Receipt to the Estate of the late J.A. Woodruff from McIntyre and Son, Professional Embalmers and Undertakers and Funeral Directors

Receipt to the Estate of the late J.A. Woodruff from McIntyre and Son, Professional Embalmers and Undertakers and Funeral Directors, St. Catharines for funeral services, Oct. 14, 1886.

Étude qualitative sur les attitudes des bibliothécaires québécois vis-à-vis la liberté intellectuelle et la censure

Reposant sur un devis qualitatif, la présente recherche vise à comprendre les attitudes des bibliothécaires québécois vis-à-vis la liberté intellectuelle et la censure dans le contexte des bibliothèques publiques. Les données ont été colligées par le biais d’entrevues semi-structurées menées auprès de 11 bibliothécaires, dont six directeurs, responsables en tout ou en partie du développement des collections ainsi que de la gestion des plaintes relatives à l’offre documentaire. Les témoignages recueillis ont fait l’objet d’une analyse thématique. À l’instar des études antérieures ayant porté sur le sujet, la présente recherche a permis de constater qu’il existait un écart entre les attitudes des participants vis-à-vis la liberté intellectuelle en tant que concept et la liberté intellectuelle en tant qu’activité. Tout en étant en faveur de la liberté d’expression, les bibliothécaires étaient en accord, sous certaines circonstances, de mesures restrictives. Plus que des défenseurs de la liberté intellectuelle, les bibliothécaires seraient ainsi des gardiens du consensus social, ayant sans cesse à (re)négocier la frontière entre les valeurs individuelles et sociétales. L’analyse des données a également permis de révéler que les bibliothécaires québécois seraient moins activement engagés que leurs collègues canadiens et américains dans la lutte pour la défense et la promotion de la liberté intellectuelle. Ce faible engagement serait notamment lié à une importante variable culturelle. L’absence de lobbies religieux et le développement tardif des bibliothèques publiques ont en effet été identifiés comme deux facteurs qui auraient une influence sur l’engagement des bibliothécaires québécois en faveur de la liberté intellectuelle.

L’accommodation des valeurs professionnelles aux valeurs culturelles chez les bibliothécaires universitaires sénégalais

La présente recherche vise à explorer et à décrire l’accommodation des valeurs professionnelles au sein du système de valeurs culturelles par les bibliothécaires universitaires sénégalais. Elle répond aux questions de recherche suivantes : (1) Quel est le système de valeurs culturelles dominant chez les bibliothécaires universitaires sénégalais ? (2) Comment les bibliothécaires universitaires sénégalais priorisent-ils leurs valeurs professionnelles ? (3) Comment les bibliothécaires universitaires sénégalais accommodent-ils leurs valeurs professionnelles à leurs valeurs culturelles ?cette recherche confirme la théorie de la prédominance dans les sociétés africaines en général d’un système de valeurs s’inscrivant dans l’axe « Continuité – Dépassement de soi » du modèle théorique de Schwartz (2006, 1992). Dans ce système, les valeurs dominantes sont des valeurs de types universalisme, bienveillance, tradition, conformité et sécurité. Ces valeurs favorisent l’intégration de l’individu au groupe, la solidarité et la sécurité familiale et le refus des actions de nature à porter atteinte à l’harmonie du groupe. Au plan pratique, la recherche démontre la nécessité de renforcer la socialisation professionnelle en intégrant l’éthique et les valeurs dans la formation des bibliothécaires universitaires sénégalais.

Integrating information literacy in health sciences curricula: a case study from Québec

Objective: To portray an information literacy programme demonstrating a high level of integration in health sciences curricula and a teaching orientation aiming towards the development of lifelong learning skills. The setting is a French-speaking North American university. Methods: The offering includes standard workshops such as MEDLINE searching and specialised sessions such as pharmaceutical patents searching. A contribution to an international teaching collaboration in Haiti where workshops had to be thoroughly adapted to the clientele is also presented. Online guides addressing information literacy topics complement the programme. Results and evaluation: A small team of librarians and technicians taught 276 hours of library instruction during the 2011-2012 academic year. Methods used for evaluating information skills include scoring features of literature searches and user satisfaction surveys. Discussion: Privileged contacts between librarians and faculty resulting from embedded library instruction as well as from active participation in library committees result in a growing reputation of library services across academic departments and bring forth collaboration opportunities. Sustainability and evolution of the library instruction programme is warranted by frequent communication with partners in the clinical field, active involvement in academic networks and health library associations, and reflective professional strategies.

Career Advancement of MBAs: A study on the effect of personal, professional,organisational and environmental variables

School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Re-engineering and Re-defining University Libraries in the context of modern Information and Communication Technologies: a study with special reference to the University Libraries in Kerala

Information and communication technologies are the tools that underpin the emerging “Knowledge Society”. Exchange of information or knowledge between people and through networks of people has always taken place. But the ICT has radically changed the magnitude of this exchange, and thus factors such as timeliness of information and information dissemination patterns have become more important than ever.Since information and knowledge are so vital for the all round human development, libraries and institutions that manage these resources are indeed invaluable. So, the Library and Information Centres have a key role in the acquisition, processing, preservation and dissemination of information and knowledge. ln the modern context, library is providing service based on different types of documents such as manuscripts, printed, digital, etc. At the same time, acquisition, access, process, service etc. of these resources have become complicated now than ever before. The lCT made instrumental to extend libraries beyond the physical walls of a building and providing assistance in navigating and analyzing tremendous amounts of knowledge with a variety of digital tools. Thus, modern libraries are increasingly being re-defined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources.The research was conducted in the university libraries in Kerala State, India. lt was identified that even though the information resources are flooding world over and several technologies have emerged to manage the situation for providing effective services to its clientele, most of the university libraries in Kerala were unable to exploit these technologies at maximum level. Though the libraries have automated many of their functions, wide gap prevails between the possible services and provided services. There are many good examples world over in the application of lCTs in libraries for the maximization of services and many such libraries have adopted the principles of reengineering and re-defining as a management strategy. Hence this study was targeted to look into how effectively adopted the modern lCTs in our libraries for maximizing the efficiency of operations and services and whether the principles of re-engineering and- redefining can be applied towards this.Data‘ was collected from library users, viz; student as well as faculty users; library ,professionals and university librarians, using structured questionnaires. This has been .supplemented by-observation of working of the libraries, discussions and interviews with the different types of users and staff, review of literature, etc. Personal observation of the organization set up, management practices, functions, facilities, resources, utilization of information resources and facilities by the users, etc. of the university libraries in Kerala have been made. Statistical techniques like percentage, mean, weighted mean, standard deviation, correlation, trend analysis, etc. have been used to analyse data.All the libraries could exploit only a very few possibilities of modern lCTs and hence they could not achieve effective Universal Bibliographic Control and desired efficiency and effectiveness in services. Because of this, the users as well as professionals are dissatisfied. Functional effectiveness in acquisition, access and process of information resources in various formats, development and maintenance of OPAC and WebOPAC, digital document delivery to remote users, Web based clearing of library counter services and resources, development of full-text databases, digital libraries and institutional repositories, consortia based operations for e-journals and databases, user education and information literacy, professional development with stress on lCTs, network administration and website maintenance, marketing of information, etc. are major areas need special attention to improve the situation. Finance, knowledge level on ICTs among library staff, professional dynamism and leadership, vision and support of the administrators and policy makers, prevailing educational set up and social environment in the state, etc. are some of the major hurdles in reaping the maximum possibilities of lCTs by the university libraries in Kerala. The principles of Business Process Re-engineering are found suitable to effectively apply to re-structure and redefine the operations and service system of the libraries. Most of the conventional departments or divisions prevailing in the university libraries were functioning as watertight compartments and their existing management system was more rigid to adopt the principles of change management. Hence, a thorough re-structuring of the divisions was indicated. Consortia based activities and pooling and sharing of information resources was advocated to meet the varied needs of the users in the main campuses and off campuses of the universities, affiliated colleges and remote stations. A uniform staff policy similar to that prevailing in CSIR, DRDO, ISRO, etc. has been proposed by the study not only in the university libraries in kerala but for the entire country.Restructuring of Lis education,integrated and Planned development of school,college,research and public library systems,etc.were also justified for reaping maximum benefits of the modern ICTs.

Professional Services: Civil Liability for Deficiency

This study deals the professional Services civil Liability for deficiency with special reference to medical professionals.the study deals with the characteristics of profession,basis of liability , historical evolution of legal controls on professional services, liability of doctors for negligence under tort law. Expectations to liability for medical negligence are critically evaluated. consent of medical treatment etc are studied

Professional Services

This is a study on “Professional Services: Civil Liability for Deficiency”. This study is made with special reference to medical profession. The importance of qualitative professional services does not require any emphasis. It is a matter of great concern for the people as they are consumers.This study is divided into 12 chapters. The introductory chapter deals with characteristics of profession, basis of professional liability and international efforts to check abuse of position by professional men. Consumers as laymen can not perceive the intricacies of professional services. As a result professional men could misuse their superior position to expose consumers to hardship through deficient services. This is obvious from the fact that deficiency in professional services has assumed a menacing proportion. It is indicative of failure of internal control through self-regulation to check the abuse of position by the professional men. The professional bodies entrusted with the task of enforcing disciplinary measures show a very callous and indifferent attitude towards the repressive conduct of their members. These bodies are more concerned to protect the interest of their members. They are not free from institutional bias. They have put the interest of consumers into oblivion. In effect remedies through professional bodies has become a myth. All these factors make the external control of professional services mandatory to protect the consumers from the clutches of unscrupulous professional men, who abuse their superior position. The professional men who abuse their position are exposed to liability. Their liability arises under contract, tort and statutory law. The present study substantially concentrates on professional liability of medical men. The obvious reason is that of all professional services medical services are the frequently availed services by the consumers. Medical negligence cases account for bulk of the professional negligence cases. ln India also large number of cases are coming before consumer forae. The legal principles evolved in this sphere of professional service confers an insight into legal control of other professional services as well. The same principles are applied to other professions also, as by and large all the professions share common characteristics. Such principles are modified wherever necessary to make room for differential aspects of particular profession

Value orientation of professional students in kerala

The present study is on value orientation of professional students•and as such the theoretical value is inherent and implied. Variation on this value is likely to be limited among the subjects. The relevance of the present study is with particular reference, to management as a profession. In organisational settings motivation plays an important role. According to McClelland's theory of needs, achievement, power, and affiliation are the three important needs that help in understanding motivation. Achieve~ent need may be defined as the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed. Some people have a compelling drive to succeed. They have a desire to do something better or more efficiently than it has been done before. McClelland found that high achievers differentiate themselves from others by their desire to do things . better. Considering this fact, 'achievement' is included as one of the values for the study

Librarians' perceptions on the use of electronic resources at Catalan academic libraries: results of a focus group

The aim of this paper is to expand on previous quantitative and qualitative research into the use of electronic information resources and its impact on the information behaviour of academics at Catalan universities.

Professional Skills and Competencies for Academic Librarian in an Electronic Environment

Development of new technologies in the field of library and information science especially in academic libraries has resulted in the need for library staff to be flexible in adopting new skills and levels of awareness. In addition to core technology skills, importance is to be given to other skills in communication, management, etc. This paper attempts to describe in brief the competencies and skills required for an academic library professional in the digital era .

Professional Development of Academic Library Professionals in Kerala

The paper aims to bring out the problems and prospects of the professional development opportunities of academic library professionals in the Universities in Kerala. The study is a part of research undertaken to survey the professional development activities and educational needs of library professionals in the major Universities of Kerala because of the developments in Information communication technology. The study recommends methods for improving the knowledge/skills of library professionals. The aim of the study is to evaluate the professional development activities of Library professionals and their attitude towards continuing education programmes. In order to achieve the objectives of the study a survey was conducted with the help of structured questionnaires distributed to 203 library professionals in seven major universities in Kerala, (South India) of which 185 questionnaires were returned. Results of the analysis show that majority of the professionals have pursued higher degrees in library science or IT allied courses after entering the profession, and that they have a positive attitude towards participation in training programmes and workshops. The results show that developments in ICT have a positive influence on majority of library professionals‘ attitude towards continuing education programmes.