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 Budget Allocation in Academic Libraries
We formulate the problem of materials budget allocation for academic libraries by way of the mathematical programming model and design an effective algorithm using discrete particle swarm optimization to resolve the problem. The objective function is to maximize the average preferences of materials selection subjected to the constraints of material costs and required amounts in specified categories. For the comparison purpose, CPLEX, a linear programming software package, and a greedy algorithm are applied to obtain optimal or approximate solutions. The computation results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed DPSO algorithm in dealing with the materials budget allocation problem.
Gender Differences in Predicting Productivity of Faculty
Since the 1960s, the overall proportion of female faculty in higher education has increased significantly, from 20 percent in 1969 to 27 percent in 1984, although this improvement is not reflected in all disciplines (Ransom, 1990). In journalism, the percentage of women faculty rose from 10 percent in 1969 to 30 percent in 1984.' Despite these gains, the recent literature demonstrates that female faculty must still face a number of inequity issues (Hensel, 1990; Maitland, 1990; Moore & Sagaria, 1991). In the journalism and mass communication field, several studies have pointed out that female faculty members are less likely to be tenured (Fedler, Counts, & Smith, 1984; Grunig, 1987) and earn less than their male counterparts, controlling for such intervening variables as rank, years of teaching experience, and educational level (Stuart & Dickey, 1986; Weaver & Wilhoit, 1988; see also Fedler et al., 1984; Kelly, 1989; Stuart & Dickey, 1991). One should add, though, that this salary differential tends to be small after controls. Provided that some job inequalities persist between male and female faculty in schools and departments of journalism and mass communications, the next question we need to address is why? Research on academic women in U.S. universities has suggested that such a differential treatment occurs because female faculty tend to publish less than their male colleagues ( e g , Centra, 1974; Chamberlain, 1988; Fulton, 1975; Seeborg, 1990; Simeone, 1987). Some discipline-specific studies have also reported that male faculty members are significantly more productive than their female counterparts in education (e.g., Lipman-Blumen, Stivers, Tickamyer, & Brainard, 1975) and psychology (e.g., Bronstein, Black, Pfennig, & White, 1986; Guyer & Fidell, 1973). But again these differences are often small or tend to disappear when such controls as rank and academic experience are introduced. In journalism and mass communications, however, there is some evidence that female faculty are closing the publication gap. A growing number of content analyses have revealed a continuous increase in female authorship since the 1960s (Cooper, Stewart, & Friedley, 1985, 1990; Dupagne, Potter, Cooper, & Dashiell, 1991; Sharp, Turk, Einsiedel, Schamber, & Hollenback, 1985) . More recently, Dupagne, Potter, and Cooper (in press) have investigated authorship patterns by gender in eight leading communication journals from 1965 to 1989. They found