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This study examined how school librarians spent their own money to support their libraries during the 2020-2021 school year in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the various factors that influence this spending. Using mixed methods, this study identified demographic information about the participants and schools served, personal spending practices, perspectives on the need for personal spending, and local school policies related to library funding that impacted out-of-pocket spending. The major findings of this study indicate that school librarians used their own money to purchase books, decorations, prizes, office supplies, and cleaning supplies. Librarians used their own money to meet student needs, to get what was needed quickly and conveniently, to obtain items for which they were not allowed to spend school money, and to avoid dealing with time-consuming purchasing and reimbursement processes--if reimbursement was even an option. School librarians also spent their own money because library budgets were eliminated, reduced, or frozen during the pandemic. In addition, school librarians who spent the most of their own money worked in rural areas with a higher proportion of students who qualify for free/reduced lunch. School librarians who were over 60, unmarried, or had lower library budgets spent more of their own money on their libraries than did other study participants.

This overview demonstrates the need for school librarians to consider supplementing coding instruction with ethical discussions. School librarians are increasingly incorporating coding into library instruction through play, tutorials, collaboration in content areas, and design thinking projects. To enhance students' ethical decision making and empathy for others, school librarians can also incorporate ethical decision-making into coding activities. In this article, the authors explain why this is important, and present an ethical discussion model. These strategies may help school librarians work towards teaching social justice issues as part of coding programming.

This qualitative meta-analysis explored the nature of successful collaboration between teachers and school librarians. Three action research studies of school librarians who integrated instruction or curriculum through collaboration with teachers are examined to understand more about what strategies made the collaboration successful. Strategies used by the librarians to collaborate more effectively with teachers are presented, as well as measures that can be used to determine successful collaboration. The findings indicate that the school librarians in this study used many different strategies to lead the collaboration to success. These strategies included initiating the collaboration, securing support from the principal, identifying a shared vision with all collaborators, collecting and analyzing data about the progress of the collaboration, holding regular meetings, and documenting the collaboration. This paper was presented for the AASL Research into Practice track at the 2019 AASL National Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

School and public librarians both strive to offer resources and services to their communities, often with limited budgets. School and public libraries offer different business hours, diverse resources, different online databases, unique facilities and makerspaces, and varying services. Both also collect materials and provide programming for many of the same patrons. It is well established that collaboration between libraries can connect patrons with more resources and services. Through collaboration, school and public librarians can increase opportunities to serve their patrons, ensuring their services and resources are used fully, which would not be possible while working independently. The end result is better service to the community as a whole. To understand how school and public libraries are collaborating, the authors asked more than twenty school and public librarians in one region of central Missouri about what they do to collaborate with each other. This article presents those findings. The authors found that every librarian they talked to had at least one experience collaborating, partnering, or communicating with the other library in their area. When their experiences of collaboration were examined for patterns and categorized, it was found that all collaborations occurred in three areas: sharing resources, sharing spaces, and sharing programming.

Collaboration between school and public librarians has many benefits for the institutions, the communities they serve, and the librarians themselves. This study sought to understand more about the librarian's experience of collaborating in a rural area of the Midwestern United States. Using phenomenology as a research method, twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with school and public librarians. The following themes emerged: (1) the meaning of collaboration, (2) the role of communication, (3) the dilemma of demonstrating value and (4) the impact of perceptions and limitations. The findings indicate that the librarians in this study want to work together more but are impacted by systematic and regional constraints that impact the depth and frequency of collaboration., Introduction Collaboration between institutions is considered a solution for many libraries who seek to serve growing populations with small budgets (Smith, 2014). The public librarian may seek connection with the [...]

eTextbooks are both texts and tools. They provide opportunities for textbook companies to expand their services. Some large textbook companies are offering extensive educational technology products and services along with texts. These etexts, integrated into the Learning Management System (LMS), give instructors opportunities to use integrated assessments, data collection tools with in-depth usage statistics, and social networking features that allow instructors and students to interact within the publisher's material. News stories often discuss problems with blended and online learning and contentious relationships between faculty and vendors; etexts are part of the discussion. This paper describes findings from narrative interviews with instructors who have used etexts, focusing on affordability, access, privacy, and outsourcing. The goal is to inform instructors and administrators of some pros and cons of etexts.

Introduction In the last few years, use of social media in Ghana has increased 40% as more connectivity becomes available throughout the country (Internet World Statistics, 2017). Ghana was one [...]

Background : In the early 1960s, Eugene Garfield and Irving Sher created the journal impact factor to help select journals for the Science Citation Index (SCI). Today it has become a widespread subject of controversy even for Garfield, the man who created it who is quoted saying " Impact Factor is not a perfect tool to measure the quality of articles but there is nothing better and it has the advantage of already being in existence and is, therefore, a good technique for scientific evaluation". The use of the term "impact factor" has gradually evolved, especially in Europe, to include both journal and author impact. This ambiguity often causes problems. It is one thing to use impact factors to compare journals and quite another to use them to compare authors. Journal impact factors generally involve relatively large populations of articles and citations. Individual authors, on average, produce much smaller numbers of articles. Objectives: Impact factor, an index based on the frequency with which a journal′s articles are cited in scientific publications, is a putative marker of journal quality. However, empiric studies on impact factor′s validity as an indicator of quality are lacking. The authors try to evaluate and highlight the validity of Impact Factors and its significance as a tool of assessment for scientific publications. Methods: Analysis of the several reports in literature and from their own point of view. Conclusion: A journal′s impact factor is based on 2 elements: the numerator, which is the number of citations in the current year to any items published in a journal in the previous 2 years, and the denominator, which is the number of substantive articles (source items) published in the same 2 years. The impact factor could just as easily be based on the previous year′s articles alone, which would give an even greater weight to rapidly changing fields.

This study examined how school librarians spent their own money to support their libraries during the 2020-2021 school year in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the various factors that influence this spending. Using mixed methods, this study identified demographic information about the participants and schools served, personal spending practices, perspectives on the need for personal spending, and local school policies related to library funding that impacted out-of-pocket spending. The major findings of this study indicate that school librarians used their own money to purchase books, decorations, prizes, office supplies, and cleaning supplies. Librarians used their own money to meet student needs, to get what was needed quickly and conveniently, to obtain items for which they were not allowed to spend school money, and to avoid dealing with time-consuming purchasing and reimbursement processes--if reimbursement was even an option. School librarians also spent their own money because library budgets were eliminated, reduced, or frozen during the pandemic. In addition, school librarians who spent the most of their own money worked in rural areas with a higher proportion of students who qualify for free/reduced lunch. School librarians who were over 60, unmarried, or had lower library budgets spent more of their own money on their libraries than did other study participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study examined the use of open access journals by librarians in Ghana. The objectives were to establish the familiarity, attitude and benefits of open access journals among librarians in Ghana. Method: This study uses a survey research design. A web-based questionnaire was used to seek information on respondents’ demographics, awareness, use, attitudes and benefits of open access journals. Analysis: Descriptive statistics was used to analyze survey results. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the analysis of data collected from 103 librarians who are members of the Ghana Library Association. Results: All the respondents were aware of open access journals and to a greater extent that they showed positive attitude towards open access journals. Many of them however, are not fully committed to publishing their articles in open access journals. It is recommended that, librarians should be willing to publish more of their research works in open access journals in order for them to be ambassadors and advocate for open access. Conclusion: Knowledge of open access journals and related content among librarians is crucial not only in disseminating research quality but also in weeding out poor content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the discursive practices of librarians serving teens in school and public libraries during a specific span of the COVID-19 pandemic, the period from August through October 2020. A methodology of discourse analysis was applied to three multi-author blogs published by professional library organizations. The research examined how the discursive practices of librarians serving teens in school and public libraries suggest what the librarians value around teens and library services; and how librarians serving teens in school and public libraries use language to construct beliefs on their role(s) in providing teens access to information and reading materials. Through their language, the librarians show they value library services for teens, especially in times of crisis; they assume teens want and need library services such as book circulation; and they believe that libraries are social goods, essential for continued distribution in the pandemic. The librarians' language suggests the belief that librarians are responsible for, and follow through in, devising creative ways to serve teens upon library closures or in circumstances of limited library access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative meta-analysis explored the nature of successful collaboration between teachers and school librarians. Three action research studies of school librarians who integrated instruction or curriculum through collaboration with teachers are examined to understand more about what strategies made the collaboration successful. Strategies used by the librarians to collaborate more effectively with teachers are presented, as well as measures that can be used to determine successful collaboration. The findings indicate that the school librarians in this study used many different strategies to lead the collaboration to success. These strategies included initiating the collaboration, securing support from the principal, identifying a shared vision with all collaborators, collecting and analyzing data about the progress of the collaboration, holding regular meetings, and documenting the collaboration. This paper was presented for the AASL Research into Practice track at the 2019 AASL National Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers in developing countries are more likely to publish in predatory journals (Xia et al., 2015). This study investigates the understanding that research scientists in Ghana, a developing country, have about predatory journals and their publishing practices. Using a mixed methods approach, research scientists within one cluster of research organizations in Ghana were asked about their awareness of the characteristics of predatory journals, based on their own experience as a researcher. Their publications were also examined. The results indicate that most of the research scientists in this study are aware of predatory journals and are often solicited by them, but are less aware of tools they can use to determine the quality of a particular publication. In addition, 12% of the articles published that make up 24% of the unique journals in which these researchers published could be considered "predatory". The findings of this research are significant because they indicate that research scientists may have more awareness of predatory journals than is expected, but that they may lack the training or tools necessary for deciding whether or not a journal is legitimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professors are under intense pressure to write more papers and teach more students. Several large publishing companies offer e-texts that offer time-saving solutions to instructors. Such e-texts might include not only text but also interactive learning activities, videos, and simulations. Furthermore, they are often integrated into the learning management system (LMS) and include self-grading quizzes that feed directly into the LMS's gradebook. Such solutions might be particularly attractive to administrators because they offer a way to teach more students (possibly using adjuncts) for less money, particularly if the university enters into a cost-saving relationship with a particular company. This essay discusses such e-texts in terms of academic freedom, using excerpts from conversations with instructors who have used various e-texts in their classes. These instructors often take a pragmatic approach to the materials but fear losing control of what and how they teach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin tightening describes the treatment of skin laxity via radiofrequency (RF), ultrasound, or light-based devices. Skin laxity on the face is manifested by progressive loss of skin elasticity, loosening of the connective tissue framework, and deepening of skin folds. This results in prominence of submandibular and submental tissues. Genetic factors (chronological aging) and extrinsic factors (ultraviolet radiation) both contribute to skin laxity. There are many RF, ultrasound, and light-based devices directed at treating skin laxity. All of these devices target and heat the dermis to induce collagen contraction. Heating of the dermis causes collagen denaturation and immediate collagen contraction in addition to long-term collagen remodeling. Via RF, light, or ultrasound, these skin tightening devices deliver heat to the dermis to create new collagen and induce skin tightening. This chapter will provide an overview of the various skin tightening devices., (Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.)