Discusses how for colleges, disposing of thousands of old computers each year is a problem demanding more attention as both recycling costs and environmental considerations grow. (EV)

Discusses the 1991 White House Conference on Library and Information Services (WHCLIS). Topics discussed include conference issues, including keynote speakers, procedural difficulties, and the failure to attract media attention; and substantive issues, including a recommendation to establish an office to focus on children and youth literacy, and…

Discusses efforts by the Library of Congress, the National Library of Canada, and the British Library to harmonize their respective MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) formats. Describes the harmonization of USMARC and CAN/MARC and explains why problems make the harmonization with UKMARC not feasible at the present time. (LRW)

Discussion of the use of search output clustering as an alternative representation method to ranked output focuses on difficulties involved in representing clusters for Internet users' evaluation in a concise and easily interpretable form. Describes findings and user feedback from a user study that investigated the effectiveness of search output…

Discussion of human performance technology's role in identifying, measuring, and resolving performance problems focuses on questions regarding whether, when, and how to participate as change agents in exceedingly difficult or no-win situations. Presents a hypothetical performance problem, uses a human performance model to analyze the…

Demonstrations of judgment heuristics typically focus on how heuristics can lead to poor judgments. However, exclusive focus on the negative consequences of heuristics can prove problematic. We illustrate the problem with the representativeness heuristic and present a study (N = 45) that examined how examples influence understanding of the…

Advocacy is often seen as an ideal role for nurses to undertake, especially when working with people who have a learning disability. However, advocacy is not without its risks and dilemmas for learning disability nurses. The present paper attempts to examine why people with learning disabilities may be viewed as vulnerable and why advocacy may be…

This paper systematically illustrates the value and role of human resource development in the implementation of the Western China development strategy. It analyzes in details some current human resource issues constraining the implementation of the Western China development strategy and those on the sustainable development process of economic…

Specific instances in which federal legislation and regulations function to impede state/local effectiveness are grouped under eight major issues: (1) lack of coordination among federal programs and agencies; (2) regulations established by federal agencies exceed authority granted in statutes; (3) federal policies that prescribe methodology or…

This article presents Kentucky's education finance and governance profile. Kentucky is home to approximately 4,241,474 people according to 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. This represents 1.41% of the entire U.S. population. In terms of education spending, for the 2007-08 school year, Kentucky spent an average of $8,839 per pupil. Overall…

This article presents Louisiana's education finance and governance profile. Louisiana witnessed a 3.9% decline in population during the period from 2000 to 2007. Poverty persists both in urban and rural areas of the state, as demonstrated by visible poverty both in the agricultural parishes and in major cities such as New Orleans and Shreveport…

This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of Alabama. The state is home to 1,538 public schools distributed across 67 county school systems and 64 city school systems. State spending is allocated via two separate budgets, "the general fund" for all noneducation related expenditures and the Education Trust…

This article presents the state education finance and governance of Delaware. Funding for public education generally comes from three sources: the federal government (7.6%), the state government (64.3%), and local governments (28.1%). Educational expenditures for K-12 public schools in Delaware total $1.66 billion. Per-pupil expenditure in the…

We explore how two community-based reform models align with the World Bank's "World Development Report 2004" accountability framework. Using a qualitative case study of rural Guatemalan primary schools, we examine local governance through interviews with a range of stakeholders. While both reforms appear appropriate according to the…

This book presents a logical problem-solving process and contains many tools and techniques to help groups identify, analyze, and solve problems successfully. It is meant to be used by anyone engaged in this activity whether they be facilitators, leaders, or members of problem-solving groups, or managers who have an interest in the problem-solving…