Reviews

Abstract

Michelle DeMars reviews The Indispensable Academic Librarian: Teaching and Collaborating for Change; Norma Durian reviews The Library Outreach Casebook; Trina Boykin Nolen reviews Licensing Digital Content: A Practical Guide for Librarians, Third Edition.     

Japanese and American Identities: Values and Their Transmission in the Family

In this paper, we are studying social identities within a cross-national framework as they are reflected in values regarding social institutions. We compare value items to infer similarities and differences between Japan and the US, but more importantly we analyze value configurations, using factor analysis, as an expression of underlying cultural expectations. We also argue that the way values are transmitted further defines the distinctive cultural basis of social identities. Using a unique data set, The Generations Survey , we propose to contribute theoretically and methodologically to understanding the role of culture in postmodern societies. Our research, based on identical national surveys collected in 1995, provides a systematic way to compare values in two countries. The research builds on and specifies existing ethnographic case studies and in-depth interviews around a variety of themes that shape social identities such as the link between family and work expectations, the role of ethical values in business, the importance of national identification, and the meaning of community involvement. The paper concludes by suggesting that despite homogenizing trends and surface similarities, cultural distinctiveness persists in the ways values cluster and is transmitted in the family, shaping the social identities of Japanese and US respondents.     

More than Myth: The Developmental Significance of Romantic Relationships During Adolescence

Adolescents' romantic relationships have attracted popular interest, but, until recently, little scientific curiosity. Research has been impeded by erroneous assumptions that adolescent relationships are trivial and transitory, that they provide little information beyond measures of the influence of parent‐child and peer relationships, and that their impact is primarily associated with problems of behavior and adjustment. This article proposes that distinguishing five features of romantic relationships (involvement, partner selection, relationship content, quality, and cognitive and emotional processes) is essential to describing adolescents' relationships and their developmental significance. These distinctions also help to clarify the role of context, age‐related variations, and individual differences in the impact of romantic experiences. Research is needed to illuminate questions of how and under what conditions romantic relationships affect individual development and how romantic and other close relationships jointly influence developmental trajectories during adolescence.     

The Effects of E-journal Management Tools and Services on Serials Cataloging

E-journal management tools and services such as MARC record services, A-to-Z lists, and link resolvers are changing e-journal cataloging. This column explores these changes in the academic environment through interviews with ten librarians representing eight universities. Three areas of change in serials cataloging are explored: (1) changes to the MARC record, including how libraries are adding/creating MARC records for their catalogs, the number and type of MARC records being created and linking within MARC bibliographic and holdings records; (2) the manner in which serials catalogers are being informed of changes; and (3) the evolving role of the serials cataloger. Future trends and advice for evolving workflow practices conclude the discussion.     

Gay Affirmative Practice: A Model for Social Work Practice with Gay,Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth

Gay affirmative practice has recently been introduced into the social work literature as a culturally sensitive model for working with gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) adults, however, this model has rarely been applied to practice with GLB youth. In this article, the authors review the literature to present the main tenets of gay affirmative practice, outline the challenges that GLB youth face, and delineate the environmental and individual strengths that can be enhanced to promote well-being. The authors then apply the gay affirmative practice model to GLB youth, offering concrete information about the specific knowledge, attitudes, and skills that social workers should acquire to better serve the unique, yet diverse, needs of GLB youth.     

Conditional Likelihood Estimators for Hidden Markov Models and Stochastic Volatility Models

ABSTRACT.  This paper develops a new contrast process for parametric inference of general hidden Markov models, when the hidden chain has a non-compact state space. This contrast is based on the conditional likelihood approach, often used for ARCH-type models. We prove the strong consistency of the conditional likelihood estimators under appropriate conditions. The method is applied to the Kalman filter (for which this contrast and the exact likelihood lead to asymptotically equivalent estimators) and to the discretely observed stochastic volatility models.