Search results

The district leader is in a position to use the budget process to achieve success in leadership. The school budget has increased in importance since the era in accountability has gained momentum with the implementation of NCLB (2001). A functional budget allows for a picture of the purpose and goals of each school and the district as a whole. If leaders view the budget as an enabling document, then the pre- and post-budget processes as well as the actual budget can be part of the tools of leadership for the district. The successful district leader has to be an astute fiscal leader who is prepared to be flexible in a dynamic setting, especially as both input and output of education are people who are themselves volatile. The national, political, and social settings can influence and be influenced by the outcomes of the education process and the successful leader can make a mark in all these arenas by the way the district budget is developed and managed.

Sadegül Akbaba-Altun, PhD, EdD, is currently an associate professor of Educational Administration at Baskent University, Faculty of Education in Turkey. Dr. Akbaba-Altun's educational background includes a BSc in Guidance and Counseling and an MSc in Educational Administration and Supervision, both from METU; a PhD in Institute of Social Sciences with an emphasis on Educational Administration and Supervision from Ankara University; and an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction with the emphasis on Elementary Education from the University of Cincinnati. Her research areas include Chaos Theory, Leadership, Integrating Computer Technologies Into Education, and Supervision.

Community profiling several recent research studies (eg see NLW, June) have emphasised the need for more effective marketing of library and information services. A new CRUS publication is intended to help librarians set about the task of gathering the necessary information to do this properly. Community profiling in the library context aims to define a community in a way which is relevant to the planning and evaluation of library services, but different types of community require different approaches. Christina Beal has now written a comprehensive report covering the different methods possible. Community profiling for librarians (CRUS Occasional Paper 12) costs £17.50 from Consultancy and Research Unit, Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN (Tel: 0742‐738608).

The increasing number of women of color in organizational leadership positions within the US seems to indicate a societal appreciation for diversity. Yet recent studies show that African American women are more likely than other groups to feel the need to modify aspects of their personality in the workplace. While this and previous research has focused on a broad range of professions, there is a lack of discourse on how this manifests in the educational field. This chapter explores the extent to which African American women can be their authentic selves and still obtain and maintain educational leadership positions, particularly as K-12 principals and administrators. The topic is studied through a combination of firsthand accounts gleaned from interviews and round-table discussions with African American female school leaders, examination of data on organizational culture within schools led by African American women, as well as consideration for historical context. Ultimately, this work reveals a number of common threads in regards to the professional circumstances that might compel female African American school leaders to alter their personality, mannerisms, mode of expression, or even beliefs, and the strategies they have employed to address this and become successful when confronted with these challenges.

TOP TITLES, measured by the number of loans from Dumbarton District Libraries last year, were newish books by the following ten authors: Wilbur Smith, Jeffrey Archer, Catherine Cookson, Virginia Andrews, Danielle Steel, C McCullough, Susan Howatch, Desmond Bagley, Belva Plain, Douglas Reeman. (How can anyone be willing to go through life called ‘Belva Plain’?) The most popular non‐fiction writer was James Herriot, and for children (can you guess?), Enid Blyton.

To the initiate in French studies, the term “French Literature” might be understood to mean anything — and everything — written in the French language. Etymologists would no doubt support this interpretation wholeheartedly. To scholars of French literature, however, the term has a very different meaning. Professors in the field generally consider French literature to be that written in France since the Middle Ages, a literature which stands apart from other written works in the French language. This is not to say that there is not a very substantial body of literature written, for instance, in French‐speaking Canada, or Algeria, Tunisia, Haiti, or a myriad of other places. Certain individuals specialize in the literature (French) of those countries, but they do not refer to those writings as “French Literature”; they label them “French‐Canadian Literature,” “French‐African Literature,” and the like. This essay will be limited to a discussion of French literature — the major literature of France, considered worthy of special attention or acclaim by readers and scholars worldwide.