Comprehensive planning for libraries

In the area of planning, the literature has been almost entirely concerned with planning in the business (i.e. profit) setting. Some literature does exist on planning in the nonprofit sector, but it usually deals with tactical planning of the short-term character. This is specially true in the area of libraries and many librarians have developed and do administer large, complex organization— where conprehensive, long range planning is almost completely untreated in the literature.The current paper discusses the various steps in the strategic planning process, and relates them to a situation in which comprehensive long range plans for a new health sciences library have been developed, and to a considerable degree, implemented. In this framework, the steps of developing purpose and objecives, forecasting and policy formulation, developing and choosing growth strategy, determining resource requirements and provions, developing an organizational structure, and control system utilization are discussed both in the general framework of comprehensive planning, and with respect to actual experience in the development of a health sciences library. The roles of tactical planning and the implementation of plans are also treated.     

Misplaced Mistrust: The Collaborative Construction of Doubt In 911 Emergency Calls

In this paper, we analyze how the call-taker in a taped 911 call came to doubt a caller who was reporting a genuine emergency. Using conversation analysis, we show how the caller's actions in the unfolding context of the call did not successfully support his claims to be a caller with legitimate trouble to report. We show how the participants' experience of the call as it unfolded differed from the media's depictions of the call. The call-taker's doubt was not an intrapersonal phenomenon but was constructed by both participants throughout the call. One of the major factors in this construction was the unsuccessful claims-making techniques used by the caller.     

An Insider View: Knowledge and Opinions of Welfare From African American Girls in Poverty

This article presents African American adolescent girls' views of welfare and welfare reform at the cusp of welfare legislation in 1996. Interview data from a random sample of poor and low-income families indicate that adolescents have a limited knowledge of basic welfare rules. Low-income girls see welfare as an important safety net, yet they also have negative views of welfare recipients and the effects of welfare on recipients. The vast majority express agreement with work requirements, and about half believe that a discontinuation of welfare would change adolescent sexual and childbearingbehaviors. These results raise the possibility that adolescents are responding to the rhetoric and "signals" of welfare reform; alternatively, they may simply be expressing typical adolescent egocentrism and optimism.     

“<Emphasis Type="Italic">Nobody Knows Me No More</Emphasis>”: Experiences of Loss Among African American Adolescents in Kinship and Non-Kinship Foster Care Placements

Youth in out-of-home care confront numerous disruptions in relationships and social environments, but how they experience such disruptions and their perception of these changes as losses has received little attention in the research literature. Furthermore, the increased use of kinship foster care raises questions regarding the effect of such placements on children’s experience of loss. Due to the overrepresentation of African American children in both the child welfare system and in kinship placements, race is a central variable in understanding the kinship care context and how it impacts loss. Using interview data from 18 African American adolescents in kinship and non-kinship placements, qualitative findings are presented regarding differences in relational and locational disruptions and in perceptions of those disruptions. Compared to non-kinship participants, adolescents in kinship placements experienced fewer disruptions in relationships and location and also experienced the restoration of losses as well as outright relational gains in entering their relative placements. Implications for policy, practice, and research are also discussed.     

Adversity and children experiencing family homelessness: implications for health

This study tests links between adversity and health problems among children in family emergency housing. Children who experience family homelessness are at risk to also experience high levels of stress, health problems, and need for pediatric care. Understanding the connection between stress and health holds the potential to reduce persistent health disparities. Analyses tested whether experiencing a greater number of stressful life events during the early years of life was related to worse health conditions, emergency health-care utilization, and hospitalizations. Parents noted children’s experience of negative stressful life events, health problems, emergency room (ER) use, and hospitalization. Two cohorts of kindergarten-aged children staying in emergency family housing participated in the study in 2006–2007 (n?=?104) and in 2008–2009 (n?=?138), with the results examined separately. In both cohorts, more health problems were acknowledged for children exposed to more negative stressful life events. Stressful life events were not related to ER use but did relate to hospitalization for the 2006–2007 cohort. Results affirm links between stress in early childhood and health problems among children living in emergency housing. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that adversity in early childhood contributes to income and racial disparities in health.     

Firearm presence and storage practices in North Carolina homes

Firearms injuries are a leading cause of injury and death in North Carolina, including suicide, homicide, intentional assault, and unintentional injuries. Research has demonstrated that the presence of a firearm in a household increases the risk for homicide and suicide. This study examined two firearms-related risk factors, the presence of a firearm in the household and risky storage practices (loaded and unlocked), using the 2011 North Carolina Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). We hypothesized that among household firearm owners, those who keep unlocked loaded firearms would be varied by demographic variables and also by tendencies for more risk-taking behaviors such as smoking and drinking. Results showed that those who were more likely to keep firearms in or around the home were male, older age, White race, married, with some post high school education, and with higher income. There were no differences by region, age, race, education, or income among those who kept firearms loaded and unlocked. Risky storage practices were related to social conditions such as marital status and number of adults and children in the household. The presence of firearms was lower among those who lived alone; however, among those with a firearm in the household, 42% of single adult households keep a loaded and/or unlocked firearm in the house, and up to 30% of households with children do as well. Behavioral risk factors such as smoking, binge drinking, and not using a seatbelt when driving a car were also related to firearms possession and storage conditions.     

Effect of mortgage indebtedness on health of U.S. homeowners

This paper examines the effect of excessive mortgage indebtedness on health among homeowners using nine waves of the Health and Retirement Study from 1992 to 2008. Health status is measured by subjective well-being, number of depressive symptoms, and incidence of hypertension. Using average annual state-level home prices as an instrument, we attempt to identify the causal effect in an panel IV framework. Results from the panel IV estimations suggest that having a high mortgage loan to home value (LTV), defined as LTV at or above 80 %, leads to more depressive symptoms and a higher incidence of hypertension, but has no effect on subjective well-being. Since the results from panel estimations did not show that debt affects health, whether the panel IV results demonstrate a causal relationship depends critically on the exclusion assumption.