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Examines the development of a laser‐based system for detecting the presence or absence of threads on turned components used in the automotive industry. Describes how a laser inspection station would be set up to take readings from the laser detector as the component cuts a “part present” photoswitch. Explains how all the systems’ parameters are programmable by the user through a hand‐held terminal and describes two typical applications: one to detect the presence of an external thread on an engine plug and the other to check an internal thread on an aluminium insert for a fuel injection system. Outlines the properties of laser light that makes it preferable for use over camera‐based inspection systems and lists some applications suitable for laser based systems such as checking for component features such as threads, holes, grooves and tabs.

Cooperative preservation has been an international topic for a long time. Germany’s neighbouring countries such as Austria and Switzerland have already taken measures for the cooperative preservation of printed resources. The main objective of the project bwLastCopies – which was funded by the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg in the context of the BigDIWA program – was to support cooperative preservation in Baden-Württemberg.

The goal was realized by the automated documentation of archiving commitments and the implementation of an inventory management system for the libraries in Baden-Württemberg to help examining the potential rareness of collections.

The project showed that many titles in libraries in Baden-Württemberg are, at least in the context of Baden-Württemberg, rare. Cooperative holdings management between libraries is only possible with a clear communication on what actions should be taken when sorting something out.

The marking of potentially rare titles in a database as large as K10plus is valuable to the participating libraries. Because of the amount of libraries working with the union catalogue, the markings are largely reliable and give an overview on how many and which titles are potentially rare.

The purpose of this article is to explore factors influencing career deciding amongst pharmacy students and graduates in the UK.

Group interviews were used to devise a topic guide for five subsequent focus groups with pharmacy students and graduates. Focus groups were tape‐recorded, recordings transcribed, and transcripts analysed. Key themes and interlinking factors relating to pharmacy career deciding were identified in the transcripts, following a constructivist approach.

Participants' described making a “good fit” between themselves, their experiences, social networks etc. and pharmacy. Central to a coherent career deciding narrative were: having a job on graduation; and the instrumental advantage of studying a vocational course.

Focusing on career deciding of UK pharmacy students and graduates may limit the study's generalisability to other countries. However, our findings are relevant to those interested in understanding students' motivations for healthcare careers, since our results suggest that making a “good fit” describes a general process of matching between a healthcare career and personal experience.

As we have found that pharmacy career deciding was not, usually, a planned activity, career advisors and those involved in higher education recruitment should take into account the roles played by personal preferences and values in choosing a degree course.

A qualitative study like this can illustrate how career deciding occurs and provide insight into the process from a student's perspective. This can help inform guidance processes, selection to healthcare professions courses within the higher education sector, and stimulate debate amongst those involved with recruitment of healthcare workers about desirable motivators for healthcare careers.

This paper compares the effectiveness of in‐house developed computer‐based learning (CBL) materials with face‐to‐face teaching. Two groups of higher education students were randomly assigned to complete tutorial work in one highly structured topic of introductory accounting using either CBL materials (treatment group) or face‐to‐face teaching (control group). The effectiveness of both approaches was measured according to the students’ performance in a class test, in relation to their prior accounting knowledge and gender. The results showed that the students with no prior accounting knowledge who completed the CBL materials achieved a significantly higher test mark than the face‐to‐face teaching group. However, there was no significant difference in the marks of the students with prior accounting knowledge, and there was no difference on the basis of gender. The results of this South African study correspond to results in existing literature in other countries, and contribute to the overall knowledge of the effectiveness of CBL materials with respect to prior accounting knowledge and gender.

Reports that standard accounts of the life of Heinrich von Stackelberg, a brilliant theoretical economist, are full of errors and lacunae. In addition, claims that many writers in the English language literature have seriously misjudged his economics because they make the unwarranted assumption that there must be a close relationship between a person’s scientific work in economics and his politics ‐ he was a member of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Fills some of the gaps in the accounts of his life, and presents evidence about his attitude towards Jews and that he may also have been part of the German resistance to Hitler and the Nazis. Concludes that the political and intellectual realms of his life often were separate ‐ and that both changed over time.

With the proliferation of digital maps, teachers and students have an array of new tools for developing civic and global perspectives in the social studies classroom. This article builds the case for the importance of geographic reasoning in civic and global education, explores the interactivity of digital maps, and provides an annotated bibliography of select maps. The article concludes with a promising outlook for the future of digital maps in social studies.

This paper aims to provide a reflection on youth information behaviors and practices in the research literature and suggest future directions for scholarship in this area.

The author identifies areas for strengthening the impact of research and scholarship in the area of youth information behaviors and practices, including standardizing the age groups of research subjects, diversifying data collection methods, broadening the participation of marginalized groups and working to understand youth information behaviors and practices from youths’ own perspectives.

This paper offers a personal assessment of the current state of the field, provides a broad overview of the author’s research in this area and suggests ideas for moving this work forward. It also highlights the importance of making research results readily available to adults who work with and care for youth, including teachers, librarians, product designers, parents and other caregivers.

Children and teenagers are the future adult users of libraries, and how they are treated in our libraries, particularly school and public libraries, can cement lifelong memories and habits in these young people. This paper aims to address this issue.

The following paper is a review of the literature on young people's, particularly teenagers’ use (or lack thereof) of libraries, the importance of library use and methods to encourage library use in young people.

Despite the findings from some of the literature that teenagers are less likely to visit libraries, there were many services and programmes in libraries that aim to reverse this trend.

Some of the literature is peer‐reviewed, but selected pieces were written by librarians in the field about their interactions with young people in their libraries. Although the latter cannot be generalised to all young people, they are important in providing examples of what occurs in some cases and what might be replicated in other settings.

Encouraging young people to visit and enjoy libraries can be a rewarding experience and is important in creating the next generation of library users.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether students perceive grade inflation as a problem. It questions whether differences exist in perceptions based upon gender and grade point average (GPA).

Previously validated scales were used to assess perceptions. The sample included 108 full-time traditional-aged undergraduate students from a private university.

Students do not believe A grades are given more than deserved; however, they believe some receive higher grades than deserved. Grades are seen as an accurate reflection of achievement. Neither gender nor GPA differences were found on grade inflation perceptions, although women believe faculty give higher grades to receive better student evaluations.

This paper combines student perceptions about grade inflation and analysis by gender and GPA.

In the future, library applications related to traditional functions may increasingly assume some of the roles and characteristics of archives and museums. In this article, the author describes fundamental archival concepts and theories and their evolution in recent times. Basic archival functions—appraisal, arrangement, description, reference, preservation, and publication—are also introduced. Finally, early applications of automation to archives (including SPINDEX, NARS‐5, NARS‐A‐1, MARC AMC, presNET, CTRACK, PHOTO, and DIARY) and automation trends for the future are discussed. The article presents a cogent introduction to archival operations, thereby providing 1) a basis for understanding distinctions between current archival and library practices and 2) insight concerning the possible convergence of selected roles and functions.