Negotiating Accessibility for Electronic Resources

Abstract

Accessibility of library electronic resources is a must. Its importance derives from professional ethics of librarianship, rising total costs of acquisition, and mounting legal challenges to colleges and universities that fail to provide resources accessible to users with disabilities. Library staff are responsible for ensuring the accessibility of vendor-licensed eresources. This column reviews the accessibility clauses of nine model license agreements for electronic resources. It describes terms that should go into an optimal accessibility clause and creates a composite model clause. It also provides guidance for library staff seeking to negotiate stronger accessibility language into vendor license agreements. Finally, it addresses the impact of accommodation requests on the total cost of acquiring library eresources, concluding with a call to redouble efforts to advocate for greater accessibility and educate both vendors and library staff about its importance.     

The dependency ratio and optimum population growth

This paper examines the effects of introducing a variable dependency ratio in Dasgupta's (1969) model. We consider a case in which the probability of dying as well as the rate of participation in the labor force change with age. It is shown that the inclusion of those realistic demographic features slows down the optimal rate of population growth and increases the rate of consumption. In spite of the reduction in the rate of population growth, this rate can still be positive. The sensitivity of the solutions to changes in the demographic parameters of the model is examined.     

Telling lies in everyday life: Motivational and organizational consequences of sequential preferences

This study of a collection of self-observed lies told in everyday interactions indicated that all informants lied; that lying was, generally, an easy and spontaneous activity; and that our varied informants told lies in much the same manner and for the same reasons. The analysis of the general features of the interactions in which lies were embedded showed that many lies are the consequence of a preference system that promotes acceptance and hides rejection in the sequential organization of interaction. The lies found in pre-acceptance and pre-rejection sequences indicate that both parties contrive for acceptance. The negative cases of lies told in rejection of deprecating assessments suggest a broader theoretical template that encompasses the lies told for acceptance as a subset of the interactional preference for social solidarity. In contrast to the view that telling lies undermines social cohesion by interfering with trust, this study indicates that many lies are told to affirm affiliation.     

Does education influence wildlife friendly landscaping preferences?

In sprawling metropolitan areas, residential landscaping is a major concern with respect to biodiversity conservation, and it could play a critical role in conserving wildlife habitat. In the United States, residential landscaping typically consists of maintained lawns with specimen plantings of non-native trees and shrubs; such designs provide poor habitat for urban wildlife species. We conducted a case study of Raleigh, North Carolina residents to determine how providing information about the benefits of native plant landscaping to bird species influenced urban residents’ landscaping preferences. We used Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests to determine if respondent preferences for 0, 50, 75 and 100 % native plant landscaping coverages changed after residents were informed about the benefits that native plants provide for birds. Initially, the 50 % native landscaping coverage was most preferred by residents; however, preferences for all four native plant landscaping coverage designs were significantly different after the informational treatment. Neutrality changed to opposition for the 0 % native plant coverage, while opposition changed to support and neutrality for the 75 and 100 % native plant coverage designs, respectively. After the informational treatment, the 50 and 75 % native plant landscaping coverage had the highest mean preference levels, although the 100 % design was ranked first more than any other design. Our findings suggest that residential support for native plant landscaping is higher than is reflected by typical residential landscaping practices, and that dissemination of information regarding the benefits of native plant landscaping to birds could alter public preferences for native plant landscaping.     

Capital Structure of Nongovernmental Development Organizations

In the first international study of this kind, we analyze the capital structure of 364 nongovernmental development organizations (NGDOs) from three different countries: Belgium, Spain, and the United Kingdom. We observe lower debt ratio values in the United Kingdom, and significant differences between countries were found by testing an econometric model with the five classical determinants of leverage, considering total debt and both long‐ and short‐term debt. We find support for the pecking order theory, and we broadly discuss some possible reasons for the obtained differences.     

The RFad Method--a new fatigue recovery time assessment for industrial activities

This paper presents a study about fatigue recovery time assessment processes in work activities. It came about due to a demand presented by an automotive industry giant, in need of updating existing cycle time sheets and TAKT time parameters. The company decided to hire an Ergonomics Laboratory with ties to a major Brazilian University in order to evaluate current conditions and establish a new method to either calculate recovery times or validate existing assessment criteria, based in the ergonomics evaluation of the work activities. It is clear that there has been evident evolution in the industrial sector in the past two decades. It brought up fast modernization of industrial processes, not only in production but also in terms of management systems. Due to improved computer and robotics systems, combined with overall operational advancements - like the use of lighter hand tools and more effective hoist systems - most work activities have had its physical effort requirements reduced in the past decades. Thus, compensation factors built into production times need to be reviewed in order to avoid unnecessary costs associated to them. By using ergonomics considerations, we prevent simply removing the physical variables built in rest time calculations without taking on account, for example, additional cognitive load represented by the use of more sophisticated pieces of equipment.     

Defining Governance in Latin America

Public Organization Review - This exploratory research aims to propose a conceptual definition of governance and to speculate on the state of governance in Latin America. Political instability,...     

Introduction

Public Organization Review -     

Deporting Fathers: Involuntary Transnational Families and Intent to Remigrate among Salvadoran Deportees

One‐fourth of deportees from the United States are parents of US‐citizen children. We do not know how separation from families affects remigration among deportees, who face high penalties given unlawful reentry. We examined how family separation affects intent to remigrate among Salvadoran deportees. The majority of deportees with children in the United States were also separated from their spouse, and the vast majority had US‐citizen children. Family separation was the single most important factor affecting intent to remigrate. We interpret these findings in light of immigration policy debates.