Financial needs and problems of university and research laboratory libraries in India
In the developing knowledge society and emerging electronic environment, university and research laboratory libraries in India are facing several challenging situations and problems. Due to unavailability of funds, libraries are finding difficulties not only in modernising and restructuring their work operations but also in maintaining traditional services to their users. The rising cost of reading material and currency fluctuations considerably reduce the purchasing power of libraries while growing user demand and additional requirements for modernisation put many libraries in a predicament. This paper discusses the financial problems of university and research laboratory libraries in India in general and describes case studies of such problems faced by the University of Jammu library and the Regional Research Laboratory Library, Jammu.
Discrete particle swarm optimization for materials acquisition in multi-unit libraries
With limited budget and inflation rate, the materials acquisition in multi-unit libraries has been a challenging issue all over the world. The materials acquisition for multi-unit libraries can be regarded as a generalized version of the knapsack problem, which was known to be NP-hard, with much more constraints. Thus, it can be computationally expensive to solve the problem. In this paper, the materials acquisition problem in multi-unit libraries is formulated as an integer programming model, and two different constraint-handling mechanisms applied in discrete particle swarm optimization algorithm for obtaining the near optimal solution are presented. It is evident from our computational results that one constraint-handling mechanism can solve the problem effectively and efficiently, while the other one takes more time.
Testing the Core Empirical Implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime
In A General Theory of Crime, Gottfredson and Hirschi propose that low self-control, in interaction with criminal opportunity, is the major cause of crime. The research reported in this article attempts to test this argument while closely following the nominal definitions presented by Gottfredson and Hirschi. A factor analysis of items designed to measure low self-control is consistent with their contention that the trait is unidimensional. Further, the proposed interaction effect is found for self-reported acts of both fraud and force (their definition of crime). Inconsistent with the theory are (a) the finding that criminal opportunity has a significant main effect, beyond its interaction with low self-control, on self-reported crime and (b) the substantial proportion of variance in crime left unexplained by the theoretical variables. Suggestions are offered for modifying and expanding the theory.