Sally Maynard

Can electronic textbooks help children to learn

Purpose – This paper investigates the potential electronic textbooks (e‐textbooks) have to augment the learning and education of children.Design/methodology/approach – The study consisted of a total of 60 pupils, split into five groups of 12 participants (six boys and six girls). Each of the five groups were in turn split into two sub‐groups of six (three boys and three girls): one sub‐group used the printed textbook, while the other used a CD‐ROM on a laptop computer. The pupils completed a group test and an individual multiple choice test on information found in the textbooks.Findings – The study showed that the e‐textbook was widely accepted by the participants, and motivated group participation. Those using the e‐textbook achieved significantly higher test results on average in the group test. Higher (but not significant) average results were achieved by e‐textbook users in the individual test.Research limitations/implications – An acknowledged limitation of the study is that the textbooks used for th...

A survey of young people's reading in England : Borrowing and choosing books

This article reports on selected results of a comprehensive survey of childrens reading in England, carried out online in 2005 by the National Centre for Research in Childrens Literature at Roehampton University. With 4182 responses from children living in England aged from 4 to 16 years, the survey is a follow-up to a similar study completed in 1996. The article concentrates on those issues included in the survey which are of particular interest to childrens librarians, specifically questions relating to borrowing books, choosing books, reading recommendations, book reviews, school libraries and classroom book corners.

Children's comprehension of electronic books: On empirical study

In order to investigate the effect of the electronic medium on comprehension and reading speed, a study of user interaction with electronic books was carried out comparing children reading an electronic book with children reading the same text in two different printed versions. The children were aged 9–11 years and were matched according to both gender and reading ability. The female participants were shown not to be disadvantaged with regard to the electronic text. No evidence was found to suggest that the added effects and visual dimension offered by the electronic book reduced participants’ comprehension of the text. Indeed, there was an indication that electronic books of this kind might actually aid the readers comprehension of a text. Although no significant differences were found between groups of children reading different texts when testing the time taken to read the text and the time taken to read the summary, there was evidence that participants in the electronic book group read the text more slowly than they read the summary.

An investigation of institutional repositories in state universities in Zimbabwe

This study examines the current state of institutional repositories in Zimbabwe and the challenges and enablers for institutional growth, whilst evaluating the operational issues that might be affecting the setting up of institutional repositories. The qualitative research involved interviews with university librarians and personnel from the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP). The University of Zimbabwe currently houses the only repository in the country listed on the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR). The research concludes that the current state of repositories has largely been influenced by the political and economic situation in the country. Partnerships forged between the libraries and INASP are playing a significant role in supporting research and setting up of the repositories. The issue of repositories in Zimbabwe requires much attention and financial assistance from the government and from the universities themselves.

Electronic books for children in UK public libraries

This article describes a survey investigating the opinions of children’s librarians on the subject of electronic books. A questionnaire was sent by post to those responsible for public library services for children at each of the 208 local government authorities in the UK. The response rate was 77 per cent. Notable conclusions include the fact that there was a positive attitude towards including electronic books as part of the children’s library service, and a high proportion of libraries offered access to them, the majority through main libraries. A small majority of libraries were offering electronic books for reference use within the library, rather than lending them out like printed books. Many of the librarians believed that electronic books can attract new members to the library, and that offering electronic books will change their role. Respondents believed that electronic books are durable, and can exist alongside the printed items within the library.

The knowledge workout for health a report of a training needs census of NHS library staff

The results are reported for the Training Needs Census of NHS Library Staff, the first systematic survey of the training needs of NHS library staff. The survey was undertaken by LISU (Library and Statistics Unit) and was commissioned by the NHS Executive, together with the Regional Librarians Group (RLG). The study involved all librarians working in NHS libraries and was conducted at the end of 1999. The full text of the survey report is available at the NHS Regional Librarians Group Web site (http://www.nthames-health.tpmde.ac.uk/rlg/documents/TNA_commen-tary.doc). The UK response rate was 53 per cent (represented by 1017 replies out of an estimated potential 1902). Of the respondents, 48 per cent were in the 36-50 age group with 27 per cent over 50 years and 84 per cent were female. Most were employed by a NHS Trust (65 per cent), 17 per cent worked in a Higher Education Institution, while 40 per cent worked part time. With regard to Personal Development Plans, 73 per cent did not have a PDP at the time of the survey and 79 per cent believed they would not have a plan by April 2000. The tasks most frequently undertaken were circulation desk activities, dealing with requests for information, training library users in information skills and CD-ROM/internet/database searching. Few participants are currently involved in developing or managing web sites, intranets or know-how systems. Most respondents highlighted training needs connected to using electronic resources, with 76 per cent receiving training in internet searching but a relatively high number wanting more training in this and in related areas such as information retrieval, CD-ROM and online database searching. The survey attempted to stimulate respondents away from the tradition of ‘going on a course’ to learn by asking about preferred training methods. The most popular training style was hands-on practice (60 per cent), followed by workshop/seminar (33 per cent). The same three training methods (external local courses, work-based training and in-house off work training) were the most popular across the UK. Concludes that there are several challenges for management that emerge from this study: to stimulate the desire to be trained by developing appropriate incentives; to skill and reskill people adequately for the demands of the electronic workplace; and to nurture people’s interest in acquiring a much broader perspective of the work they do and where they do it.

Scholarly output: print and digital – in teaching and research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the outcomes of a Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)‐sponsored study to determine the current state and trends in different forms of scholarly output used in teaching and research; and the nature and extent of problems associated with their use.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 60 UK HE institutions were chosen at random and a selection of departments within these was contacted. An online questionnaire was distributed to the selected departments; resulting in responses from 304 academics across a broad range of subjects and institution types.Findings – The study showed that printed output was still the preferred option in both teaching and research, although electronic journals now have a well‐established presence. Web‐based material is increasingly provided in teaching and used in research but this includes primarily traditional tools such as reading lists and links to scholarly resources. Some content creation was evident. Use of web 2.0 wa...

Don't forget to put the cat out - or why collaborative authoring software and everyday writing pass one another by

Hypermedia technology is seen as offering potentially innovative support for the process of writing as much as information access and reading. However, authoring enviroments to date have had little impact in the real‐world production of text. One possible reason is our poor conceptualisation of current writing practice. In the present paper, 31 adult writers kept diaries of their writing activities over the course of one week. The results indicate that for most pople, real world writing is a short communicative act aimed at a limited audience and that technological support for such writing is less likely to resemble a hypermedia workstation than a portable personal communication device. Implications for work in the design of authoring tools are developed.

A survey of young people's reading: thinking about fiction

This article reports on selected results of a wide-ranging online survey of childrens reading, carried out in 2005 by the National Centre for Research in Childrens Literature. With 4182 responses from children from Key Stages 1 to 4 (aged from 4 to 16 years), the survey is a follow-up to a similar study completed in 1996. This article concentrates on the participants’ responses to questions about fiction reading; key conclusions in this area include the fact that the majority at least ‘sometimes’ read storybooks/fiction and that the continuing significance of the Harry Potter series is reinforced by the survey. This can be seen in the fact that Potter was the favourite storybook/fictional character for all three Key Stage groups, and the series was quoted as being the favourite story/fictional book by all three age groups. In addition, the participants’ preferences for main characters in their fiction showed that their likes were in many cases reflected by their dislikes. That is, where boys generally disliked reading about a certain type of character (e.g. ‘a girl’), on the whole the girls liked reading about the same type of character.

WHAT MAKES A CHILD A RELUCTANT READER

This article seeks to discover what makes a child a reluctant reader. It considers the underlying reasons for a negative relationship with reading and the resulting attitude that children may develop towards it. A survey and a study were conducted with 14 reluctant readers aged 9–10 years. The survey results clearly showed that, while they claimed to enjoy reading, in practice they found it difficult. This was followed by a further study that showed many of the children were not confident in their reading ability. The article concludes that reluctant readers must be given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own reading development—only when value is attributed to reading can it be fully appreciated by the child. However, it is vital that the childs parents/carers1 are involved with helping to tackle their childrens reluctance to read. Parental input is crucial to a childs education; if this input is provided at an early stage, then reluctance to read is more likely to be successfully overcome and may even offer prevention as well as cure.