Reports of Conferences,Institutes, and Seminars

In the span of four weeks, from late March to early April 2008, three important technical services conferences were held: the Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference, the New England Technical Services Librarians Conference, and the North Carolina Serials Conference.     

Ethics and Choosing Appropriate Means to an End: Problems with Coal Mine and Nuclear Workplace Safety

A common problem in ethics is that people often desire an end but fail to take the means necessary to achieve it. Employers and employees may desire the safety end mandated by performance standards for pollution control, but they may fail to employ the means, specification standards, necessary to achieve this end. This article argues that current (de jure) performance standards, for lowering employee exposures to ionizing radiation, fail to promote de facto worker welfare, in part because employers and employees do not follow the necessary means (practices known as specification standards) to achieve the end (performance standards) of workplace safety. To support this conclusion, the article argues that (1) safety requires attention to specification, as well as performance, standards; (2) coal-mine specification standards may fail to promote performance standards; (3) nuclear workplace standards may do the same; (4) choosing appropriate means to the end of safety requires attention to the ways uncertainties and variations in exposure may mask violations of standards; and (5) correcting regulatory inattention to differences between de jure and de facto is necessary for achievement of ethical goals for safety.     

The Colombian pension system after the reform of 1994: An evaluation

The Colombian pension reform of 1994 introduced a privately administered defined–contribution programme, which coexists with a reformed public defined–benefit programme. This paper gives an overview of the Colombian pension system and evaluates its performance using four criteria: (1) effectiveness, (2) efficiency, (3) equity, and (4) sustainability, finding evidence of severe shortcomings. Both effective coverage and benefit levels are low, costs in the private programme are high, and there is evidence that insured persons are not fully informed about the actual system. The system is inequitable and the uninsured population bears part of the financial burden. The public programme is financially not sustainable. A current reform proposal from the Colombian government addresses only part of the problem.     

The performativity of surveys: Teenagers’ meaning-making of the 'Health Behavior in School-aged Children Survey' in Sweden

The Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey contains scales intended to measure life satisfaction, mental health problems and socioeconomic status. This article takes inspiration from science and technology studies and analyse the survey as performative. It also examines subjective meaning-making through an analysis of interviews with 15-year-old teenagers. It shows how the survey enacts the subject position of an accountable teenager and how teenagers experience the survey as sending a message about how one should live. While some teenagers experience this as positive, others narrate feelings of shame. This could be interpreted as a way for them to be accountable for themselves.     

Understanding parental leave experiences: connecting the dots with a multiple-methods approach

ABSTRACT

This research note draws selected findings from a multiple-methods study conducted in partnership with a large public-sector employer in Portland, OR to describe the added value of this approach for research translation. We focus on how our study of a newly implemented paid parental leave policy can translate to actionable steps for two important end-users: employers and policymakers. Using administrative records (N?=?579), a countywide employee survey (N?=?137 leave-takers) and focus groups (N?=?35), we describe how each data source contributes important and unique information about how the policy’s implementation affected diverse employees. We find gender differences in how employees changed leave-taking in response to the policy, and describe the critical but nuanced role that supervisors play. Working with employers and policymakers to develop and implement thoughtful policies will help to ensure equitable distribution of the benefits of paid leave policies.