations is on-site support to streamline and enable effective use of broadband-enabled technology. For most schools, the school librarian, in their roles as school leaders, can expertly direct this "last mile" implementation by providing the technology coordination, support, and leadership necessary to address access issues from desktop to district. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.) [This report was produced by the Florida State University PALM (Partnerships Advancing Library Media) Center. Support for this paper was provided by Gale Cengage Learning.]

This paper focuses on efforts by library groups and individuals to influence the development of state government information policy in various states in the United States, and emphasizes the need for librarians to make sure they either initiate such development or insert themselves into any existing policy development processes. Emphasis is given to accessibility for all, including those with disabilities that may prevent them from reading conventional print. Included at the end of the paper are links to websites that may be of interest to those involved in such policy development and a copy of a policy statement concerning government information locator services. (Author/AEF)

This paper reports on research that compared five leading experiments that aim to improve access to the growing number of information resources on the World Wide Web. The objective was to identify characteristics of success and considerations for improvement in experiments providing access to Web resources via bibliographic control methods. The experiments examined included: OCLC's CORC (Cooperative Online Resource Catalog) project; UKOLN's (United Kingdom Office for Library and Information Networking) BIBLINK (Linking Publishers and National Bibliographic Services), ROADS (Resource Organization and Discovery in Subject-based Services) and DESIRE (Development of a European Service for Information on Research and Education) projects; and the NORDIC Metadata project. The research used a multi-case study methodology and a framework comprised of five evaluation criteria, i.e., organizational structure, reception, duration, application of computing technology, and use of human resources. The paper defines the Web resource access experimentation environment, reviews the study's research methodology, and highlights key findings. The paper concludes that initiating a strategic plan and inviting conference participants to contribute their ideas and expertise to an effort will improve experimental initiatives that ultimately aim to improve access to Web resources in the new millennium. (MES)

This document contains two papers that discuss information provision to customers at the University of Melbourne (Australia) library in light of the merger of the library with information technology (IT) and multimedia education. The first paper addresses the following issues involved in providing this service: content--collection and access decisions based on the academic programs of the University; cooperation--strategic alliances among academics, library staff, IT staff, and multimedia education staff, so that the new Information Division becomes an integral part of teaching, learning, and research activities; gateways--focal points on the World Wide Web for providing access to information for a discipline, including print as well as electronic resources; authorization and authentication--allowing students and staff to access resources from anywhere at any time; statistics--data to indicate usage of electronic resources; and promotion of the library. The second paper provides examples of the different types of collaborative partnerships that are emerging among libraries in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia. The paper then focuses on the University of Melbourne experience, highlighting: positioning the library to meet the agenda; new services; the Percy Baxter Collaborative Learning Centre; collaborative multimedia projects--researching history and the postgraduate library; and librarians working in faculty. (Contains 13 references.) (MES)

Transitioning to and from post-compulsory education often poses problems on students, especially students with disabilities. The fourth Ed-ICT symposium at the FernUniversität in Hagen aimed at discussing new practices, identifying problems and challenges during transition processes, and developing innovative solutions for both individuals and institutions. A variety of experts has been invited to ensure representation among the key stakeholders such as transition specialists, technology specialists, service providers, faculty, researchers and people with disabilities. Together these experts worked on questions like: How can technology help people with disabilities with transitions in the education system? What are typical problems that people with disabilities experience with technology and the accessibility of technology during transitions? Who are the different stakeholders involved, and do we need other or different stakeholders? What role does technology play in the different settings of the education system? This research report documents the contributions and results of the two-day symposium. [Internal research funding was provided by the FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany. For the 2017 proceedings, see ED580147.]

Often, knowledge and quality education is reserved for the elite, where there are systemic obstacles to gaining access to today's leaders. Gender and racial inequities in executive-level positions across North America have been a longstanding debate amongst scholars and policy makers. Research has consistently documented that women are disproportionately represented in upper management and in positions of power and still continue to dominate traditionally "female" occupations, such as administrative support and service workers. Though gender inequalities are evidently present, there is also a clear under-representation of visible minorities holding executive-level positions as well. In order to reverse these trends, governments across North-America have enforced employment equity legislation and many organizations have voluntarily committed to similar initiatives. Perceived educational and career-related barriers to opportunity, choice, and information within these segregated groups are shaped early on. For this reason, many researchers champion early interventional programs in order to prevent such perceived barriers from developing. In this paper, there will be a discussion of social networks and how certain groups are denied access to sources of social capital, thus hindering their ability to seek out prospective jobs or entering certain career streams. In this study, Women in the Lead, a database published in 2009, is a national directory of women whose professional expertise and experience recommend them as candidates for positions of senior level responsibility and as members on corporate boards. The Women in the Lead database was comprised entirely of professional women who had voluntarily subscribed as members. Of the 630 women asked to participate, 210 responded to the survey. The 210 women who responded were from 14 different industries in Canada and the United States. The next generation was described as soon to be graduates of high school. A summary of this advice is reported in this paper, with the objective of providing guidance to the next generation looking to enter the workforce, regardless of their gender, location, and race. We also explore the potential of the internet in levelling these barriers and opening up new possibilities for e-mentoring youth and building social capital.

On October 20, 2008, the New Media Consortium announced the release of a white paper produced in conjunction with the Economist Magazine and in collaboration with Apple, Inc. This paper reports the results of a study of nearly 300 CIOs and technology leaders inside and outside of education to gain deeper insight into the wider impact of technology on both higher education and the job-preparedness of today's graduates. Appended are survey results.

This paper discusses the digital divide from the perspective of Latin America and the Caribbean. Highlights include: new issues that make access to electronic resources difficult for users; differences in technological infrastructure among countries; how Internet users are distributed worldwide; Internet access in Africa; the number of students per computers and number of schools with Internet access in 50 U.S. states; percentage of U.S. citizens using the Internet by race; reasons why people quit using the Internet; the online racial divide in the United States; and the digital divide in Mexico, including statistics on computer use. (Contains 16 references.) (MES)

The phrase, "digital divide," has been applied to the gap that exists in most countries between those with ready access to the tools of information and communication technologies and the knowledge that they provide access to, and those without such access or skills. This gap may be because of socio-economic, geographical, educational, attitudinal, or generational factors, or it may be through physical disabilities. A further gap between the developed and underdeveloped world in the uptake of technology is evident within the global community and may be of even greater significance. This paper examines a number of these issues at the national level in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand, looking for evidence of the digital divide, assessing factors that contribute to it, and evaluating strategies that can help reduce it. The relevance of these strategies to developing countries, strategies for reducing the international digital divide, and the role of libraries in reducing the digital divide at the national and global level are also explored. (Contains 14 references.) (Author/MES)

Based on research conducted in 1996 and 1999, this paper discusses theoretical issues and provides an overview of the purposes for which school libraries are creating and maintaining home pages or World Wide Web sites. In 1996, a content analysis was performed of Web sites of 50 school libraries in the United States, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Singapore, Iceland, Kuwait, New Zealand, and Norway. A longitudinal study was designed in 1999 to examine: whether the Web pages/sites included in the 1996 study have been developed further or improved; the current "state of the art" in terms of school library Web sites; overall improvement in the school library Web pages/sites; differences in aims, purposes, design, organization, and content of school library Web pages/sites between 1996 and 1999; and new ways of organizing links and any evidence of a developing consensus about the best way(s) of organizing links for effective use. The research has implications for those who are planning a Web page/site for their school library/media center; it provides information about what other school libraries/media centers have done and suggests some pitfalls that might be avoided. It also suggests areas for further study, notably the possible development of a model that might be used for the evaluation of school library Web sites. (Contains 42 references.) (MES)

This paper reports on the results of a survey conducted in spring 1998 to ascertain the extent to which National Bibliographic Agencies (NBAs) were providing coverage of publications in electronic formats. A total of 61 institutions, representing agencies in 59 countries, replied to the questionnaire. NBAs representing 34 countries indicated current coverage of at least one type of electronic resource. In most cases, national bibliographies including electronic resources began in the mid-late 1980s, in some cases expanding coverage to include remote access and interactive multimedia in the mid-1990s. Those that acquire electronic resources generally depend on Legal Deposit legislation, which is in a state of flux in many jurisdictions as laws are being updated to expand coverage. Of those already providing coverage for electronic materials in their national bibliographies, 28 reported that they will expand coverage of electronic materials in the future. Of those that currently do not provide coverage for any electronic materials, 22 are planning to initiate activity in this area in the near future. The survey included a series of questions on materials available through remote access. These are discussed, and research projects and reports related to electronic materials are identified. A follow-up investigation is recommended. (MES)

This paper begins with an investigation of the development of information literacy in the United States, including a definition of the concept and discussion of specific competencies entailed in the creation of the information literacy as promulgated by libraries and librarians. Recommendations of the American Library Association are summarized. The philosophy that supports some of the policies surrounding the advocacy of information literacy in the United States is discussed. Roadblocks to information literacy in developing nations (e.g., illiteracy, lack of publishing, lack of recognition of the importance of information, governmental instability, and lack of understanding between cultures) are then examined, with a view toward exploring alternative routes to information literacy. (Contains 13 references.) (MES)

There is a digital divide occurring on every possible level: locally, nationally, and globally. Many people argue that the digital divide unfairly equips wealthy citizen and their children with more information and opportunities than those with lower incomes. In addition, there is a big debate around the world whether technology has benefited society and how it will affect society in the future. It can be issued from opposite perspective. Has technology harmed society? Has technology improved society? Has technology created a digital divide? Has technology not created a digital divide? By considering all the questions above, this study examines the digital divide at three different levels: a) from the perspective of the US as the most powerful country in the World, b) from a global perspective and c) from the Perspective of Turkey. After defining the term "digital divide", I look at the digital divide in the context of the US, mostly focusing on education. However, approaching the issue from only the United States' perspective is not enough because the digital divide is not only an American issue but also an international one. Digital gaps in education, employment, race, and gender have already become worldwide issues and the educational divide is getting wider between developed countries and developing countries, between cities and rural areas, and between the rich and the poor. Therefore, another purpose of this study is to look at the problem from a global perspective and to figure out the third-world situation. The purpose of doing that is to gain an insight into how wide the divide is between developing countries (the third world) and the most developed country, the US. As a third word country, Turkey has a special place in this study because it is representative of developing countries. Since the digital divide is a very complex problem, the solutions must be based on an understanding of local needs and conditions, and integrating technology into society inn effective and sustainable way. Therefore, in the final part, I deal with the solutions to close the gap focusing especially on the question of what should be the role of education and what should be the role of teachers in closing the gap. (Contains 11 footnotes.)

This essay explores the somewhat uneven course of the public library as a knowledge institution in America and its relevance during the current information age, particularly in the United States, where there is a basic connection between access to knowledge and the political system. The public library situation is considered in terms of the dichotomy of consumption, (i.e., the assumption that services to the poor are in themselves a public good and should be provided to alleviate personal need), and investment (i.e., the assumption that the use of services provided to the poor will ultimately result in productive contributions to society). The history of access to information in public libraries is traced from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, and it is argued that the move from "knowledge" to "information" has been promoted by the business sector because substantial gains have been realized as a result of capitalizing on knowledge. This move from knowledge to information is seen as a threat to public institutions, particularly to public schools and libraries. In conclusion, it is argued that management policies of non-profit institutions and for-profit institutions should be different since technocratic systems are usually measured by tests of efficiency and effectiveness, whereas libraries should be concerned with accountability and legitimacy as they focus on the labor-intensive process of the inculcation of knowledge. (34 references) (SD)

This study investigated whether World Wide Web information resources for students with disabilities are accessible and whether there is an accessibility difference between Web sites from the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and Canada as rated by the Bobby automatic accessibility tool. Thirty academic Web sites from each country were tested. The analysis revealed that in general there was a higher percentage of accessible Web sites in the study than most of the results from other studies, but 48% of the sites were still inaccessible. The United Kingdom and U.S. Web sites were superior to the Canadian and Australian sites for major accessibility issues. The difference was less clear in minor accessibility issues. There was no significant difference in browser compatibility error across all originating countries. (Contains 14 references.) (Author/MES)