Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Directory Of Tennessee Municipal Officials, Mtas

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

A directory of Tennessee cities that includes personnel and municipal data, such as number of employees, population, charter form, size in square miles, and election date.

Adopting Building Codes And Building Code Amendments By Reference, Steve Lobertini

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

Cities adopting building codes by reference must adopt the complete codes by ordinance. Includes sample ordinances.

Chat’S Positive Side, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

"I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO REGRETS about enhancing our reference services through chat." "It's been a smooth and successful expansion of our existing reference service." "It's so successful we've moved from being a pilot project to an ongoing service." These are the positive voices of virtual reference, the librarians who feel chat reference is now an integral part of their library. After giving time in my column last month to negative views ("Rethinking Virtual Reference," LJ 11/1/04, p. 34), this month I've asked librarians in notable virtual reference services to tell their stories.

Technical Bulletins: Disinfection Options For Potable Water Systems, Steve Wyatt

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

Disinfection methods are used to deactivate pathogens at the plant and to provide some level of protection in the distribution system.

The Journals Revolution: A Primer, Carol Tenopir, Carol Montgomery, Michael Mabe

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Virtual Reference, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Virtual reference services seem a natural extension of libraries digital collections and the emphasis on access to the library anytime, anywhere. If patrons use the library from home, it makes sense to provide them with person-to-person online reference. The Library of Congress (LC), OCLC, and several large library systems have developed and promoted virtual reference services, which are now offered by thousands of libraries. Recently, however, some virtual reference pioneers are questioning the cost benefits of online reference and recommending caution. This article shares some negatives and alternatives to online reference chatting.

Searching On The Run, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

With wireless connectivity and small laptop computers, people are no longer tied to the desktop for online searching. Handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) offer even greater portability. So far, the most common uses of PDAs are as calendars and address books, or to interface with a laptop or desktop machine. More advanced PDAs, like Research in Motion's BlackBerry Wireless Handheld[TM], as well as new versions of the Palm PC, add entail, paging, a telephone, and limited Internet surfing. Hard-to-read screen displays and small keyboards (or no keyboard) have been a barrier to using PDAs for online searching and reading. As …

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 for FY 2005.

Eric’S Extreme Makeover, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

ERIC, ONE OF THE VERY FIRST online bibliographic databases, was started in 1966---when subject-themed clearinghouses were established to gather, index, and input bibliographic information and make available journal articles and gray literature. The ERIC database has been a favorite resource ever since and, with over a million records, is the largest education database.

But like many baby boomers, ERIC is now undergoing a dramatic facelift. The new ERIC (which now stands for Education Resources Information Center, instead of educational) is being unveiled this month.

Technical Bulletins: City Recorder Certification Update, Margaret Norris

MTAS Publications: Technical Bulletins

Municipal clerks and recorders are required to become certified by completing 100 hours of education and maintain the certification by obtaining 18 hours of continuing education every three years.

Tennessee Public Acts 2004: Summaries Of Interest To Municipal Officials, Dennis Huffer

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

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

Hot Topic: Formula Rate Of Interest Changes To 8.00 Percent 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, 2004, and ending June 30, 2005, has been set at eight percent (8.00%), which is a decrease from last year.

Municipal Handbook 2003, Sid Hemsley, Dennis Huffer, Mike Tallent

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

A comprehensive manual on municipal government.

Steps To Successful Utility Construction, Brett Ward

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

This analysis of why utility construction can go bad near the end offers possible remedies.

Municipal Liability For Community Service Probationers, Dennis Huffer, Sid Hemsley

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

This report considers potential liabilities that local governments in Tennessee face when they use probationers to perform community service.

Open Access Alternatives, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Open access publishing is a hot topic today. But open access publishing can have many different definitions, and pros and cons vary with the definitions. Open access publishing is especially attractive to companies and small colleges or universities that are likely to have many more readers than authors. A downside is that a membership fee sounds suspiciously like a subscription fee. Some big universities worry that their fees are an unfair burden, forcing them to pay for open access by others. Some are concerned that author fees will come out of the library budget. Scientists in developing countries worry that …

Hot Topic: Emergency Assistance And Mutual Aid In Tennessee, Ray Crouch

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The Emergency Assistance Act of 2004 is a complete overhaul and vast improvement in mutual aid and other emergency assistance in Tennessee.

Hot Topic: Fair Pay Initiative (Section 13(A)(1) Of The Fair Labor Standards Act): The Executive, Administrative, Professional, And Computer Employees Exemptions Revisited-1, Richard Stokes

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The Fair Pay Initiative nearly triples the salary threshold for overtime, establishes that exemptions do not apply to certain jobs, and identifies those employees who must be paid a minimum wage and premium overtime wages.

E-Resources In Tough Times, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Librarians must get the most for their money and look to technology for new solutions. Several respondents think poor budgets mean more reliance on online databases and electronic full texts with less purchase of print. Companies that produce both media are likely to continue as long as there is a market for both, but they are gearing up for the time when electronic journals and e-reference materials predominate. Companies that market electronic products to libraries worry that budget woes will make new products a hard sell and place old products under renewed scrutiny. For the second year in a row, …

An Evidence-Based Assessment Of The "Author Pays" Model, Donald W. King, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Much discussion of author payments as a means to Open Access lacks consideration of evidence on their potential impact on the scholarly journal system. Our recent work perhaps sheds new light on both favourable and unfavourable aspects of this option.

We emphasize the diversity of communication communities among authors, and between the authors and the extensive non-author reading community. We also take a broad system perspective, given that the author payment model will potentially impact not only authors but also, for example, R&D funders, university and other organization staff and library budgets, publishers, and readers. This raises several issues. Who …

Tennessee Municipal Benchmarking Project Fy2003, Al Major

Tennessee Municipal Benchmarking Project

FY2003 annual report to compare the relative cost, efficiency and effectiveness of a set of municipal services by using a collaborative approach with the participating cities, and to set standards and identify "best practices" in municipal government for use and comparison by all Tennessee cities.

Hot Topic: State Shared Taxes And Appropriations (2004-2005), Dick Phebus

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

Based on revenue projections for FY 2004-2005, cities are expected to receive approximately $96.46 per capita for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2004.

Hot Topic: Court Rules Four-Year Statute Of Limitations Applies In Certain Civil Rights Cases, Dennis Huffer

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

This ruling affects records retention schedules for personnel.

The Information Playground: Usage Data Improves, Google Gets Involved, Reference Ebooks Take Off, Carol Tenopir, Gayle Baker, William Robinson

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

CSA has expanded its social science and humanities offerings. Communication Abstracts from SAGE publications is now online, and new full-text SAGE collections in education and psychology are planned for release in 2004.

Spying On Search Strategies, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

Only the most dedicated super-searchers are motivated to learn and control command systems, like DialogClassic, that rely on the user to input complex search strategies. Infrequent searchers and most end users choose interfaces that do some of the work for them and make the search process appear easy. However, the easier a good interface seems to be, the more complex the system underlying it must be. Google is popular not only because of its simple dialog-box interface but because users are typically satisfied with their results. This article compares and contrasts different ways to get search results and focuses on …

Interface, Spring 2004, School Of Information Sciences

Interface Newsletter

The last few months have been busy ones for SIS. Since the first of the year, we’ve experienced an Academic Program Review, searched for a new faculty member, participated in a search for a permanent Dean of the College of Communication and Information, and, through the generous assistance of the Institute for Scientific Information’s (ISI) Corporate Awards Program, we cosponsored a lecture by Dr. Michael Buckland.

We should have a new College dean in place when you read the next Interface. Four excellent candidates came to campus for two-day interviews that involved faculty, staff and students from every unit in …

Eminent Domain In Tennessee: An Attorney's Guide, James L. Murphy, Dennis Huffer

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

No abstract provided.

Your Municipal Code: Adopting It And Keeping It Up-To-Date, Steve Lobertini

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

This guide explains code adoption and requirements and how to keep municipal codes current.

Is Google The Competition?, Carol Tenopir

School of Information Sciences -- Faculty Publications and Other Works

LIBRARIANS, PUBLISHERS, and aggregators alike often call Google their main competitor. Google, or similar web search engines, is the information finding tool of first choice for many users--far ahead of proprietary online services or libraries and light years ahead of print sources.

The 2004 annual meeting of NFAIS (National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services) asked who would win the "battle for mindshare" in the year 2010. Will libraries, A&I (abstracting and indexing) services, and traditional publishers still exist, or will Google become the only information resource?

Hot Topic: Mtas Salary & Fringe Benefit Survey (2003-2004), Richard Stokes

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The MTAS annual salary and fringe benefit survey contains a summary of the
findings as well as a means to request specific information.