Category Archives: Research

Open Knowledge Repository

The World Bank has relaunched of its open access repository “Open Knowledge Repository – OKR” with a new, cutting-edge mobile friendly interface as well as a few additional enhancements. Please find below a copy of the announcement also available here: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/01/23/open-knowledge-repository-introduces-mobile-friendly-design

The most significant aspect of the announcement is that The World Bank, in collaboration with @Mire that supported the development of the OKR, released elements of the new responsive design under an open-source license. We hope this contribution to the community will benefit any institution running a repository on DSpace that wishes to provide a better user experience on mobile devices.

Report on primary education access

A new UNESCO report suggests it’ll be more than 70 years before all children have access to primary school.
Here is a summary from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25811704 – it will be a 70-year wait before some children will be able to attend primary school .

British study on pleasure readin impact

A study  carried out by the Centre for Logditudinal Studies, at the Institute of Education (one of the colleges of the University of London) supplies evidence that children who read for pleasure are likely to do significantly better at school than their peers.  Strong reading ability affected children’s scores in maths, vocabulary and spelling. Here is the link to the press release – it specifically mentions the importance of the library:  

‘Social inequalities in cognitive scores at age 16: The role of reading’, by Alice Sullivan and Matt Brown. CLS Working Paper 2013/10

New research and articles of interest

Kidd, D., & Castano, E. (2013). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind. Science 18 October 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6156 pp. 377-380  http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/377.short

 

There is also an interesting Press Release about this research from the New School in New York City:

http://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2013/CastanoKidd.htm

 

The article and the press release both refer to ToM Theory of Mind.  Here is a brief description of what this term actually means:  http://www.howstuffworks.com/theory-of-mind.htm 

 

Another older piece of research:

Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds.  Authors:  Raymond A. Mar,  Keith Oatley,  Jacob Hirsh,  Jennifer dela Paz,  Jordan B. Peterson. published by the University of Toronto in 2006. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009265660500053X

IASL 2014 conference call for proposals

International Association of School Librarianship International Conference and Research Forum:  August 25-30, 2014 Moscow, Russia


THEME:  “School Library in the knowledge society: use of cognitive technologies, form creative person”

Proposals are invited from librarians, principals, teachers, educators, researchers, and others directly involved with the development or management of school libraries. Others who share an interest in advancing the field of school librarianship, including publishers, vendors, authors, illustrators, architects, psychologists, economists, and journalists, are also welcome to submit proposals.

Proposals should clearly relate to one or more of the Conference sub-themes:
•    School library as a cognitive resource for the development of education
•    New brands of school library: information culture and e-environment in the context of cognitive sciences development
•    School library on the map of cognitive future
•    School library in a rapidly changing world
•    School library as a forming center of personal information culture
•    The world of school libraries’ worlds: searching for harmony, intelligence, technology, culture
•    School librarian – an agent of change in modern educational approaches to teaching
•    New approaches in the all-life learning system of teacher-librarians


TYPES OF PRESENTATIONS
Proposals for presentation should be one of  four types:
•    Workshops (90 minutes or 180 minutes) on a focused topic related to the conference theme, where participants are actively involved in the learning process. They may comprise small or large group discussions, collaborative activities and exercises, or opportunities to practice applying the concepts that are presented. Workshops are not intended to be extended lectures, but are hands-on learning opportunities.
•    Professional presentations (20 minutes each) on a topic related to the theme of the conference, which represent descriptions of programs, projects, activities, and/or innovations that are of relevance to a diverse audience and contribute to their professional development.
•    Research presentations (20 minutes each) on a topic related to the theme of the conference, which represent findings from investigations (either complete or in-progress, but not proposals) that would be of interest to an international audience.
•    Posters (a designated time will be set for presenters to display and meet viewers) of projects or research on a topic related to the theme of the conference.

The Proposal Form can be downloaded here .
Proposals for posters should be accompanied by a preliminary sketch in a single PowerPoint slide (proposal for poster must be sent via email).
All proposals must be in English.

Persons who are new to submitting conference proposals may find the following resources useful:
Writing Successful Conference Presentation Proposals
Writing a successful conference paper proposal
Writing a Great Conference Proposal
Planning, developing and writing an effective conference abstract
Writing conference abstracts
What makes a good conference abstract

ORIGINALITY
All proposals must be original, and not have been presented at any other conference, or published or submitted for publication in a journal.

SELECTION OF PROPOSALS
All proposals will be subjected to a double blind peer-review process.
Proposals will be reviewed based on the following criteria:
•    Workshops, Professional papers and Posters – Relevance to theme of conference, Originality, Practical implications (where relevant), Interest to diverse audience
•    Research papers – Relevance to theme of conference, Clarity of objectives, Significance of research, Appropriateness of design/methodology/approach, Findings (or Expected findings), Originality, Interest to diverse audience
The decision of the Program Committee shall be final, and no appeals will be entertained.

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Proposals may be an attachment to on iasl2014@rusla.ru  before 1 March 2014.
Please note that all expenses, including conference registration, travel, accommodation, visas, etc. are the responsibility of the authors/presenters. No financial support can be provided by IASL or the Organizing Committee. However, the Organizing Committee can issue, upon request, invitation letters for the purpose of applying for outside financial support.

KEY DATES
March 1, 2014    Last date for submission of proposals
April 15, 2014    Presenters informed
May 31, 2014    Final papers due
June 30, 2014    Last date for presenters to register in order to have their presentation scheduled in the program
Presenters who do not register by June 30 may not be included in the presentation schedule nor have their papers included in the conference proceedings.

FURTHER INFORMATION
For further information, please send a message to: iasl2014@rusla.ru or rusla@rusla.ru

Pleasure Reading Survey

The National Reading Campaign recently commissioned a study by Environics Research Group to gather benchmark data about the pleasure reading habits of Canadians. Based on a nationally representative sample of 1,001 Canadians, the survey results revealed a population of passionate readers still very engaged with traditional reading platforms, and a group of Canadians not reading for pleasure in any medium.

82% of Canadians read for pleasure as often or more often than they did last year. Books are the overwhelmingly preferred medium, with 70% of readers preferring them to magazines, newspapers, and blogs. While level of education is linked to the amount of reading done for pleasure, level of income is not. Those reading the most have family incomes of from $30,000 to under $50,000.

Although the percentage of Canadians reading for pleasure is high, 12% of Canadians reported reading for pleasure less than they did last year and 5% admitted to not reading for pleasure at all. These figures combine to reveal that one in five Canadians does not read for enjoyment or does so less than they used to.

The study additionally revealed that:

  • 49% have used library services in the past year
  • 45% of Canadians reported that their reading of electronic publications has increased in the past year
  • More men report an increase in reading e-publications
  • Library use is higher in urban centres

Past research has found that reading for pleasure is linked to better overall satisfaction with life, higher incomes, healthier relationships (lower divorce rates), and better mental health.

The National Reading Campaign hopes that these figures will draw attention to the need to bring the benefits of reading for pleasure to all Canadians.

Results of the survey can be read here: Environics – National Reading Campaign – Survey report.