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This paper aims to investigate how teaching information creation as a process in a decentralized library classroom impacts student learning and engagement.

By using mobile technologies (iPads) and a targeted lesson design, the authors explored how these devices can be incorporated into threshold pedagogy. The study took place in a second-year composition course and was taught by librarians during a class session.

The findings supported by pre- and post-test scores, textual analysis and observations show that iPads did add to the engagement and learning of some students. The discussion includes student responses to the iPads, the decentralized roles of the librarian and instructor, the use of social media as an engagement tool and possible adaptations to the lesson.

This paper provides practical ideas for using iPads in higher education to engage students, particularly in targeting learning outcomes that emphasize on the changing nature and impact of the information creation process.

This impact assessment provides empirical evidence from household producer surveys to test the assumptions surrounding the contribution of participatory varietal selection (PVS) activities on seed sector development. The purpose of this paper is to focus on household access and adoption of common bean varieties from seed provision services and local markets to determine if, and under what social conditions, PVS activities stimulated seed uptake and market participation.

The propensity score matching technique and simple regression analysis were used to estimate the impact and compare household performance across three farmer groups located in Hoima, Uganda.

PVS increased access to and adoption of improved varieties and supported additional intermediate development outcomes when farmer group characteristics were aligned with PVS efforts. Specifically, PVS was more likely to stimulate market purchases of newly introduced varieties in the farmer group located closest to markets. The project did not however, improve all the development objectives that were evaluated. PVS most critically, did not increase the probability that households received the specific varieties they desired.

This study found that PVS can support the key pillars of seed sector development. In addition to increasing household access to new varieties, free seed dissemination promoted market participation and stimulated local seed market development.

This study addressed the need to consider intermediate development outcomes in impact assessments of development interventions. The findings clarified the contribution of PVS in the context of broader development goals and identified farmer group dynamics associated with enhanced impacts among rural producers in Uganda.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of staff development committees (SDC) in the motivation, morale and education of library staff by relying on previous research and by using Utah State University's (USU), Merrill‐Cazier Library SDC as a case study.

Discussion and analysis emerge from the documented formation of USU's SDC, including its membership, goals, and evaluative practices, especially as it relates to current research in this area. Informal staff comments regarding benefits and limitations of the committee are included.

Staff development has been approached from various perspectives. Most programs form as the results of formal or informal needs assessments. Goals for the program, or for the resulting staff development committee, vary and fluctuate depending on the time‐specific needs of the library. Successful elements of USU's SDC include its emphasis on building inter‐departmental relationships and its ability to elicit feedback from every level of the library. Challenges include having clearly defined goals and meeting a variety of individual and institutional needs through the creation of related events and activities.

This paper provides ideas on forming a staff development committee, including examples for specific events and activities. It details how to structure membership and explores literature relating to designing and implementing institutional goals for staff development.

Many studies lack a comprehensive literature review that focuses on the scope and purpose of staff development committees. This paper combines a literature review with an explanation of how USU's Library created a staff development committee to fill certain library‐wide goals, including challenges and benefits that emerged as a result.

This paper aims to explore both instruction librarians' attitudes on teaching and how they identify themselves as teachers. Particular attention is to be paid to teaching librarians' views on the effectiveness of two types of instruction models: for‐credit courses and course‐integrated library instruction.

To investigate librarians' attitudes towards these two models, a survey was constructed targeting librarians who teach information literacy (IL).

The results indicate that there is an important relationship between the IL instruction model employed and feelings towards campus politics, perceived effectiveness of IL models, and librarians' self‐identification as teachers.

The survey was sent to list‐servs whose readership includes high percentages of teaching librarians and received 276 responses. This is by no means an exhaustive study. The research is intended to be exploratory and to delve more deeply than the past editorials and blog posts on the issue of comparing for‐credit and course‐integrated instruction.

This study can help librarians gain a better understanding of how information literacy models impact librarian perceptions of themselves and their role on campus.

The authors seek to transform a discussion that has occurred mostly informally (in blog posts, on list‐servs, and in conversations) into a formal investigation of librarians' attitudes towards the two models.

Poets House, a poetry special collection in New York, hosts an annual exhibit of the preceding year's poetry publications in the USA. This paper aims to offer a selection of recommended titles that reflect the range of poetry titles including single‐author works, anthologies, and prose about poetry.

The paper researched and requested donations of 2010‐2011 poetry titles from US poetry publishers to assemble and display a comprehensive collection of poetry publications, from which a selection of 50 titles was made. The selections should appeal to a range of poetry readers, from novices and students to poets looking to access the latest work from their peers.

Over 2,500 poetry titles were published and/or available to readers in the USA between June 2010 and June 2011. These titles range from mainstream publishers to independent presses to artists' collectives publishing works from established poets as well as emerging and international poets.

Without a budget for collection development, the exhibit and resulting titles represent those which publishers have opted to donate to the library. Every effort is made to be all‐inclusive, with the understanding that publishers may send only a selection of their list. The selected titles herein are based on the titles received for the exhibition.

For 19 years Poets House's annual Showcase has been the main collection‐development tool. Publishers donate copies of their titles, which are arranged by publisher for a month‐long exhibition. This approach enriches the poetry special collection, a unique poetry library built on community participation. The all‐inclusive collection‐development approach results in a full representation of poetry publishing.

A selection made from a comprehensive collection of the year's poetry titles offers a sample of poetry publishing from large to small presses and the self‐published in the USA.

This paper aims to report the results of a study that examined the ways in which graduate-level library and information science students make use of e-books and e-readers at an institution that does not offer e-books through its library. The paper can be used as a case study in the adoption of emerging technology.

The study used three research methods – a survey, focus groups and interviews – to investigate library and information science students’ reading habits and preferences.

The findings suggest that despite the barriers of access and usability, the students have generally incorporated e-books into their academic routines. The results also suggest the factors that contribute to reader preferences for e-book technology.

The study sample was limited to one academic institution without e-book collection.

The article presents one of the very few studies that examine e-book reading of an academic population that does not currently have access to e-books through their academic library. Understanding the ways in which such a population accesses, uses and values e-books would help many academic libraries make decisions with regard to the selection, integration and marketing of e-books. Additionally, such a study could serve as the basis of a case study that seeks to understand the ways in which people who do not have ready access to technology through their institutions find ways to work around that obstacle.

The authors demonstrate the usage of data visualization for conveying educational administration research, with a specific focus on differential principal turnover. They model when and how principals move, over time, between six categories of turnover.

The authors construct several easy-to-interpret alluvial diagrams that reveal the patterns of differential turnover among 1,113 first-time Texas principals. Furthermore, the authors investigate how these patterns differ across educator characteristics (i.e. race and sex) and school contexts (i.e. school level and campus urbanicity).

Half of all first-time principals turn over within two years. Most principals who stay in leadership roles leave the district where they were first entered the principalship. Men are promoted more and women turn over less. In a connected finding, the authors conclude that elementary principals turn over less, and middle and high school principals are promoted more often. Principals of color are demoted more often than White principals. Urban school principals exit the system at a greater rate than rural principals.

The significance of this study lies in its direct response to two problems facing the administrator turnover knowledge base – a lack of methodological accessibility and the underutilization of data visualization. The authors’ is the first study to contain visualization of differential turnover outcomes over time. Second, the authors’ study provides a blueprint for data visualization that not only creates new knowledge but also speaks to a wider variety of education stakeholders by presenting complex data in a visual format.

Our understanding of what intervention strategies are effective in improving the well-being of older adults experiencing elder abuse and self-neglect (EASN) is severely limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of a method called “teaming,” a wraparound approach to provide enhanced social support to older adults experiencing EASN. A teaming intervention was administered by advocates in Maine, USA, as a component of a larger community-based EASN intervention, Repair harm, Inspire change, Support connection, Empower choice (RISE), implemented to complement adult protective services.

Qualitative interviews and a focus group were conducted with RISE advocates (n = 4). A descriptive phenomenological approach involving two independent assessors was used to code transcripts into themes and subthemes.

Three domains were identified: (1) team and support forming process, which describes the development of a supportive network based on each client’s needs; (2) techniques, which refers to the specific strategies advocates use to promote collectivity and shared responsibility around the client; and (3) implementation challenges, which discusses the difficulties advocates encounter when using teaming with people experiencing EASN.

This study represents the first in-depth exploration of teaming in the context of EASN intervention. Preliminary findings on the experiences of advocates suggest that teaming is a beneficial approach to support the individualized needs of each client, and to promote improved and sustainable case outcomes for clients.