Identifies the types of individuals engaged in financial activities with whom an acquisitions librarian at a university library may need to interact. Discusses why financial relationships with these individuals are important to acquisitions librarians and how these relationships can be established and enhanced. (JMV)

Presents a proposal to achieve major finance reform goals by providing property tax relief and increasing state funding out of income-tax receipts, relying on Illinois' growth dividend. The plan is funded by proportional taxes and would make school reform more politically palatable to affluent taxpayers. (28 footnotes) (MLH)

Suggests that RAND's claims to have overturned conventional research wisdom on connections between school expenditures, class size, teacher pay, and student achievement are highly problematic, explaining that its report drew sweeping conclusions from average statewide data from just 44 states, and the data analysis is subject to significant…

Describes the in-house operational procedures developed at the Penn State University libraries to produce facsimiles of hard-to-locate, out-of-print titles using digital scanning technologies. Highlights include identification and selection, costs, copyright issues, interlibrary loan, materials preparation, and future trends. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the role of selected variables in explaining changes in reading and mathematics achievement scores of fourth-graders in a low-wealth school district in North Carolina. Examines school and teacher characteristics, selected expenditures per student, and student demographics. Concludes that certain student demographic factors are…

Considers the decision that branch libraries, music libraries in particular, have struggled with concerning a centralized location in the main library versus a decentralized collection. Reports on a study of the Association of Research Libraries that investigated the location of music libraries, motivation for the location, degrees offered,…

Discusses the collection of this special library that contains materials concerning maritime commerce and related topics and is part of the Mystic Seaport Museum. Highlights include users; research; budgeting; staff; library collection size; vendors; online projects; marketing; and views on the Special Library Association. (LRW)

Describes current educational funding for refugee children in the United Kingdom, noting that the necessary funding to meet their needs is not offered by the central government or by specific grants. Makes recommendations about the way it should be financed and the role that practitioners could play in gathering information for the debate about…

This academic library book buying survey examines full-text databases; electronic journals; top circulating subjects; price increases for serials and resulting subscription cuts; the influence of digital choices on purchasing decisions; circulation versus use statistics; and electronic books. (LRW)

Investigated the influence of parent involvement, parent socioeconomic status, and instructional supplies expenditures on the mathematics achievement of fourth graders in a low-income North Carolina county. Data analysis indicated that instructional supplies expenditures per pupil and parental volunteer hours were not statistically significant in…

Purpose ? Owing to the increasing debt students are accumulating to finance their tertiary study, many are having to work during term time. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of this paid employment on their study time and other aspects of their lives. Design/methodology approach ? Eighty three undergraduates completed a questionnaire…

Canadian humorist Steven Leacock once told a story about a jockey who became so upset over bad news that he leaped on his horse and rode off in all directions. According to this author, that action well summarizes the condition of the State of Arkansas after receiving a Supreme Court order to provide an equal and adequate education to the children…

In response to concerns over funding for school construction, the state of Texas has implemented two programs to assist school districts with construction-related debt. This paper examines whether these programs have accomplished their objectives of reducing property taxes (the Existing Debt Allotment (EDA) program) and increasing capital outlays…

The educators who have the most visible position in the school community are principals. Superintendents and school board members stand out in the crowd, but the public tends to see principals as the credible source of how budgets will filter to the classroom level and ultimately benefit children for life. In other words, the public believes that…

Blended learning is any combined use of electronic learning tools that supplement but do not replace face-to-face learning. This article is about how two researchers are trying to comfortably and logically place blended learning somewhere in the middle of two extremes--traditional classroom at one end and fully online distance learning at the…