Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Seeking Alternatives To High-Cost Textbooks: A Case Study Of The Umass Amherst Open Education Initiative, Marilyn S. Billings

Marilyn S. Billings

The high cost and lack of availability of commercial print textbooks is a major concern for both students and their parents. To address these concerns, the Provost’s Office and the University Libraries of the University of Massachusetts Amherst launched the Open Education Initiative (OEI) in the Spring of 2011, having saved over $1 million to date. This presentation provides a case study of the UMA experience. This model has an implementation strategy that is easy for others to adopt.

Participatory Design Ethnography In The Learning Commons: Initial Research Findings, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

Presentation on initial findings from research at the UMass Amherst Learning Commons using participatory design ethnography and Photovoice. In this Spring 2014 project, I guided students through a semester-length research study of students' perspectives on and practices in the library.

Are Medical Students Comfortable Managing Research Data?, Rebecca Reznik-Zellen

Rebecca C. Reznik-Zellen

Objectives: The Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School seeks to evaluate medical students’ awareness of and comfort with data handling and data management concepts. This study will help to triangulate populations and topics for integration of data management curriculum modules.Background: A medical student’s work life is unique due to the demands of their curriculum. In addition, expectations for the stewardship of research data require that students manage their data appropriately. However, data literacy is not a formal component in most undergraduate and graduate student curricula. Libraries have filled this gap by creating educational resources and training …

Libraries And Faculty Partnering To Advance Scholarly Communication, Marilyn S. Billings

Marilyn S. Billings

Since the 1990s serials crisis brought a struggle for university libraries to keep up with the escalating cost increases to maintain collections of scholarly materials, libraries have been exploring new models of scholarly communication. This presentation will discuss open access journals as one of these new models and examine trends in open access mandates, data management plans for scholarly research and new alternative metrics.

Youth Participation In Changing Food Systems: Toward Food Justice Youth Development, Krista Harper, Catherine Sands, Diego Angarita, Molly Totman

Krista M. Harper

We present results from a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project in which young people from Holyoke studied the school food system in order to make positive interventions in their school district. We used the Photovoice research method, placing cameras in the hands of youth so that they themselves could document and discuss their concerns and perspectives (Wang, et al., 1996). The research was designed to gain insight about the students’ knowledge of food, nutrition, and community food systems. The research also illuminated students’ impressions of public policy, active citizenship, and community building that have arisen out of food justice …

Seeking Alternatives To High-Cost Textbooks: A Case Study Of The Umass Amherst Open Education Initiative, Marilyn S. Billings

Marilyn S. Billings

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that either reside in the public domain or carry a license that permits their free use, sharing and adaptation by all users. From textbooks to course materials, videos to software, journals to digital collections, the creation and sharing of open materials can reduce the cost of textbooks, expand access to knowledge, and support student success. This webcast features Marilyn Billings, Scholarly Communication & Special Initiatives Librarian, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries, who provides an overview of the Open Education Initiative project, discusses the impact achieved for students, and provides practical …

American Inequality, A Prose/Poem 3/2/2014, Charles Smith

Charles Kay Smith

Science has made possible an increased productivity that creates an economic surplus--science continually teaches us how to do more with less resources. Why should the fruits of science be enjoyed only by the rich, since most of the innovations of science and technology have been funded or subsidized by citizen taxes. If the added productivity of science were shared among all citizens instead of only the 1%, poverty and homelessness could be ended.

Hadrian's Beard, A Prose/Poem 2/26/2014, Charles Smith

Charles Kay Smith

In his official portraits, Roman Emperor Hadrian sported a Greek beard rather than the clean shaven face that all Roman leaders had shown before him. What was his purpose in shattering precedent?

Seeking Alternatives To High-Cost Textbooks: A Case Study Of The Umass Amherst Open Education Initiative, Jay Schafer, Marilyn S. Billings

Marilyn S. Billings

The high cost and lack of availability of commercial print textbooks is a major concern to both students and their parents. To address these concerns, the Provost's Office and the University Libraries of the University of Massachusetts Amherst launched the Open Education Initiative in the Spring of 2011, having saved over $750,000 to date. This model has an implementation strategy that is easy for others to adopt.

Reinstitutionalizing Families: Life Course Policy And Marriage In The Military, Jennifer H. Lundquist, Zhun Xu

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

The transition to adulthood has become an increasingly telescoped process for Americans with marital formation occurring increasingly later in the life course. It is therefore striking to find a context like the U.S. military where marriage rates bear an anachronistic resemblance to those of the 1950s era. Using narrative data from life history interviews with military affiliates collected as part of a larger study on the impact of institutions on families, we show that the military has reinstitutionalized military families at the same time that civilian families are becoming deinstitutionalized. Structural conditions of modern military service, such as war deployment …

Residential Segregation: The Mitigating Effect Of Prior Military Experience, Fischer Mary, Jennifer H. Lundquist

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

This paper uses the case of military service to test the premise of the social contact theory-- that minority-majority social contact will lead to higher levels of racial tolerance and integration (Allport 1954, Robinson and Preston 1976; Sigelman and Welch 2001). As the only large-scale institution in which African Americans are over-represented and in which blacks and whites come into frequent and prolonged contact with one another, the military may be one of the most well situated US environments in which to test social contact theory. In this paper we ask whether there are long term implications for race relations …

Canadian Raising With Language-Specific Weighted Constraints, Joe Pater

Joe Pater

The distribution of the raised variants of the Canadian English diphthongs is standardly analyzed as opaque allophony, with derivationally ordered processes of diphthong raising and of /t/ flapping. This paper provides an alternative positional contrast analysis in which the pre-flap raised diphthongs are licensed by a language-specific constraint. The basic distributional facts are captured with a weighted constraint grammar that lacks the intermediate level of representation of the standard analysis. The paper also provides a proposal for how the constraints are learned, and shows how correct weights can be found with a simple, widely used learning algorithm.

Review Of Reclaiming Basque By Kathryn Woolard, Jacqueline Urla

Jacqueline L. Urla

Book Review of Reclaiming Basque by Kathryn Woolard. American Ethnologist February 2014.

On The Effects Of E-Government On Political Institutions, Jane E. Fountain

Jane E. Fountain

Research on e-government typically focuses on disruptive technologies and their presumed transformational effects on government. Yet the Internet and associated technologies are more than two decades old, and even cursory observation demonstrates that institutional change in government is often painstakingly slow. To theorize longer term developments in e-government, an institutional perspective on e-government is sketched and illustrated in this chapter. An institutional approach invites one to examine interactions among people, technologies and structures over time and in political environments characterized in part by conflict over ideas, rights and resources to uncover mechanisms that contribute to stability and change.

To extend …

Good Intentions, Limited Impact: The Technical Assistance For Student Assignment Plans Program, Kathryn A. Mcdermott, Elizabeth Debray, Erica Frankenberg, Anna Fung-Morley, Ann E. Blankenship

Kathryn A. McDermott

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (PICS), invalidated the student assignment policies of Seattle, Washington and Jefferson County, Kentucky. The Court ruled that the government has a compelling interest to promote diversity, while simultaneously arguing that racial balance and diversity should be considered different and separate goals. Thus, the PICS decision sent mixed messages to school districts across the country. To help school districts navigate the legally uncertain environment, the federal government created a small, one-time competitive grant called the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plan (TASAP) grant. …

E-Resource Acquisitions In Academic Library Consortia, Christine N. Turner

Christine Turner

Scholarly publishing is the information marketplace in which academic libraries function, and major shifts in traditional publishing and pricing models are in process. Library consortia have long been viewed as a means of increasing purchasing power and reducing costs. In late 2010, the Five College Libraries (FCL) hired R2 Consulting, LLC to investigate and make recommendations regarding how the Libraries cooperate more closely on the acquisition, management, and delivery of electronic resources. This study examines and evaluates how other academic library consortia are licensing and acquiring electronic books, databases, journals and streaming media. The organizations, activities, processes, history and trends …

Do Black-White Racial Disparities In Breastfeeding Persist In The Military Community?, Jennifer H. Lundquist, Zhun Xu, Wanda Barfield, Irma Elo

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

Objective: We conduct a comparative analysis of breastfeeding behavior between military and civilian-affiliated mothers. Our focus is on African American mothers among whom breastfeeding rates are lowest. The military context may mitigate conditions associated with low breastfeeding prevalence by a) providing stable employment and educational opportunities to populations who face an otherwise poor labor market and b) providing universal healthcare that includes breastfeeding consultation. Methods: Using Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data for which we received special permission from each state to flag military affiliation, we analyze civilians and military affiliate in breastfeeding initiation using logistic regression and breastfeeding …

Academic Librarians And The Sustainability Curriculum: Building Alliances To Support A Paradigm Shift, Madeleine K. Charney

Madeleine K. Charney

Sustainability is a fast evolving movement in higher education demonstrated by a proliferation of academic programs and co-curricular initiative and projects. After a review of sustainability-related LibGuides (online resource guides) created by academic librarians, a survey was administered to their developers during the spring of 2011 and posted on library listservs. Librarians returned 112 survey responses which reflected active roles in the paradigm shift toward sustainability through the forging of partnerships across campus and development of teaching resources and events. Telephone interviews conducted with 24 of the respondents showed librarians’ wide-ranging personal and professional interest in sustainability, and their initiatives …

Seven-Part Sustainability Action Plan For My Library, Madeleine K. Charney

Madeleine K. Charney

Librarians may use this template as a "jumping off point" for initiating or advancing sustainability at their own library and within the library profession. Created for academic librarians but adaptable for other library types as well. From "The Sustainability Movement on Campus: Forming a Library Action Plan for Engagement." Library Juice Academy course. 2013.

The Library And You: Sharing Our Vision, Madeleine K. Charney, Bonnie Smith

Madeleine K. Charney

Networking session to illuminate academic library resources and services which support campus sustainability goals and enrich student learning. Ideas were exchanged about collaborating with campus libraries to co-create resources, co-host events and exhibits, guide collection development and make use of institutional repositories.

Impact Of Sectoral Allocation Of Foreign Aid On Gender Equity And Human Development, Léonce Ndikumana

Léonce Ndikumana

While developing countries have made some progress in achieving human development since the turn of the century, many are still lagging behind in important human development goals such as education, health, nutrition and access to clean drinking water and improved sanitation. Moreover, gender equity remains a major challenge in most countries. In this paper, we examine the role that foreign aid plays in generating these outcomes, using panel data from OECD-DAC on the sectoral allocation of development aid, in conjunction with country-level data on public expenditures, human development outcomes and other economic, social and political indicators. Specifically, the paper attempts …

Embedded: A Sustainability Studies Librarian Finds A New Home, Madeleine K. Charney, Katie Campbell Nelson

Madeleine K. Charney

“Sustainable Living” is a 4-credit General Education course taught through the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass Amherst. Overall, the course directs students to reflect on their values and behaviors related to economic viability, social justice and environmental responsibility. This year, an Information Literacy (IL) component was added -- a weekly online assignment and discussion called “Beyond Google.” Learn how this embedded librarian model increased understanding of course content, provided a forum for articulating values and ideas, and developed IL skills to empower students as sustainability leaders and advocates. Discussion will include brainstorming ideas for how this model might be …

Community Commons: An Analysis Of The Gullah Communities Of South Carolina, Elizabeth Brabec

Elizabeth Brabec

Descended from slaves brought to the southeast United States between the early 17th and mid 19th centuries, the Gullah-Geechee of South Carolina and Georgia in the United States, have developed distinctive, culturally-expressive creole communities. Juxtaposed against their ancestor’s plantation slave villages, present-day settlements reveal deliberate creations of community and strong connections to place. The Gullah concept of place and community also includes an understanding of the land as commons that is at odds with the dominant culture in the United States.Under slavery the Gullah lived in rigidly geometric settlements. Although this was the only settlement pattern the slaves had experienced, …

Overcoming Low Political Equilibrium In Africa: Institutional Changes For Inclusive Development, Léonce Ndikumana

Léonce Ndikumana

This paper examines the role that institutions have played in the performance of African economies over the past decades. It discusses the institutional changes needed to enable African countries to reach inclusive development in the near future. The paper starts from the premise that growth and development are the outcomes of policy choices, which in turn are the outcome of a complex process of political negotiation among various stakeholders – both domestic and foreign – who have interests that may be divergent. In other words, policy choices and the resulting development outcomes constitute a political equilibrium. It is therefore important …

The Private Sector As Culprit And Victim Of Corruption In Africa, Léonce Ndikumana

Léonce Ndikumana

Corruption causes severe waste and misallocation of financial, human, and natural resources, thus retarding growth and social development. It suffocates private sector activity and entrepreneurship, perpetuating the dominance of an inefficient public sector, and undermining economic diversification and structural transformation. While traditionally corruption has been seen as a public sector phenomenon, private sector corruption deserves as much attention as public sector corruption due to its equally debilitating effects on economic activity. In fact private sector operators can be both culprits and victims of corruption. This paper examines the symptoms and impacts of private sector corruption in Africa, from the perspective …

Flying Solo, Economy Or Business Class Through Collections In The Cloud, Christine N. Turner

Christine Turner

No abstract provided.

Consumer Subjectivity And Us Healthcare Reform, Emily West

Emily E. West

Health care consumerism is an important frame in US health care policy, especially in recent media and policy discourse about federal health care reform. This paper reports on qualitative fieldwork with health care users to find out how people interpret and make sense of the identity of “health care consumer.” It proposes that while the term consumer is normally understood as a descriptive label for users who purchase health care and insurance services, it should actually be understood as a metaphor, carrying with it a host of associations that shape US health care policy debates in particular ways. Based on …

Ditch Your Textbook: Academic Librarians Inspiring Faculty To Go "Open", Steven Bell, Marilyn S. Billings, Mei-Yau Shih, Kristina Morris Baumli

Marilyn S. Billings

College students descend on the academic library in search of current textbooks, typically discovering there are none. Seeking to assist, academic librarians struggle with the dilemma of how to best provide students with access to textbooks or they ignore the issue all together. Discover how two academic libraries took a totally different route by inspiring faculty to “ditch the textbook”, and instead compile a set of learning materials composed of open and library provided content.

Documenting And Promoting Research & Engagement Using Scholarworks, Umass Amherst's Digital Repository, Marilyn S. Billings

Marilyn S. Billings

At UMass Amherst, Marilyn Billings works with university administration and faculty to publish the University's community engagement research, providing a central location for documenting the university’s eligibility for the Carnegie Elective Classification in Community Engagement. Marilyn will discuss how they’ve developed these regional, community-oriented IR collections, the role of the IR collections in gaining grants and supporting continued research, and the benefits that open-access to such scholarship brings to the local community.

Participatory Visual & Digital Methods, Aline Gubrium, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

Table of contents and introduction of Participatory Visual and Digital Methods by Aline Gubrium and Krista Harper. Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book editions from Left Coast Press .