Digital Commons Network^™

Hot Topic: Changes In Federal Reimbursement Rates For Travel, Dick Phebus

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

Summary of changes in the federal and state reimbursement rates for travel.

Hot Topic: Joint Economic Development Boards Must Comply With Requirements Of Public Chapter 1101, Don Darden

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

By July 1, 2004, every local government applying for a state grant administered by ECD must provide records that document a minimum of four board meetings and eight executive committee meetings were held during the previous 12 months.

Hot Topic: Updating Occupational Safety And Health Programs, Steve Lobertini

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

This Hot Topic presents a brief review of certain provisions of the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1972, as amended, that are applicable to local governments. Includes model ordinance to provide guidelines and procedures for an occupational safety and health program.

Not All Users Are Alike: How Do Age And Productivity Affect User Behavior?, Carol Tenopir, Peter B. Boyce, Donald W. King

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Online Issues Are Global, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

THE INFORMATION INDUSTRY is international. With major English-language online publishers based in the Netherlands, Germany, and Canada (not to mention Alabama and New York), the information you lease may be generated and designed anywhere in the world. Likewise, the issues and challenges facing libraries as they move to large-scale digital collections are global in nature.

Conferences about digital libraries are also international; in September I attended "Digilib: Towards a User-Centered Approach to Digital Libraries" in Finland. Two hundred attendees from over 20 countries discussed how to gather user information for the purpose of designing more useful digital libraries. Sessions were …

Hot Topic: Tennessee Building And Fire Codes, Ray Crouch

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The proposed rules provide for the adoption of the 2002 International Building Code and the 2003 NFPA Uniform Fire Code.

Database For Information Professionals, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Dialog version of ISTA was part of Dialog's full-text linking program, and ISTA indexers include URLs in ISTA records when they have them. ISTA's Donald Hawkins explains that "many users don't have accounts with Dialog. ITI cannot offer One-stop shopping.' EBSCO, on the other hand, has a wealth of resources and a large complement of databases...[including] a large collection of full text, which it hosts and has rights to."

Interface, October 2003, School Of Information Sciences

Interface Newsletter

As the School of Information Sciences begins its second year as a part of the College of Communication and Information, we continue to experience change, but perhaps not as much as we once expected.

The planning we undertook to prepare for our transition into the College of Communication and Information has paid off handsomely. We are finding ways to share resources. We are making faculty contacts across disciplines. We are working together to build stronger graduate programs. We planned for these outcomes, and so despite all the change we’ve faced, we are still secure in our identity and our mission. …

Patterns Of Journal Use By Faculty At Three Diverse Universities., Donald W. King, Sarah E. Aerni, Carol Tenopir, Carol Hansen Montgomery

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

University libraries are rapidly moving toward electronic journal collections. Readership surveys at three universities with different levels of electronic journal implementation demonstrate how transition to electronic journal collections affects use patterns of faculty and staff. The University of Tennessee was in a transitional phase when the survey was done (2000), the University of Pittsburgh had acquired a large electronic journal collection, but with some duplication with print journals (2003), and Drexel University had migrated to nearly all electronic journals (2002). Although faculty use of personal print subscriptions remains significant, electronic personal subscriptions are used only infrequently by faculty even though …

Undergraduate Science Students And Electronic Scholarly Journals, Carol Tenopir, Richard Pollard, Peiling Wang, Dan Greene, Elizabeth Kline, Julia Krummen, Rachel Kirk

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Phase I of a 2‐phase project funded by the NSF‐National Science Digital Library Project used focus groups to determine how undergraduate science students perceive journal literature and how they use digital library resources. Their perceptions and use are contrasted with faculty and graduate teaching assistants in engineering, chemistry, and physics. Undergraduates have difficulties understanding journal articles. Although they consider themselves experts on the web, they rarely use online indexes or e‐journals unless required to for class. E‐Journals should be incrementally introduced to students starting at the time they declare a major. E‐Modules developed by the library and faculty could introduce …

Tennessee Public Acts 2003: Summaries Of Interest To Municipal Officials, Dennis Huffer

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

Summarizes the year's public acts and provides date they become effective.

What User Studies Tell Us, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Valid conclusions about user behavior should only be made within the research method used by each study. For example, if a researcher interviews academic faculty to determine if they prefer print or electronic sources, the conclusions should only state what faculty prefer, not what faculty actually use.

Hot Topic: Mental Evaluations For City Employees: Tennessee Enters Into A Consent Decree With The United States Department Of Justice, Rex Barton

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The State of Tennessee has entered into a consent decree with the United States Department of Justice to settle an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) case contesting the validity of several statutes concerning the minimum qualifications for certain public safety employees.

Street Improvement Funding For Tennessee Cities, Ron Darden

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

This report discusses street projects available for Tennessee cities, the transportation planning process for cities, transportation programs that may assist cities, and participation in a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).

Remaking An Online System, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

ONLINE COMPANIES continually tinker with their systems. Commercial aggregators need to accommodate new databases or new features such as linking. Search engines must change ranking algorithms to subvert rogue web sites or hackers who seek to manipulate ranking. Systems need to improve performance and keep up with the competition or the current fashions in interface design.

It isn't often that a system can afford to do a total makeover, including architecture, new programming code, and new functionality. Factiva did this over the last few years; recently the H.W. Wilson Company has totally revamped its system. Ed Tallent, Boston College, reviewed …

Hot Topic: Formula Rate Of Interest Changes To 8.25% On Delinquent Taxes Collected Or Administered By The State Of Tennessee, Dick Phebus

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The rate in effect for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2003, and ending June 30, 2004, has been set at eight and one-quarter percent (8.25%), which is a decrease from last year.

Hot Topic: 2003-2004 State Revenue Estimates, Dick Phebus

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The Tennessee General Assembly adopted the state budget for fiscal year 2003-2004; adopting revenue and spending bills that call for no new tax increases, but state shared revenues going back to cities and counties were cut by an estimated $35.5 million.

Predicting The Future Of Databases, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

FORETELLING THE FUTURE has never been easy, but even the smartest futurist could not have foreseen the recent economic woes. Each year for the annual Database Marketplace feature (see LJ 5/15/03, p. 38ff.), we ask companies what are the most important trends for the upcoming year. Not surprisingly, economic gloom dominated this year's forecasts. Worrying about library budgets is only part of the picture, however, as libraries and information companies alike seek ways to bring additional high-quality digital information to users in more convenient ways.

Hot Topic: The U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance: A Money-Saving Purchasing Source Available To Tennessee Cities, Jim Finane

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

There is a pooled purchasing organization of U.S. cities and counties that could potentially offer local Tennessee governments very competitive prices on commonly purchased supplies and equipment.

The Art Of Conjuring E-Content: Content Disappears, Companies Solidify Their Primary Businesses, Technology Connects And Expands Databases. (Database Marketplace 2003), Carol Tenopir, Gayle Baker, William Robinson

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

ANY MAGICIAN WOULD be proud of the database industry. Disappearing acts, metamorphoses, and even a bit of pure trickery characterized this "magical" year. The dirtiest trick award goes to the divine/RoweCom/Faxon debacle. This show unfolded over several months and continues, as both RoweCom and parent company divine have filed for bankruptcy. EBSCO having recently acquired what's left of RoweCom's subscription businesses worldwide and is working with publishers to strike a deal that will help libraries pull their undelivered serials out of the bankruptcy hat. But divine is also the parent company of NorthernLight. This highly touted web search engine …

Designing Systems For All Of Us, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Designing systems that serve both librarians and end users remains a necessity because information content providers rely on librarians to make their products available to the public. [John Barnes] reminded the audience that nearly half of all academic or public libraries are facing budget cuts-which directly affects publishers whose main customers are libraries. Barnes emphasized that publishers and libraries are part of a shared community and in a longterm relationship.

Drug Fund Manual, Ralph Cross, Rex Barton

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

The Drug Fund is a special revenue fund where revenues and expenditures must be accounted for separately from the General Fund.

What Every City Needs To Know About Health, Dental And Life Insurance, Don Darden

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

This publication explains the various kinds of health, dental, and life insurance programs that are available to municipal employees and how to procure them.

Technical Bulletins: Tennessee Amusement Tax, Al Major

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

The State of Tennessee taxes certain types of amusements, and these taxes are levied in different ways and authorized under different sections of the Tennessee Code Annotated.

Technical Bulletins: Fire (And Police) Departments Liable For Negligent Response, Sid Hemsley

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

Under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act municipalities are liable for the negligence of their employees, with some exceptions. One of those exceptions is “discretionary functions” (Tennessee Code Annotated (T.C.A.) 29-20-205). However, the act does not define that term. The Tennessee Supreme Court has grappled with both a definition and application of the term in Gordon, et al. vs. City of Henderson, 766 S.W.2d 784 (1988). Although that case involved the delivery of municipal fire services, it contains some language that should cause Tennessee municipalities to look closely at the manner in which they deliver all public safety services.

Technical Bulletins: Municipal And Personal Liability Under Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act, Ronnie Neill

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

The TGTLA provides that municipalities can be sued for injuries caused by their employees only in a limited number of areas and immunizes municipal employees or limits their liability for injuries they cause in certain cases.

Technical Bulletins: Tva Set To Increase Wholesale Power Rates To Distributors, Bill Young

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

TVA will decide at its August 2003 board meeting on changes to the wholesale power rate (the rate charged to power distributors) and could increase rates that affect residential and some commercial and industrial customers by approximately eight percent.

Patterns Of Journal Use By Scientists Through Three Evolutionary Phases., Carol Tenopir, Matt Grayson, Yan Zhang, Mercy Ebuen, Donald W. King, Peter B. Boyce

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Access to electronic journals and articles has involved three system phases: an early phase following introduction of electronic journals; an evolving phase in which a majority of scientific journals are available in electronic format, new features are added to some journals, and some individual articles are made available through preprint archives, author web sites, etc; and an advanced phase in which searching capabilities, advanced features, and individual articles are integrated in a complete system along with full text of core journals available back to their origin. This article provides some evidence of how scientists' information seeking and reading patterns are …

Hot Topic: Social Security Fact Sheet: 2003 Social Security Cost-Of-Living Adjustments, Ralph Cross

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

Social Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries will receive a 1.4% percent cost-of-living adjustment for 2003.

Hot Topic: 2002 Irs, Social Security And Medicare Tax Changes For Election Officials And Workers, Ralph Cross

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

One of the tax law changes in 2002 pertaining to the Social Security Administration deals with the taxable threshold for wages paid election officials and workers.