Residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota must deal with joblessness, alcoholism, housing shortages, and rampant disease. To assist with these problems, the Lakota Fund provides training and loans to those wanting to start small businesses. (JOW)

Shoals Entrepreneurial Center, in two Alabama locations, supports would-be entrepreneurs with extensive planning advice, rental space, loans, business training, and back-office infrastructure. The center favors business plans with the potential to create fairly high-paying jobs, a different focus from other businesses in the region, and an…

Scotland moved from a manufacturing-based to a knowledge-based economy through the efforts of its governing body, an enterprise network, business and industry, and lifelong learning consortia. Electronic learning is succeeding due to a combination of collaboration, respect for community, and a holistic approach. (JOW)

Uses content analysis to compare two community newspapers for indices of elaboration identified through various theoretical sources. Traces the relationship of economic development and technological growth to use of elaborative elements in text describing science and technology. Concludes there were strong correlations for breadth and depth in the…

Universities should reaffirm the significance of social science research and liberal arts programs as essential knowledge linkages for technology transfer and economic development. Research universities have key roles to play in broadening understanding of the multiple factors affecting development, mobilizing relevant resources, and brokering…

Examines the context and content of articles in "Comparative Education," 1977-98. Explores the parallel literature of development studies, focusing on themes of importance to comparative education: modernization, human capital theory, and the "dependency" of poor countries. A shared commitment to understanding the role of…

Suggests that credibility and communication are keys to expanding library funding and that library leaders must be aggressive in forging connections both within their institutions and among their communities. Discusses fiscal responsibility and upper administration, finances and staff, and development work. (Author/LRW)

Underlying the discourse of lifelong learning are varying agendas and contested concepts. Even in programs designed to facilitate capacity building in community regeneration, some groups remain excluded. Social capital can be both a beneficial force and a means of reproducing inequality. (SK)

Examines the role that historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have played and continue to play in economic development, how these institutions have contributed to the cultural empowerment of African Americans, and the various ways that HBCUs have bridged the gap between the two to make a contribution to African Americans specifically…

This paper is a selective review of recent publications, focused on the economic value of public and special libraries which are treated separately, since context and organisational objectives differ widely for different types of libraries. Those who wish to further explore this topic will find many studies into the social value of libraries which…

In Canada and elsewhere around the world, Indigenous Peoples are struggling to rebuild their "nations" and improve the socioeconomic circumstances of their people. Many see economic development as the key to success. Recognizing the challenges they face in attempting to compete in the global economy on their own terms, Indigenous people…

The roles of universities have evolved over the last twenty years. Universities were once regarded as focusing on two key roles--teaching and research--which were exogenous to, and independent from, specific economic and social development imperatives. Today, it is increasingly recognised that universities perform important roles as enablers, even…

The social, economic and political systems of former communist countries have faced considerable changes since the late 1980s. Most countries in Eastern and Central Europe have undergone their own individual brand of transition from a centrally planned, command system to a more or less liberalized, Western-style market economy. Many observers…

Routes to economic development attract considerable attention in community and rural sociology. Social scientists draw increasingly on studies of social capital and environmental surroundings as they examine the factors that facilitate and inhibit economic development. However, few empirical analyses exist that analyze the impact of the…

Political-economic sociologists have long investigated the dynamics and consequences of international trade. With few exceptions, this area of inquiry ignores the possible connections between trade and environmental degradation. In contrast, environmental sociologists have made several assumptions about the environmental impacts of international…