Research supported by NICHD training grant number T1-HD-105-02.

Current approaches to understanding organizational structure are reviewed and aspects of information resources considered--nature of information needed in relation to functional view of organization; differences between treatment of internally and externally generated information; impact of form of organization structure accommodated to form of…

Suggests a model of successful inservice education involving three major factors. Teachers must acquire knowledge, acquire skills or competencies, and undergo practical experiences that require application of the knowledge and skills. The implications of the model for teachers of exceptional children are particularly important. (PGD)

Describes the development of a prototype database of federal food, agriculture, and nutrition programs: preliminary work; database design, including the identification of data elements; and data collection and processing. The uses of the database and suggestions for enhancing its future usefulness are discussed. (Author/JD)

Outlines the kinds of contributions picture postcards can make to library or museum materials, particularly to historical files as documentation of certain aspects of history. Various methods for putting collections of cards in order are described, from general policies concerning use and disposal, to sorting, indexing, and housing. (Author)

Reports on a classic example of newspapers' uncritical acceptance of wire service news copy. Suggests that newspapers adopt a more critical stance toward the wire services, assuming responsibility for changing or balancing material that violates journalistic principles. (RL)

The 50-item Utilization Enhancement Checklist involves: determining evaluator role; understanding organizational context; planning; conducting the evaluation; and communicating evaluative information. The checklist is presented as a summary of the preceding nine articles. (Available from: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 433 California St., San Francisco, CA…

Discusses the Ballew v Georgia decision in which the Supreme Court cited social science research in support of its decision that state criminal juries must contain at least six members, and the implications of this for social scientists interested in having their research used by the courts. (Author/JLF)

Presents user orientation and instruction guidelines for online search systems, including a sample reference manual outline in five parts: (1) introduction, (2) summary of services, (3) system descriptions, (4) principles of searching, and (5) operating instructions. Harmonization of search instructions is advocated, in order to eliminate user…

Explores the implications of individual effort amidst education's bigness and the possibility of retrieving new instructional "ideas" from the bewildering sea of new research and publications. Teachers need to be continuously informed and consistently encouraged to employ their new knowledge creatively. (Author/BEF)

Examines the relationship between librarians and information industry professionals, and outlines the types of systems and services which characterize the growing role of the information industry in contemporary society. (FM)

Discusses restrictions regarding use of bibliographic data bases, cites their rationale in terms of cooperation in input creation, economics and administrative control, and notes their effect on use. (Author/CWM)

Reflects ideas about the Internet presented by four German experts: possibilities and applications of chemistry; environmental informatics and documentation on the World Wide Web; views of a research-oriented pharmaceutical company; and the commercialization of the Internet. (LRW)

Responses from 357 complete pairs of human resources executives and professionals from the same company showed that information technology has increased autonomy, the responsiveness of their information dissemination, and networking with other professionals; they spend more time in technology support activities. Organizational climate moderated…

A theory of acquired similarity and knowledge representation, latent semantic analysis (LSA), is presented to explain how people know as much as they do with the little information they get. LSA suggests that some domains of knowledge contain vast numbers of weak intercorrelations that amplify learning by inference. (SLD)