Helen Prytherch and Kaspar Wyss
Switzerland faces an HIV epidemic that is concentrated among certain groups, including migrants from high‐prevalence countries. This study explores the HIV/AIDS knowledge of…
Abstract
Switzerland faces an HIV epidemic that is concentrated among certain groups, including migrants from high‐prevalence countries. This study explores the HIV/AIDS knowledge of professionals providing asylum and integration services at cantonal level, with a view to optimising the role they can play in HIV prevention. Data was collected by means of a self‐administered questionnaire; 266 of the 368 professionals (72%) approached responded. Answers were analysed with regard to the respondent's sex, age, workplace and geographical location. General HIV/AIDS knowledge is sound, although there are deficits regarding the vulnerability of migrants. Staff working for non‐governmental organisations are significantly more likely (39%) to attach high importance to HIV/AIDS than civil servants (25%). They are also significantly more likely to have undergone training in HIV/AIDS (25% compared with 15%). Respondents from the German parts of Switzerland are significantly more likely (75%) than those from Romandie and Tessin (48%) to feel sufficiently well informed to be able to address the HIV/AIDS needs of migrants.Professionals providing asylum and integration services could be familiarised more systematically with HIV/AIDS policy documents and with the HIV/AIDS projects and materials in place for migrants. There is also scope to institutionalise targeted training and knowledge management opportunities better.
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The problems of One‐Man‐Bands (OMBs) began to be taken seriously in the early 1980s when the Aslib OMB group was formed. The group received considerable attention in the…
Abstract
The problems of One‐Man‐Bands (OMBs) began to be taken seriously in the early 1980s when the Aslib OMB group was formed. The group received considerable attention in the professional press, and became the object of a study by Judith Collins and Janet Shuter who identified them as “information professionals working in isolation”. Many of the problems identified in the Collins/Shuter study remain — not least of these being the further education and training needs of OMBs. These needs are studied in this report. The author has firstly done an extensive survey of the literature to find what has been written about this branch of the profession. Then by means of a questionnaire sent to the Aslib OMB group and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (INVOG), training and education needs have been pinpointed. Some of these needs have then been explored in greater detail by means of case studies. The author found that the most common deterrents to continuing education and training were time, cost, location, finding suitable courses to cover the large variety of skills needed and lastly, lack of encouragement from employers. The author has concluded by recommending areas where further research is needed, and suggesting some solutions to the problems discussed.
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Suggests that research has identified psychological barriers between information professionals and enquirers, and emphasized the need for training institutions to include courses…
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Suggests that research has identified psychological barriers between information professionals and enquirers, and emphasized the need for training institutions to include courses on interpersonal relations, non‐verbal behaviour and counselling skills. Describes student experience in the module “The information enquiry process” at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Identifies and discusses a number of significant factors which interrelate in providing an effective information enquiry service. During their period of professional work experience prior to the module, LJMU students are encouraged to note details of the broader environment, non‐verbal behaviour, aspects of professional competence and methods of evaluation which relate to customer service and customer satisfaction in the enquiry process. These broad issues provide the academic framework of the module in which practical problems are addressed in video‐recorded workshops.
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This paper presents some ideas about readers' advisory service for library users whose primary language is not English to offer a perspective about some of the issues involved…
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This paper presents some ideas about readers' advisory service for library users whose primary language is not English to offer a perspective about some of the issues involved. Questions are raised to stimulate further study and research in this area of librarianship.
Paul Outlet. International organisation and dissemination of knowledge: selected essays of Paul Otlet translated and edited with an introduction by W. Boyd Rayward. Amsterdam…
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Paul Outlet. International organisation and dissemination of knowledge: selected essays of Paul Otlet translated and edited with an introduction by W. Boyd Rayward. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1990. xi, 256 pp. $115.50/Dfl.225. 0 444 88678 8. (fid 684) Paul Otlet was born in Brussels in August 1868 and died there in December 1944. A lawyer who grew to be ‘bored with the law’ and became absorbed with books, libraries and information, he is probably principally remembered in connection with the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC).
The amount of work to be done in rendering the digital information space more efficient and effective has attracted a wide range of disciplines which, in turn, has given rise to a…
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The amount of work to be done in rendering the digital information space more efficient and effective has attracted a wide range of disciplines which, in turn, has given rise to a degree of confusion in the terminology applied to information problems. This note seeks to shed some light on the three terms thesauri, taxonomies and ontologies as they are currently being used by, among others, information scientists, AI practitioners, and those working on the foundations of the semantic Web. The paper is not a review of the techniques themselves.
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CLIVE BINGLEY and ELAINE KEMPSON
IN AMERICA the book world is bemoaning the fact that us internal postal rates were hiked up yet again in July for the special ‘library rate’ and the ‘fourth‐class book rate’—the…
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IN AMERICA the book world is bemoaning the fact that us internal postal rates were hiked up yet again in July for the special ‘library rate’ and the ‘fourth‐class book rate’—the former to 10 cents for a 2‐lb package, and the latter to 28 cents for the same. They might be interested to know that the cost of sending a 2‐lb parcel of books by post internally in the UK is now the equivalent of $1.00.
Metropolitan miseries ‐ 1 City of Westminster. We received in November a short sharp letter signed by most of the library staff protesting about cuts in the service. These were…
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Metropolitan miseries ‐ 1 City of Westminster. We received in November a short sharp letter signed by most of the library staff protesting about cuts in the service. These were attributed to ‘one man's report’, a citation vague enough to account for a mild grumble from Barnes (M). ‘Trouble is’, he said in some sorrow, ‘they think it was my report.’ It wasn't. It was the doing of a councillior now elevated to chair the committee to run (down) the library service. Further misery: Harrison (K C) is reported to have bewailed the disappearance of the title ‘City Librarian’, for when Barnes (M) goes the library service gets submerged in a leisure directorate. Barnes (M) is now (at the time of reading) Guildhall Librarian, City of London. They have their own miseries there, but they are well gilded and guilded by centuries of mediaeval floohflah under a heavy top dressing of well‐established City ways with money and the making thereof. And in case you haven't noticed, the City of London is listed with all those naughty places like Hackney and Sheffield and the glc as an over‐spending local authority. It's enough to make City Common Councilmen stand guard at Temple Bar and turn back ministers and royal persons.
Sue Holttum, Laura Lea and Sarah Strohmaier
Previous research suggests that service user and carer involvement (SUCI) in clinical psychology training may have an impact. The purpose of this study was to develop a validated…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research suggests that service user and carer involvement (SUCI) in clinical psychology training may have an impact. The purpose of this study was to develop a validated questionnaire to enable trainee clinical psychologists to rate this.
Design/methodology/approach
A collaborative project was carried out with service users and carers and trainee clinical psychologists. The principles of questionnaire design were followed. The authors developed and validated a trainee self-report questionnaire, based on focus groups and relevant literature indicating potential impacts of involvement on practice. A draft 60-item version was piloted with 15 trainee clinical psychologists. Then, 133 trainees from 22 UK clinical psychology courses completed it (estimated response rate of 13.2%). The sample was representative of UK trainees in gender and ethnicity, but slightly older.
Findings
The principal component analysis produced a 36-item questionnaire with four factors: human communication, carer perspectives, empathy and challenging/changing. The questionnaire showed good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Stakeholder consultation suggested face and content validity and there was some indication of construct validity.
Originality/value
The project has resulted in a usable co-produced questionnaire, which is now available to clinical psychology courses to assess the self-reported impact of SUCI in training, and which may also be used in future research.