The One-Box Challenge: Providing a Federated Search That Benefits the Research Process

The one-box federated search of databases brings as many challenges as promises to database searching, especially in terms of adapting these systems to user needs and the effects this new mode of searching will have on users' research behaviors. This issue of “The Balance Point” presents several librarians with strong interests in reference and instruction, who tell the story of adapting a federated search system for their libraries and reflect upon how federated searching can change the way students do research and on the implications federated searching has on information literacy skills and the quality of results found.     

Survival Analysis in Social Work Research

Correspondence to Dr Richard Pugh, School of Social Relations, Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK. E-mail: spa08{at}keele.ac.uk Summary Survival analysis is a method of analysing any data set thatconsists of time to event where the data set is not temporallycompleted. That is, where not all of the initial events havebeen succeeded by the end events. Its major advantage is thatit allows the researcher to model the data using the whole set.Although widely used in other disciplines, with a few exceptions,it has received relatively little attention in social work.This paper provides a review of the method and illustrates itsapplication in a study of child protection practice.     

A note on the status of women as a factor in population growth in less developed countries

The 1978 U.S. Bureau of the Census reported 4.3 billion as the world's population. 3.1 billion were living in the less developed areas where life is characterized by poverty and low levels of material well-being. In the develop countries the per capita income averaged $490, compared to $5,210 in developed areas. Little attention has been paid to the status of women in developing countries, where the impact of development often has a negative effect. As a measure of women's status, rates are given for male/female infant mortality. If the ratio is less than 1.14 the status of women is low. If the is 1.15-1.24 the status is medium. If the ratio is 1.25 and over, women enjoy high status. In countries where women have low status the population growth ra averages 3%. Where the status of women is medium, the growth rate is 2.5%. I countries of high status the population growth rate is 2.2. Further research is needed on correlations between population and economic growth, with particula emphasis on subtle factors behind population/economic development.     

“It's Just My Job To Be ‘Out’”: Tenure Stories of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Academics

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) professors who undergo the tenure review process face the possibility that homophobic prejudice and discrimination will hurt their chances of receiving promotion. In light of this potential for bias, the tenure stories of LGB academics reflect a concern for unmasking tactics of discrimination in order to dismantle institutional homophobia. The author analyzes tenure and promotion narratives of LGB professors from both sociological and folkloric perspectives, and argues that these narratives function to build solidarity within LGB communities, and provide an important means by which academics who face the potential of prejudice and retributory marginalization for their sexual orientation can expose discriminatory practices.     

The age distribution of an industrial group (Scottish Railwaymen)

The age structure of the workers in an old-established industry, and the problems which might arise from it, formed the subject of the investigation. It was found that the group was atypical in that, in addition to having a higher average age than that of the total working population of Scotland, the age distribution was bimodal, with a marked excess in the S o + and a marked deficiency in the 3 5-44 age group. The bimodality was due to high recruitment after the first world war, followed by a low one a few years later. The bimodality was especially marked among footplatemen.

On the basis of age structure it is very difficult to identify grades to which older workers might be transferred. Certain receiving grades which " accommodate " the less healthy (and potentially also the older workers) were found to be relatively small in size compared with the operating grades, footplatemen or signalmen.

Projections were made to explore some of the repercussions of converting the age structure of a bimodal distribution to a standard, the working population of Scotland. There were three assumptions on total size : maintaining the size, a slow fall to 70% and a rapid fall to 70%. Within each of these there were three assumptions on sickness absence, drawn from experience of Scottish railwaymen and particularly footplatemen. These effects are described in the paper. They are not policy recommendations of what should happen ; they are indications of what might happen in certain circumstances. In a bimodal distribution it is easy to effect a reduction in total numbers by a reduction in recruitment, but the consequential longer term fluctuations in numbers are substantial and in sickness absence more so.

Those concerned with problems arising from recruitment, redundancy and age structures of working populations could get useful information by using appropriately realistic assumptions.     

Dual Relationships: Personal and Professional Boundaries in Rural Social Work

Social workers in rural areas often live and work in the communitiesthat they serve. Consequently, they may have, or later develop,dual relationships with service users. These ‘out of hours’connections raise some complex issues about how social workersconduct their practice and comport themselves socially withinthe wider community. This paper reviews the notion of dual relationshipsand assesses the schema proposed for assessing their ethicalprobity. Its conclusion is that the practical realities of ruralpractice challenge absolutist conceptions of confidentialityand undermine assumptions of objectivity and neutrality in professionalstance.