Examines problems and issues in browsing behavior; summarizes various notions of browsing from six disciplines, including library and information science; suggests a multidimensional concept of browsing, including context, behavioral, motivation, cognitive, and resource; and proposes a conceptual framework for browsing, including context,…

Traces the history of race-relations social science as a subfield of American intellectual history. This branch of social science has raised the issue of race to a level of primary concern on the agenda of intellectual history and is on the way to creating an ecumenical "mythistory." (SLD)

Pharmaceutical educators are exhorted to bring both science and culture into the profession and to take an active role in the intellectual activity of the university. Improvement of clinical practice, patient-pharmacist relationship, service delivery, and community involvement are seen as contributing to the influence of the profession. (MSE)

Reviews bibliometric research on information science and communication and reports results of a bibliometric study that examined trends over time in the structures of these disciplines and links between them. It is concluded that there are some citation relationships, with slight increases from 1977 to 1987, between the two disciplines. (59…

Provides a sampling of items from the ERIC database on the subject of social studies as a discipline. Includes documents on proposals to improve social education and on return to traditional emphases in history and geography. Explains how to obtain copies of documents from the ERIC system. (SG)

Provides a partial listing of works found in the ERIC database on the debate between those who support social studies as a discipline and those who would replace it with history and geography courses. Includes articles, reports, and reviews covering various aspects of the debate. (DK)

Just as academic departments must balance the need for diversity and specialization in teaching and research interests, they must also acknowledge the potential contributions of the different personal styles and abilities of their faculty. Inner-directed (research-oriented) faculty and other-directed, client-centered faculty enrich the classroom…

Reports results of several surveys that show that social studies teachers would rather teach history than other courses. Concludes that researchers need to ask teachers why they prefer history. Argues that history is important in its own right and as part of an interdisciplinary social studies program. (DK)

Discusses the increased popularity of communication as an academic major and career choice. Suggests that the change reflects the shift in the United States workplace to an information orientation. Reports results of a study of the jobs held by recipients of communication degrees. Concludes that speech communication as a major offers flexibility…

Feminist scholarship, as a contemporary current in academic life, is analyzed from the perspective of research on the formation of intentional intellectual communities. Interview data reveal that faculty conceive of their commitments and sense of community in ways that do not always correspond to idealized conceptions of academic organization.…

The derivation of discipline cost indexes, developed to permit accurate interinstitutional comparisons of relative costs among disciplines, is explained using expenditure data from five peer institutions. How the indexes have been used in one research university's budget allocation process is then described. (Author/MSE)

Provides a listing of more than 130 institutions in 30 European countries that offer programs in information science, listed by countries and cities and also by academic subject. Information includes staff, number of students, main fields of research, admission criteria, courses offered, practical studies, exams, and professions of graduates.…

It is argued that university policies and procedures concerning assurance of quality education are framed with little regard for significant differences among disciplines, and that some common approaches to assuring academic quality impinge on some aspects of research, undergraduate teaching, and graduate work. Focus is on England and Australia.…

Describes a study of professional searchers that investigated their decisions about using search terms. The use of descriptors from a controlled vocabulary versus the use of textwords for free-text searching is examined, searching styles and differences in subject areas are discussed, and the quality of thesauri and indexing is considered. (six…

Based on the experience of reorganization of adult education departments in Dutch universities, the notion of adult education as a distinct discipline is rejected in favor of a pluralistic use of social sciences theories. It is argued that discipline-based, fundamental research can contribute more to the development of a knowledge base than…