Serial Joy and Serial Sorrow: The Experience of the Paraprofessional Serials Manager

Abstract

Paraprofessionals play a major role in the management of serials operations in libraries. Nine paraprofessional serials managers responded to an inquiry on the SERIALST online discussion list in which they shared their impressions on several issues relating to their role, status, motivation, and general perceptions about their work. For many years, there has been an ongoing debate relating to the role of paraprofessionals in libraries. Many library paraprofessionals have advanced their careers in the field of serials and have become managers of high-level operations. This Balance Point column explores the experiences of some of these paraprofessional serials managers.     

Serial Joy and Serial Sorrow: The Experience of the Paraprofessional Serials Manager

Paraprofessionals play a major role in the management of serials operations in libraries. Nine paraprofessional serials managers responded to an inquiry on the SERIALST online discussion list in which they shared their impressions on several issues relating to their role, status, motivation, and general perceptions about their work. For many years, there has been an ongoing debate relating to the role of paraprofessionals in libraries. Many library paraprofessionals have advanced their careers in the field of serials and have become managers of high-level operations. This Balance Point column explores the experiences of some of these paraprofessional serials managers.     

农村失能老人家庭照护者对社会支持的需求研究

利用湖北潜江的调查数据,运用最优尺度回归分析方法,研究了失能老人、资源与生计压力等因素对照护者社会支持需求的影响。研究结果表明:农村失能老人家庭照护者对社会支持的需求频率大小依次为:资金帮助、上门服务、喘息服务、日托服务与养老院服务;在对社会支持需求的影响作用力方面,照护者的人力资源、生计压力、失能等级以及经济资源是影响照护者对社会支持需求的关键因素,而社区资源以及直系亲属资源对照护者的帮助作用不大。     

The Balance Point: Keeping Serial Bibliographic Records Viable in a Digital Age

Abstract

Michael Norman, head of serials cataloging at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) library, describes his library's development of an integrated management system for serials, the Online Research Resources (ORR). The ORR was designed to draw together and deliver to the public a wide range of information related to the library's serial holdings that previously could only be obtained by consulting a number of sources. With a single search, UIUC patrons can now consult the ORR for serials information such as variant titles, online availability, subject categories, print summary statements, ISI impact factor, where the title is indexed, and whether it is peer reviewed—an innovation sorely needed and highly welcomed by librarians and patrons alike.     

The Balance Point: Keeping Serial Bibliographic Records Viable in a Digital Age

Michael Norman, head of serials cataloging at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) library, describes his library's development of an integrated management system for serials, the Online Research Resources (ORR). The ORR was designed to draw together and deliver to the public a wide range of information related to the library's serial holdings that previously could only be obtained by consulting a number of sources. With a single search, UIUC patrons can now consult the ORR for serials information such as variant titles, online availability, subject categories, print summary statements, ISI impact factor, where the title is indexed, and whether it is peer reviewed—an innovation sorely needed and highly welcomed by librarians and patrons alike.     

Characteristics of Serial Title Changes and Recognition of New Serial Works: Theoretical and Practical Implications

The paper reports findings from a study to identify characteristics of serials with title changes and then make recommendations for recognizing new works for these serials. Findings show title changes occur due to underlying subject, function, corporate, geographic, frequency, or format changes, with 80.8% of the changes being subject or function changes. It is recommended that reasons for title changes be determined from clear statements in text or elsewhere, and that new works be recognized based upon the requirements of a definition of a work. With the FRBR definition, a new work would be recognized only for a significant subject or function change.     

Testing for Serial Independence: Beyond the Portmanteau Approach

Portmanteau tests are typically used to test serial independence even if, by construction, they are generally powerful only in presence of pairwise dependence between lagged variables. In this article, we present a simple statistic defining a new serial independence test, which is able to detect more general forms of dependence. In particular, differently from the Portmanteau tests, the resulting test is powerful also under a dependent process characterized by pairwise independence. A diagram, based on p-values from the proposed test, is introduced to investigate serial dependence. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposal is evaluated in a simulation study and with an application on financial data. Both show that the new test, used in synergy with the existing ones, helps in the identification of the true data-generating process. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

文字与数字的学问

有所谓<文字的学问>,一直是人类文明重要的宝藏,扮演着举足轻重的角色;亦有所谓<数字的学问>,在人类历史的洪流中常被轻忽.早期文官体系选用人才,以咱们中国老祖宗的科举制度为例,比的是文字的学问;历史上无论是脍炙人口或是震古铄今的巨著,以及那些能名留千古的人,亦以文学大师居多;即使在今日,联合国所谓世界各国的文化水平,主要亦以<识字率>做为衡量的指标,而此识字率即意指文字的能力;相形之下,数字学问并未受到同等的重视.虽然我们口中一直强调数学为科学之母.科技的进步和数字的水平确实有密切关系,但吾等身为数字教育者当扪心自问,数字学问受重视的程度能与文字学问相提并论吗?翻开历史文献,文字墨宝处处可见,而数字学问则多半归列在旁门左道、奇门遁甲中.显然地,数字工作者在起跑点上就已落后一大截,也因此有更大的空间待吾等努力改进.     

Microfilm Serial Backfiles: Are They Still Cost Effective?

For the past thirty years libraries have made serials backfile decisions based on an understanding that microfilm is a more cost effective format than bound print journals. Yet with the rising cost of microfilm, is this still the case? In spring 2002, the collection development team leader at the Florida Gulf Coast University Library compared the costs of microfilm and bound print serial backfiles, and also how those two mediums compared with costs of a stable electronic backfile collection. The author presented the results in a poster session at the 17th annual conference of the North American Serials Interest Group in Williamsburg, Virginia, June 20–23, 2002, and then recalculated all statistics prior to publication in this article. Serials Review 2003; 29:282–286.     

Local to Global: The Importance of State-Level Journals to Library Literature

While the publishing needs of many state library associations are comfortably served by newsletters and Web sites, a number of state library associations produce major library journals that serve readers beyond their state membership. The author interviewed the editors of five state association journals: Alki: The Washington Library Association Journal, Colorado Libraries, North Carolina Libraries, Texas Library Journal, and Virginia Libraries. The editors were asked to comment on the role, challenges, and future of state-level library journals.     

Serial conversations: a man for all reasons: an interview with clifford lynch

In July 2004, Cindy Hepfer asked friends and colleagues: “What question would you like to ask Clifford Lynch if you had the chance?” As a result, Clifford Lynch discusses a wide variety of topics and issues impacting the serials community from Open Access, institutional repositories, what we can learn from Google and Amazon, and Shibboleth to where his favorite places are to travel and how he prepares for presentations.     

Serial conversations: a man for all reasons: an interview with clifford lynch

Abstract

In July 2004, Cindy Hepfer asked friends and colleagues: “What question would you like to ask Clifford Lynch if you had the chance?” As a result, Clifford Lynch discusses a wide variety of topics and issues impacting the serials community from Open Access, institutional repositories, what we can learn from Google and Amazon, and Shibboleth to where his favorite places are to travel and how he prepares for presentations.     

Multiple Kernel Procedure: an Asymptotic Support

ABSTRACT. This paper deals with kernel non-parametric estimation. The multiple kernel method, as proposed by Berlinet (1993), consists in choosing both the smoothing parameter and the order of the kernel function. In this paper we follow this general idea, and the selection is carried out by a combination of plug-in and cross-validation techniques. In a first attempt we give an asymptotic optimality theorem which is stated in a general unifying setting that includes many curve estimation problems. Then, as an illustration, it will be seen how this behaves in both special cases of kernel density and kernel regression estimation.