Audiobooks: Improving Access to and Use of Learning and Teaching Materials for the Print-Disabled

Equal access to books and other educational materials presents equal opportunities for all to acquire education, develop skills, and realise their full potential. Drawing on data gathered through focus group discussions and interviews, our study discusses access and use of books in braille by the print-disabled in special schools/education in Ghana. The study found the supply and access to books in braille by students and teachers inadequate to support teaching and learning, mainly due to the challenges with production. Given the poor access teachers and students have to publications in braille, we argue that audiobooks be adopted as a supplementary reading format for the print-disabled in Ghana so they can have access to equal educational opportunities as their non-disabled colleagues.

GERAKAN LITERASI DALAM MENINGKATKAN MINAT BACA MASYARAKAT MELALUI PERAN PERPUSTAKAAN DAN PUSTAKAWAN

Interest in reading is the emergence of feelings of pleasure or strong interest that encourages individuals to carry out activities so that they do it on their own accord. Then there are attempts to do this activity repeatedly. reading is an important activity. Human civilization will not be far from this activity. Even in its history, a civilization is said to be advanced if humans at that time had the ability to read and write. Even in Islam, the first commandment to the Prophet Muhammad was to read (iqra`: read). It has also been proven, a nation with a high interest in reading becomes a nation that excels in science and technology. By reading, you can find a variety of knowledge and make discoveries in both the scientific and social fields. Based on research on reading interest, broadly speaking, there are two factors, namely internal and external factors. Internal factors generally include perceptions, motivations, and individual feelings towards reading activities. Meanwhile, external factors relate to the environment, ease of access to books, availability of facilities and infrastructure, technological developments, and even distribution of reading books. Therefore, a unique literacy is needed to support the reading culture of the community. Literacy has an important role in the life of a learning community that lives in an era that is based on current knowledge, technology, and information. Human civilization can be awakened by mastery of literacy based on reading, writing, and critical thinking activities. Literacy is a process of how a person communicates in society. In addition, literacy can also be interpreted as practice and social relations related to knowledge, language, and culture. Libraries with librarians can be used to develop a literacy culture for users in particular and society in general. With the available resources, together with stakeholders and community groups, they can innovate, create, and vary literacy-based library services. Thus the literacy culture will grow and develop.

أثر التدريب الإداري على تنمية الموارد البشرية بالمنظمات الخدمية دراسة حالة: مجموعة شركات سواداتل للاتصالات المحدودة[. 2005 - 2012

This study seeks to determine the impact of management training effective human resource development organizations service was taking a case study group of companies Sudatel Telecom Limited and The importance of this study of the importance of training and its role in the development and enhance the performance of human resource, the methodology used in this research historical approach goal in Show Previous studies and access to books and scientific references relevant to the subject of the study, and deductive approach and the descriptive goal in the description of the questionnaire used in the study and finally the analytical method based inferential test the validity of the study hypotheses using appropriate statistical tests, This study contains five chapters, the first chapter contains five sections, as well as Chapter II also contains five sections The third chapter contains three sections, Chapter IV contains the organizations subject of study and action field study, Chapter V includes statistical analysis of the questionnaires and then the results and recommendations, the study finds to several results, most important is the training of management concepts ancient however still organizations floundering in terms of subservience administrative has fallen dependency training to the Director General and to manage the affairs of individuals and at other times to administrative affairs and that the lack of a training plan and a clear offset budget enough, which led to reduce the importance of training and marginalize its role in human resource development organization, in spite of the multiplicity and difference accepted notions about training they all agree in content and purpose of the training, it is planned and organized activity aimed at developing the skills and capabilities of individuals and boost their productivity, the study concludes several recommendations of the most important education administrative leadership and guidance in service organizations towards the concept and importance of effective management training in the development of human resources, the need for attention to the provision of financial means and material resources for the training process and the need to consider training among the strategic priorities in these organizations.

Factors Associated With Feeding And Caregiving Practices For Children Under Five In Lowland Nepal: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Survey

Background: While nurturing care, including adequate nutrition and responsive caregiving and early learning, is critical to early childhood development, national surveys in Nepal highlight inequalities in feeding and parental caregiving practices. This study aimed to document and analyse infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and cognitive and socio-emotional caregiving practices among caregivers of children under age five in Dhanusha district, Nepal. Methods: We used a subset of data from the MIRA Dhanusha cluster randomised controlled trial, including mother-child dyads (N=1360) when children were aged 0-12 months and a follow-up survey of the same mother-child dyads (N=1352) when children were 7-59 months. We used World Health Organization IYCF indicators and questions from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey-4 tool to obtain information on IYCF and cognitive and socio-emotional caregiving practices, respectively. We collected data on breastfeeding practices in a postpartum 6-week questionnaire and on complementary feeding and caregiving practices in the follow-up survey. Using multivariable logistic regression models, potential explanatory household, parental and child-level variables were tested to determine their independent associations with IYCF and caregiving indicators. Results: The prevalence of feeding indicators varied. Ever breastfed (99%), exclusive breastfeeding in past 24-hours at 0-12 months (89%), and vegetable or fruit consumption (84%) were common, and minimum dietary diversity reached 63%. Problem areas were early initiation of breastfeeding (16%), feeding of colostrum (67%), no pre-lacteal feeding (53%), timely introduction of complementary feeding (56%), and animal-source food consumption (29%). Amongst caregiving indicators, access to books (7%), early stimulation and responsive caregiving (11%), and access to early childhood education (27%) were of particular concern, while 64% had access to toys and 71% received adequate care. Only 38% of children were developmentally on track. Younger children from poor households with young mothers who had not received antenatal visits and delivered at home were at risk of poor IYCF and caregiving practices. Conclusions: Poor IYCF and cognitive and socio-emotional caregiving practices are widely prevalent in lowland Nepal, which highlights the importance of improved integrated nutrition and caregiving interventions in resource-constrained settings.

Differences between LIS and non-LIS undergraduates’ conceptions of smart libraries: a drawing analysis approach

Purpose This study aims to compare similarities and differences in library and information science (LIS) and non-LIS undergraduates’ conceptions and perceptions of smart libraries via drawing analysis. Design/methodology/approach In this study, a total of 156 undergraduate students described their perceptions of smart libraries as drawings and textual descriptions. A modified coding scheme with 8 categories and 51 subcategories was used to analyse the undergraduate students’ drawings. Findings Most of the undergraduate students’ conceptions of smart libraries still involve self-checkout and learning/reading, focusing on information appliances, technical services, activities and objects. The differences are that the LIS undergraduates’ drawings showed smart libraries with robots, interactive book borrowing with technology tools, intelligent services, location-aware services or mobile applications, whereas non-LIS undergraduates presented smart libraries as readers (learners), other activities and no smart technology services. LIS undergraduates focused on providing patron services with technologies. Non-LIS undergraduates were more likely to draw a complex space with immediate access to books or digital resources, quiet reading and the freedom to engage in library activities. Originality/value The results provide a baseline for future research on the topic and provide preliminary evidence of using the methods to discern LIS and non-LIS undergraduates’ conceptions of smart libraries.

Educație și școală în romanul românesc (1845-1947)

The article sets out to establish the ways in which the Romanian novelistic production between 1845 and 1947 reflects the challenges and accomplishments of successive efforts at modernising the educational system. Therefore, the case-studies we discuss are focused on some of the major implications of Romanian education: the shifts in the literal spaces in which the educational process is being conducted, the access to books and the social prestige accrued through reading, the link between education and the abroad – including the ambivalent status of foreign language education as platform on which the conflict between nationalism and cosmopolitanism is played out –, the opportunities opened by scientific progress, but also the anxieties it generates.

Research on the Extraction Method of Book Number Region Based on Bayesian Optimization and Deep Learning

The continuous development of artificial intelligence technology has promoted the construction of smart libraries and their intelligent services. In the process of intelligent access to books, the extraction of the requested book number region has become an important part of the process. The requested book number is generally affixed to the bottom of the spine of the book, which is small in size, and the height of the book is not always the same, so it’s difficult to identify. By the way, due to the images’ resolution, shooting angle and other practical problems, the difficulty of the extraction work will be increased. To improve the identification accuracy, in this paper, Bayesian Optimization (BO) and one kind of deep neural networks ‘Faster R-CNN’ are combined for the extraction work mentioned above. The data preparation, network training, optimization variable selection, establishment of BO objective function, optimization training, and network parameter evaluation have been introduced in detail. The performance of the designed algorithm has been tested with actual images of book spines taken in the academy library and compared with several other conventional recognition algorithms. The experimental results show that the requested book number region extraction method based on Bayesian optimization and deep neural network is effective and reliable, and its recognition rate can reach 91.82%, which has advantages in both recognition rate and extraction time compared with other algorithms.

Reading and Print Cultures in Waterford, 1865–1939

This article sets out to explore the emergence of reading and print cultures in Waterford over the period from the opening of the city’s Free Public Library to the outbreak of the Second World War in the twentieth century. It is intended to add to the growing body of writing emerging on reading and books in Ireland by honing in on the development of a local reading culture in an era of more democratic access to books, periodicals and other printed matter. By surveying the development of various lending and circulation libraries up to the establishment of the Waterford Free Public Library in 1896 and beyond into the Free State era, the argument will be made that many of the concerns around self-improvement and literacy remained constant despite the shift from member-run libraries to municipal libraries and from Victorian concerns about moral self-improvement to early Irish state concerns about nation-building and Catholic morality in the 1920s and 1930s. The article will also explore the publishing and book trade in the city throughout the same period. This small but significant industry provided employment for some of the very people who were the target of self-improvement and concerns about their ability to consume ‘morally dubious’ literature.

Stakeholders’ perceptions of book piracy’s benefits to society in Lithuania

Purpose Book piracy represents a threat to the publishing industry, while for the society, book piracy provides some benefits. The purpose of this study is to examine views of readers, authors and publishers in Lithuania on book piracy’s benefits to society. Design/methodology/approach This study uses phenomenography to examine readers’, authors’ and publishers’ reflections on book piracy’s potential social benefits. The authors collected research data via semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with 10 participants from each group (readers, authors and publishers – a total of 30 interviews). Findings Six qualitatively different categories of attitudes were revealed, namely, that book piracy provides easier and more convenient access to books, helps readers save money, pushes readers to read more, helps for authors to gain more popularity, provides wider access to books and provides consumers with moral satisfaction. The similarities between readers’, authors’ and publishers’ views on benefits of book piracy outweigh the differences. Practical implications Theoretical background indicates that stakeholders’ explicitly stated attitudes towards book piracy contribute to their book piracy intentions. This study hopes to help publishers in Lithuania confront the challenge of book piracy and develop effective strategies to attenuate a normative framework with four actionable recommendations to help professionals in the publishing industry to better address book piracy. Originality/value Book piracy continues to perplex publishers, in part because they lack a clear understanding of the social and psychological underpinnings of book piracy. This study aims to develop such an understanding by filling gap in the literature on book piracy: the lack of work on readers’, authors’ and publishers’ perceptions of book piracy’s individual and social benefits.

A Case Study on reading habits of University students

Learning through reading is the fundamental process. A case study was conducted on the students of UAF Sub-Campus Toba Tek Singh to examine the reading habits and academic performance. All the students of this campus are considered for the population of the study. The data was collected through an interview and focus group discussion from the sample (N=200) and quantitatively analyzed with the statistical approach such as, Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SSPS). The study revealed that the only 22.0% students read the relevant syllabus books and 17.5% students read the outside the syllabus books, while the vast majority 78.0% and 82.5% didn’t read syllabus and outside syllabus books respectively. They found that the positive association exists between the reading habit of students and academic performance. It is recommended that the students should be encouraged by the parents and teachers to increase reading habits and provide easy access to books.