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This paper describes the findings of a quantitative study of 1,698 public library websites in Australia, Canada, and the United States over a period of three years using a spreadsheet protocol. The purpose of the research was to evaluate public library websites, available online sources, and whether library staff were available to respond to users' questions and concerns regarding the website. Descriptive statistics are used to report the results. The study provides public library website information regarding which protocol criteria each country's libraries attained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the evolution of the relationship between tourism and indigenous peoples. Based on published work on indigenous tourism in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, a six-stage model of evolution has been proposed. The model begins with (1) pre-European in situ control, characterised by high local control and indigenous theme; (2) in situ exposure occurs in the early stages of colonialism and is followed by (3) ex situ exhibitionism and exploitation as native artefacts are displayed in museums and exhibitions. The opening of remnant indigenous space to tourist visits marks (4) in situ exhibitionism and exploitation, which represents the nadir of indigenous control but fosters strategies of resistance. Reassertions of indigenous control give rise to (5) in situ quasi-empowerment, while the extension of this control to previously occupied territory characterises (6) ex situ quasi-empowerment and the presence of “shadow indigenous tourism”. The empowerment and sustainability implications of the model have also been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching national history in school generates significant public anxiety and political debate—as the various 'history wars' around the world reveal. For many school students, however, studying their nation's past is dull and repetitive. Such lack of interest has been confirmed by surveys and research reports that reveal alarmingly low levels of national historical knowledge among young people, and there is growing popular concern that their ignorance of the past endangers the nation's future. Yet preoccupation with students' apparent national illiteracy tends to overlook how they connect with history in the first place. This paper draws on findings from a comparative Australian and Canadian research project that interviewed students and teachers about the ways they learned and taught history. It argues that any return to 'the facts' at the expense of critical historical engagement in class could turn students away from the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussing new or recently reformed citizenship tests in the USA, Australia, and Canada, this article asks whether they amount to a restrictive turn of new world citizenship, similar to recent developments in Europe. I argue that elements of a restrictive turn are noticeable in Australia and Canada, but only at the level of political rhetoric, not of law and policy, which remain liberal and inclusive. Much like in Europe, the restrictive turn is tantamount to Muslims and Islam moving to the center of the integration debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]