Stewart Falconer and Malcolm Pettigrew
This paper examines the extent to which the softer or transferable skills that are apparently sought by firms are developed through work‐based learning. The study is a pilot…
Abstract
This paper examines the extent to which the softer or transferable skills that are apparently sought by firms are developed through work‐based learning. The study is a pilot study, as it is restricted to the experience of students and graduates of a single degree programme at Napier University, Edinburgh. However, the results indicate a positive contribution of work‐based learning to the development of the transferable skills of those involved in the programme. The paper concludes that these tentative positive results drawn from the pilot study need to be tested across a broader sample of students and graduates from a wide range of programmes and institutions. This would enable an effective evaluation of the role of work‐based learning in skilling the firm.
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ALL journals move with the times if they are vital. We have always held that The Library World has been in touch with the currents of thought and practice and, as this is our…
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ALL journals move with the times if they are vital. We have always held that The Library World has been in touch with the currents of thought and practice and, as this is our jubilee number, we would stress these facts again. Fifty years ago, the pioneer public librarians of the closing nineteenth century found that they needed a means of expression and communication, and indeed of criticism, untrammelled by the necessary reticences of the official associations. That is not to say that they were not, as now, supporters of the Library Association; indeed, they were its most active members; but they realized that The Library Association Record is the property of the members. It is bound to refrain from undue praise or blame of any activity of any of those members. At least, that was the view then prevalent and we still think it is a fair one. Thence came THE LIBRARY WORLD with its open secret that the honorary Editor was James Duff Brown. It drew on a wide range of contributors, and was the voice of those who were fighting for open access, subject‐indexes, close‐classification, and the card catalogue, as well as the general liberation of libraries from indicators with all the restrictions those contraptions sustained. That echo of a dead controversy of long ago rings naturally in our jubilee hour. It was an influence from the start, and in its unbroken career almost every librarian of importance has written something for it; indeed, many young writers first saw themselves in print in it. That was and is a characteristic of our editorial effort—to furnish a forum for librarians of any age, in the belief that age needs the criticism and suggestions of youth as much as youth needs those of age. If, occasionally, an article has appeared which has betrayed the prentice hand, we have made no apology for it; there has always been something in it that repaid the publication. Generally, however, the methods which now prevail in public and other libraries, but perhaps especially in public libraries, were first expounded in our pages. Then we have writers who have written for nearly forty years in that remarkable correspondence, Letters on Our Affairs, which even today is probably the most‐read of all library writings. At least a dozen faithful correspondents have been involved in them.
Prisoners experience high rates of chronic physical health problems, poor mental health and high rates of substance misuse. However, little is known about what happens to…
Abstract
Prisoners experience high rates of chronic physical health problems, poor mental health and high rates of substance misuse. However, little is known about what happens to prisoners after release from custody, except that many re‐offend and a disproportionate number die from drug overdose, suicide, accidents and other causes. Using a prospective design, 160 prisoners in Queensland, Australia were interviewed prior to release then 1 and 4 months post‐release. Most prisoners had a history of substance misuse and many reported poor mental health pre‐release. The prevalence of these problems was also high post‐release and there was a high degree of continuity of impairment. These findings add support to calls for (a) population‐level pre‐release planning and post‐release support for prisoners returning to the community, and (b) screening and targeted intervention for those most at risk of poor post‐release outcomes.
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E. Lisa Panayotidis and Paul Stortz
In 1937, a pictorial fine art map of the University of Toronto was designed and painted by artist Alexander Scott Carter. The map was commissioned by Vincent Massey, then High…
Abstract
Purpose
In 1937, a pictorial fine art map of the University of Toronto was designed and painted by artist Alexander Scott Carter. The map was commissioned by Vincent Massey, then High Commissioner for Canada in Britain, and given as a gift to Hart House. As a vibrantly visual rendition of the university's historical lineage, the map depicts the evolution of the university's various colleges along with its founders, contemporary geographical boundaries, and lush and verdant landscapes. The purpose of this paper is to inquire into its cultural and historical importance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses, and provides a viewpoint on, A. Scott Carter's map.
Findings
Carter's map reveals the discursive and visual interpretive frameworks in which the map was situated and the narratives and myths that it sanctioned. The map performs an important function in authorizing the collective identity of the university and its actual and imagined communities. It provides a cultural expression of shared values, ideals, and particular historical traditions. The university's place in the hierarchy and tradition of Canadian higher education in the British Commonwealth is embodied in the map at a time when such ideas were under scrutiny by professors and intellectuals who were arguing for the extrication of Canada from colonial inheritances.
Originality/value
Carter's map highlights the university and its integral cultural artifacts, spaces, and practices as being replete with contested meanings, experiences, and symbolism. Through dynamic cartography, new approaches in deciphering the official and informal campus emerge to produce a nuanced and multifaceted historical picture of university and academic cultures.
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Jonathan Glazzard and Anthea Rose
In this chapter, the authors argue that technology can be advantageous to children and young people’s mental health. The authors argue that social media platforms can foster…
Abstract
In this chapter, the authors argue that technology can be advantageous to children and young people’s mental health. The authors argue that social media platforms can foster social connection, social support and access to important information to support mental health. The authors also highlight the risks, particularly the research which links technology to mental ill-health. The authors argue that the digital curriculum in schools should develop young people’s knowledge of digital literacy, digital citizenship and digital resilience. Finally, the authors explore the potential role that technological applications (apps) can play in supporting children and young people’s mental health. The authors argue that although research is in its infancy, some studies have produced promising results.
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We issue a double Souvenir number of The Library World in connection with the Library Association Conference at Birmingham, in which we have pleasure in including a special…
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We issue a double Souvenir number of The Library World in connection with the Library Association Conference at Birmingham, in which we have pleasure in including a special article, “Libraries in Birmingham,” by Mr. Walter Powell, Chief Librarian of Birmingham Public Libraries. He has endeavoured to combine in it the subject of Special Library collections, and libraries other than the Municipal Libraries in the City. Another article entitled “Some Memories of Birmingham” is by Mr. Richard W. Mould, Chief Librarian and Curator of Southwark Public Libraries and Cuming Museum. We understand that a very full programme has been arranged for the Conference, and we have already published such details as are now available in our July number.
LIBRARIES NEED NO APOLOGY. They do not need to be justified by platitudes about the heritage which books convey from one generation to the next. They prove their value by daily…
Abstract
LIBRARIES NEED NO APOLOGY. They do not need to be justified by platitudes about the heritage which books convey from one generation to the next. They prove their value by daily service in education, in research, and—most important of all in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland—in the spread of literacy. Of the three curses of Africa—ignorance, poverty and disease—one may argue that the greatest is ignorance, because the absence of knowledge prevents the elimination of the other two. The school can teach the elements of reading, can bestow on the pupil the basic tool of learning, but unless he has access to a suitable store of books on which to exercise this skill, it will steadily decay. The patient work of the teacher will have been wasted. This truth is gaining increasing recognition in Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Since the Second World War, urban and rural library services have grown up in all three territories of the Federation to supply reading material to the African population. In Nyasaland the British Council, in Northern Rhodesia the newly created Northern Rhodesia Library Service, in Southern Rhodesia the African Literature Bureau, have spread their activities far into the bush. Government, municipalities and mining companies have also attempted to satisfy the tremendous thirst for learning which exists among those Africans who work in the towns. No one would pretend that these library services are perfect. They have great difficulties of cost, distance and poor communications to overcome, difficulties which are scarcely conceivable by the librarian working in Europe. But there is a strong conviction of the need to bring the benefits of books to an ever larger proportion of the people.
WE write on the eve of an Annual Meeting of the Library Association. We expect many interesting things from it, for although it is not the first meeting under the new…
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WE write on the eve of an Annual Meeting of the Library Association. We expect many interesting things from it, for although it is not the first meeting under the new constitution, it is the first in which all the sections will be actively engaged. From a membership of eight hundred in 1927 we are, in 1930, within measurable distance of a membership of three thousand; and, although we have not reached that figure by a few hundreds—and those few will be the most difficult to obtain quickly—this is a really memorable achievement. There are certain necessary results of the Association's expansion. In the former days it was possible for every member, if he desired, to attend all the meetings; today parallel meetings are necessary in order to represent all interests, and members must make a selection amongst the good things offered. Large meetings are not entirely desirable; discussion of any effective sort is impossible in them; and the speakers are usually those who always speak, and who possess more nerve than the rest of us. This does not mean that they are not worth a hearing. Nevertheless, seeing that at least 1,000 will be at Cambridge, small sectional meetings in which no one who has anything to say need be afraid of saying it, are an ideal to which we are forced by the growth of our numbers.