Discusses importance of paraprofessionals in rural special education. Suggests that positive teacher-paraprofessional relationships are obtained through valuing each other's respective roles; giving credit where due; involving paraprofessionals in planning and decision making; showing paraprofessionals the why as well as the how of lessons;…

Reports the methodology and findings of a nationwide survey of the perceptions held by community college presidents concerning the number and educational background of instructional media specialists at their institutions, the projected demand for these personnel, and the importance of instructional media to the community colleges. (JP)

Examines professional and nonprofessional service providers to the homeless and their influence on local policymaking. Because professionals must supply precise information to government funding programs, they are more influential in interpreting homelessness to the public, yet promote a false sense of control over the situation by reducing the…

Ideas are presented on current practices in the continuing education of library personnel in the midwestern United States, with some emphasis on the role of state libraries and library associations. Allan B. Knox, Director of the Office of Continuing Education and Public Services, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, contributes the lead…

In simulated cases, the placement decisions of professionals serving hearing-impaired students were compared to the decisions of members of New York's Committees on the Handicapped, both as committees and as subgroups of administrators, psychologists, special education teachers, or parents. Results showed that the groups placed relatively…

Describes a Memphis State University program in which faculty and staff are given inservice training in personal computing. Course subject matter content is outlined and results of a survey of the course's first participants are discussed, including most and least valuable seminar factors, and uses made of what was learned. (Author/MBR)

Purpose: Workplace bullying has been a subject of increasing study in recent years, particularly in the UK, Scandinavia and Australia. Health effects of workplace bullying are often cited as an undesirable outcome of being bullied, yet these health effects have not been studied systematically. This study was small and exploratory. The overall aims…

An approach to evaluating the department secretarial staff on attitude, initiative, and motivation also has the objective of enhancing the relationship between staff and faculty. It has two unique features: (1) staff are evaluated by all supervisors (faculty) to whom they are responsible, and (2) each faculty member is evaluated by each staff…

Libraries are moving to an environment where information resources are located worldwide and can be accessed from remote locations. Librarians need to free themselves from the constraints of the reference desk. Implementing a hierarchical model with a mix of librarian and nonlibrarian staffing can improve user services. (JMV)

Describes a project at the library of the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins University that developed an expert system to conserve professional staff time and reduce processing costs by allowing gifts, or donations, to be processed by support staff. Decision-making factors are explained, and performance statistics are discussed.…