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An overview of relevant literature reveals that residents in urban areas apparently have a multitude of nonoccupational information needs which are not being satisfied within the constraints of existing information resources and systems. A conceptual framework was drawn, focusing on four basic components--urban residents, their needs, sources of information, and solutions--and linkages or interactions among them. The Baltimore Urbanized Area was chosen for the investigation, and extensive exploratory work was undertaken towards the end of obtaining data. A survey instrument was developed and pre-tested, then was utilized in gathering data from a cross-sectional random sample of residents. The great quantity of data elicited were analyzed in terms of information needs, information-seeking strategies (behavior), and search outcomes. In a final exploratory testing phase an attempt was made to develop a methodology for assessing the capability of library and information agencies to deal with the problems/questions identified by residents in the earlier survey phase. (Author)

Since the establishment of the pioneer USIS library in Mexico City in 1942, the nature of The United States Information Service (USIS) libraries has been subject to political disputes. The question of whether or not they should function as propaganda arms or information centers still remains a polemical issue. The USIA became an independent agency of the executive branch of government in 1953. Since then, the number of U.S. Information centers has grown to its present level of 133. Each Center tailors its programs to meet the special needs of its own community. Generally, the Information Center Service maintains four types of programs: 1) libraries or cultural centers for the study of the U.S.; 2) a commercial book program to place more American-written books in bookstores and classrooms; 3) teaching English; and 4) exhibits of American achievement. Moreover, the Centers assist the Informational Media Guaranty Program and Binational Centers around the world. Since 1961, a policy has been made to withdraw funds from Western Europe and to use them in the developing nations. Funds are appropriated each year by Congress. The future of USIS libraries is as uncertain as ever-changing world politics, the availability of funds, and the predispositions of the current administration. (CH)

DAP is the acronym for a set of concepts and procedures that the members of any group can employ to refine their problemsolving skills and bring them to bear on real-life, day-to-day group needs. Based on a particular view of human beings, communication, and the process of inquiry, DAP involves the members of a group in generating and using three kinds of information: designative (D) about the "what is" state of some one or some thing; appraisive (A) about "what is preferred"; and prescriptive (P) that suggests what to do when discrepancies can be identified between "what is" and "what is preferred". As group members generate and use these three kinds of information, they move systematically through three different phases of the problemsolving process. They begin by identifying their individual and common problems clearly and specifically. They then develop plans or prescriptions for dealing with the most critical of these common problems; and they complete the cycle of problemsolving by implementing their plans, monitoring effects, and evaluating their success as joint problemsolving systems. The major interest of DAP is in finding ways to eliminate or reduce unnecessary and pointless conflict, misunderstanding, and frustration. (Author)

The interview is a special form of dyadic (unequal two-party) communication. It can be defined as a two-way vocal interaction system which is time-bound and in which the interviewer serves as a delimiter of the topics considered. Further, the interviewer seeks information from the interviewee, who functions as an information source in order to accomplish a specific, preselected, limited end. The structure of an interview is dyadic and "information seeking" and is composed of dialogue and action modes. Also, in an interview, feedback occurs in real time and is essential for use by the interviewer in controlling the interview. (A brief definition of the following types of interviews is included: journalistic, research, examination, interrogation, counseling, information giving, appraisal, psychoanalytic, persuasion, Socratic dialogue, advocacy, action/results, selection, recruitment, screening, placement, and termination.) (CH)

Some six hundred educators were studied in depth to determine their experiences with innovation, the influences of recognized diffusion agents upon their adoption of innovations, the characteristics of selected target audiences in relation to the adoption of innovations to personal practice, and relationships between five distinguishable stages of innovation adoption described by rural sociologists and the adoption process described by randomly selected educators. Among the many findings of the study were that: most of the innovative activity was incidental to the operation and financing of the established order; most of the innovations discussed were drawn from outside the environ of the practitioner and used intact or after modifications; personel, direct involvement type diffusion strategies (colleague contact, workshops, institutes, courses) were more popular with innovative subjects. It was also found that innovators have more information sources and more cosmopolite sources of information than do non-innovators. The five-step pattern of innovation diffusion commonly seen in agriculture (awareness/interest/evaluation/trial/adoption) was found to be relatively applicable to the field of education. (JY)

This report discusses two existing devices for social policy formulation, details their current shortcomings, and reports on modifications designed to improve them as tools for policymakers and institutional planners. The two tools are Delphi -- with its modification, Focus Delphi -- and Cross-Impact Matrix -- with its modification, the Cross-Purpose Matrix. The Focus Delphi is a tool to help planners identify existing consensus and dissensus among various groups in society. The process systematically collects perceptions of interested publics and keeps separated their responses about the goals and needs under examination. The Cross-Purpose Matrix brings the proposed strategies of the several goal advocates into the open to aid priority assessment. This process arrays the competing goals in a matrix and forces an examination of the relative value of each with reference to all others. Related documents are EA 004 240 and EA 004 241. (RA)

The author enters the debate on whether problem solving ability consists of sets of situation-specific behaviors or whether it is a general set of mental abilities. The study, utilizing a nonrandom sample of 60 female college sophomores, was designed to test the feasibility of teaching behavior patterns which facilitate problem-solving in diverse situations. A basic model was used which included problem sensing, problem defining, hypothesizing, searching for information, and resolving. Differences between experimental and control groups show that problem-solving skill training does facilitate problem solving. In addition, some support is given to the position that training in general problem-solving skills results in a person's being able to better solve problems in diverse situations. The author concludes that it might be more effective to teach inquiry as a set of abstract routines which function to support and enhance mental processing in a wide range of fields. (TL)

Designed to obtain information useful in developing state information dissemination systems, this study sought to determine the information gathering practices and needs of vocational educators and administrators. Insight into these practices and needs was accomplished through a questionnaire survey completed by 3,229 vocational-technical educators in seven states, covering items such as: (1) institutions used as sources of information in the past 12 months, (2) usefulness of sources of information, (3) usefulness of information products, (4) most important characteristics of information, (5) time spent each month gathering information to solve problems, (6) familiarity with ERIC, and (7) ERIC materials used. One of the several conclusions and recommendations is that vocational-technical educators at the local level--teachers, counselors, local directors, administrators--are in need of better access to information products and services, especially preceding the beginning of school terms. Means for improving access are recommended. Also, the single hypothesis that vocational-technical educators who were themselves enrolled in courses would show distinctly different patterns of information gathering behavior was rejected. (JS)

The efficiency of scientific information activities depends on the availability of highly skilled and experienced personnel and on the familiarity of all scientists and engineers with the essentials of information science. In 1963, the International Federation for Documentation (FID) appealed to its member countries to promote the establishment of documentation and scientific information chairs at universities and other institutions of higher learning. Such a chair was set up at the Lomonosov University of Moscow in the academic year 1963/64. One of its purposes is to teach the students basic methods of scientific information work and to make them acquainted with the major tools used in this work. This Guide has been written on the basis of that course. The Guide contains: the text of the lectures, questions for self-checking, tests or examinations, lists of references suggested for further study, curriculum and syllabus of the lectures and practical lessons. The Guide is intended primarily for students in countries still lacking any regular instruction in the discipline, and the initial training of information officers in developing countries. (Author/NH)

Nine reports of the Los Angeles Regional Technical Information Users Council, which identify and discuss user problem areas and recommend solutions, comprise this document. The topics of the reports are: (1) Air Force Technical Objective Document Release Program (AFTOD); (2) Army Qualitative Requirements Information Program (QDRI); (3) Navy/Industry Cooperative R&D Program (NICRAD); (4) Limited Documents; (5) Technical Abstract Bulletin (TAB); (6) Repro-Masters and DDC Forms; (7) National Technical Information Service (NTIS); (8) Chemical Propulsion Information Agency (CPIA); and (9) Government Printing Office (GPO). Each topic was assigned to a committee and a chairman appointed from approximately 40 members representing 35 companies and institutions. A Summary of Findings and Recommendations of the nine reports is provided. In addition, copies of correspondence and other papers pertinent to the reports are included. A roster provides the names and addresses of members of the Los Angeles Regional Technical Information Users Council. (DB)

The investigation and evaluation of American Indian education carried on by a special senatorial subcommittee on Indian education over a 2-year period created concern over the "organization question." The subcommittee came to believe that no matter how strong, how good, or how well funded were the programs for educating American Indians, these programs would continue to founder without a modern, streamlined, and responsive administrative structure to carry them out. The question of organizing the Federal Government's responsibilities for Indian education has 4 principal components: the location in the Federal structure of prime responsibility for Indian education, the internal organization of the agency or agencies responsible, the relationship of the agency or agencies to the Indians themselves, and the relationship of the agency or agencies to the Congress and to specific congressional committees. Recommendations concerning both the internal organization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the relationship of the Bureau to its Indian clients are made. The purpose of this document is to pull together most of the documents important to a close consideration of the organization question. (LS)

Contained in this document are articles, publications, research documents, and prepared statements submitted to the special senatorial subcommittee on American Indian Education. Also included are commentaries, letters, and memorandums from key legislators and Bureau of Indian Affairs personnel to the subcommittee members and staff. All of the entries are related to the policy, organization, and administration of Indian education. The question of who should control Indian education is discussed, and recommendations for legislation are made. (LS)

In 1972 American universities will confer 33,700 doctorates. An essential feature of the process which leads to the doctorate is the submission and defense of a dissertation. The doctoral dissertation must embody the results of extended research, be an original contribution to knowledge and include material worthy of publication. It is surprising, therefore, that "Dissertation Abstracts," the primary source of abstracts of dissertations is usually overlooked in reports of English-language abstracting and indexing services. This study provides empirical data about the dissertation as an information source. It assesses diffusion and assimilation patterns of dissertation contents. The assessment was based upon an analysis of patterns of (1) diffusion of dissertation contents in the open literature of botany, chemical engineering, chemistry and psychology and (2) assimilation of dissertation contents from the original format as reflected by citations to the dissertation itself. It includes a literature review, a description of research design and methodology, an analysis of collected data noting similarities and dissimilarities, and a presentation of conclusions and implications drawn from the investigation. The chapters are supplemented by data presented in the Appendix. (Author/NH)

The Quinmester course on words gives the student the opportunity to increase his proficiency by investigating word origins, word histories, morphology, and phonology. The course includes the following: dictionary skills and familiarity with the "Oxford,""Webster's Third," and "American Heritage" dictionaries; word derivations from other languages; ways in which things are named; ways in which words have come into our language; ways in which our language has been enriched; influence of other languages on English; ways in which words are created; sources of new words; ways in which words have changed in meaning; investigation of folk etymologies; word formations; inflectional and derivational endings; changes in word forms; diacritical marks; phonetic alphabet; changes in pronunciation in the language; sounds in the language; pitch, stress, and juncture. The course outline also contains a seven-page list of resource materials. (CL)

This Quinmester course helps the student develop word power through training and practice in identifying various meanings of one word, finding meanings from context, interpreting nonliteral and figurative language, and analyzing the structure of words with emphasis on prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Also included are dictionary and pronunciation skills and the study of word origins. This course outline contains a six-page listing of resource materials for students and teachers. (CL)

The U. S. Office of Education's National Drug Education Training Program, which began as a limited and terminal one-year effort is assessed. The basic purpose related structure of the information collection and analysis process made it possible to provide information that had multiple uses in management of the program. The fundamental question at which assessment was aimed was: Were the program management strategies employed in the 1970-71 National Drug Education Training Program valid as ways to initiate a coordinated national attack on a critical social problem? Evidence collected in this assessment suggests that the program was not only a success in terms of original expectations of impact, but also in terms of original assumptions of how to bring people together to deal effectively with social problems. A detailed description of forms design, field testing, information collection, and analysis as well as information related to management support provided, is included in Section II of this report. (Author/BW)

A series of data collection and general methodological needs which were encountered in the course of research study on the communication and value patterns of the rural poor, as part of Northeast Regional Project (NE-68) "Paths Out of Poverty" are given. Section headings include: Data Collection: Design and Testing; Data Collection-Field Work; Recruitment and Hiring of Interviewers; Training of Interviewers; Use of Indigenous Interviewers; Research and Community Development. (NF)

This pamphlet, one in a series entitled "What Research Says to the Teacher," discusses some aspects of the learning process and provides suggestions that may be helpful to classroom teachers and prospective teachers. The contents include: (1) "What Do We Learn," which deals with words and their meanings, skills, attitudes, and conduct; (2) "When Are Children Ready to Learn," which discusses the aspects of health, adjustment, maturation, and interest; (3) "What is the Right Answer," which covers agreement with known facts, social class sanctions, goal attainment, and reward and punishment; (4) "What Do Children See," which looks at perception of things in patterns, cues for words and meanings, cues for motor skills, cues for attitudes, and cues for enjoyment; (5) "Why is Practice Necessary," which discusses repetition for retention, and repetition for improvement; (6) "How Do Children Learn to Think," which deals with locating the problem, holding on to the problem, suggesting answers, predicting outcomes, getting the facts, and sticking to logic; and (7) "Can Children Use What They Have Learned," which discusses the conditions that might stimulate a child to use what he has learned. Selected research references and general references are included. (WR)

This study had two purposes: 1) to determine what kinds of instructional support teachers used; and 2) to identify factors which facilitate or inhibit the use of such resources. The methods used to obtain data were, first, participant observation of school district activities, and second, interviews of 19 teachers. One result of the study was a list of various types of support services and resources teachers said they used. These types of services were used: building instructional staff; building instructional support personnel and agencies, such as school libraries; district curriculum staff, such as coordinators; and agencies outside the district, such as educational companies and university faculty. Resources used included curriculum design and evaluation materials, reference and other materials, and professional preparation. A list of 15 facilitating and 15 inhibiting influences was compiled. The former included: available, occurs frequently, efficient, see them often, and understandable. The latter included: confusing, costly, and inaccessible. Further research should center around two questions: what are the characteristics of services and resources which cause some to be used more than others, and what causes some teachers to use many resources while others use few? (JK)

A description was sought of the types of sources of information about marijuana used by 300 middle class fifth, seventh, and eleventh grade students. During individual meetings with experienced female interviewers, students were asked to relate sources which were most influential in providing information about marihuana at the following stages: (1) awareness; (2) interest; (3) evaluation; (4) trial; and (5) adoption. Sources were categorized by the experimentors as either personal (e.g. parents or friends); impersonal (e.g. television or newspapers); control (e.g. pamphlets or teachers) or noncontrol (e.g. friends or music). The sources of information mentioned most frequently by all students were parents, television, and friends. A number of other findings are presented, among them being a significant shift in types of sources reported as students grew older. Most interesting was the finding that two-thirds of all students surveyed at all grade levels were not actively interested in marihuana. (Author/BW)

This study was conducted to identify the language difficulties encountered by parents in working with 106 goal statements for elementary education. A sample of 13 parents from middle to low socioeconomic classes identified 1,265 words and phrases they did not understand. After the goals were rewritten, parents identified only 58 words and phrases as not understandable. Based on the theory that communication only takes place when communicators are speaking from a mutually held stock of knowledge, the newly rewritten statements are more understandable than the original statements. Based on the theory of pragmatic communication, the parents are still in a doublebind position regarding such goals as those of modern math and cannot communicate appropriately their desires for their children. Should principals act on the rating of such goals by parents, it is possible that the school programs would not reflect the true goals desired by parents. If parents are to participate in goal-sorting procedures, they need a way of indicating what they do not understand and an opportunity for further clarification prior to rating the goals. (Author/DN)

To identify the critical problems of state directors of vocational education and the information sources utilized by them, data were collected by mail questionnaire and a series of telephone interviews with a stratified random sample of 15 state directors. Analysis of the data with respect to major problems, methods used to seek information, sources used to provide information, and criteria for information source utilization revealed that: (1) Major problems related to finance and administrative leadership, particularly program planning, staff, administrative organization, and decision-making, (2) Few problems related to teachers, instruction, or social issues, (3) State directors were more likely to seek information through personal contacts than by searching literature, (4) Information agencies were seldom used, (5) The preferred source of information was raw or treated data followed by expert opinion, (6) Reports and pamphlets were utilized almost to the exclusion of bibliographies, books, guides, indexes, and periodicals, and (7) Printed materials were generally selected because of the type and/or form of the information. Recommendations are included and areas of further research are identified. (SB)

A user contacts a reference librarian when he needs assistance to solve a methodological problem in getting information from the scholarly record. The reference librarian then takes on the user's problem. There are two responses the reference librarian can make: (1) teach the user how to access the scholarly record for his immediate purpose, or (2) provide the user with an "answer" to his problem. The latter only becomes justifiable if the reference librarian can respond in the user's problem-solving time frame. From this perspective then the reference librarian always has the obligation to explain the organization of the library and/or the organization of the literature. An "answer" is only provided if it is cost beneficial as judged from the user's time for both the user and the reference librarian. Thus in programming reference service the number of correct (or incorrect) answers is unimportant because the reference service has the obligation to reveal an organization, not an answer. Again from this perspective it is possible to plan reference service on a consistent basis throughout a library system; that is, it is not the complexity of the organization of the literature on which a reference service is based, but on the methodology for using the organization. The user has a defined responsibility to learn for himself if the librarian cannot respond within the user's problem-solving time frame. A protocol is suggested for estimating work loads utilizing the above perspective of reference service. (Author/NH)

A model for community services that stresses the necessity and value of community involvement in the planning of community service activities is presented. The role of the community service sector of the educational institution is to establish a center which will provide leadership in uniting and coordinating community efforts to meet individual and community needs. Community input into the identification of community needs and resources must be sought after by maintaining constant communication with community leaders, members of organizations which comprise the local bureaucratic understructure, key informants, and the general population. Community members must be led into playing an active role in the planning of community services. Once needs and resources are identified, community members must become the mobilizers of the resources, the initiators of action, and ultimately, the determinant of the success or failure of community service programs. To provide a structural component which demands active community involvement, the use of advisory committees made up of community members is recommended. The effective use of these committees results in the advantageous shifting of the responsibility for community services from the educational institution to groups of individual citizens. (Author/DB)

The working paper describes how a social scientist might go about locating resources for any particular study. Researchers are directed to non-Caribbean based material in European Archives as well as collections in the United States. Caribbean resources are analyzed by county. The countries include Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Netherlands Antilles, Surinam, and French Antilles. (MM)

Selected findings from a number of communication research projects conducted by, or in collaboration with, the Economic Studies and Research Institute (IEPE), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, are reported. Communication research in IEPE during the past 4 years has concentrated on mass media performance and use, because extension agents were ignoring mass media, though they were using personal communication techniques ingeniously. A study was conducted that controlled for literacy and education and then investigated the effect of mass media exposure. It was found that literacy affected media use more than education. A substantially larger percentage of the mass media users than non-users were high adopters of farm practices. Two research projects were conducted concerning agricultural information received from radio, newspapers and magazines and the value of it. To study the potential role of newspapers, six relevant agricultural articles were sent to the newspapers in the state; it was concluded that newspapers are generally receptive to printing agricultural information when it is sent to them. Several readership, comprehension, and source credibility studies were conducted. A study of two infrastructural factors and the correlation between their restrictiveness and farmers' search for information supported the hypothesis that the amount of search for market and price information is inversely related to the restrictiveness of the market situation. (KM)

A study was conducted concerning: (1) the manner in which neighborhoods, social cliques and church groups structure interpersonal communication of information about farming in two agricultural Missouri communities--Prairie, economically stable, and Ozark, undergoing rapid change; and (2) how this changed between 1956 and 1966. Interviews were conducted with 238 and 227 farmers (1956 and 1966 respectively) in Ozark and 218 and 174 (1956 and 1966 respectively) in Prairie. Each was asked to whom he talked most frequently about farming, from whom he obtained general farm information, where he obtained first and additional information about new farm practices he had adopted, the sources that were most influential in his adoption decisions, with whom he exchanged work, and the persons with whom he associated most closely or regarded as his best friends. The unit of analysis was the dyadic relationship of one farmer naming another rather than farmers as individuals. Results included the following: (1) there was a continued inclination for the proportion of opportunities to obtain farm information from fellow group members to persist at a much higher level than in the cross-group situations; (2) social cliques took the lead as a retaining influence in the low-importance relationships, dispossessing neighborhoods from this position; and (3) neighborhoods showed a marked tenacity of the retaining power. (KM)

The Institute was 1) to provide a group of 13 experienced teachers with techniques for teaching elementary school students to recognize and define problems, and 2) to work closely with these teachers, evaluating the effectiveness of their teaching techniques over a period of 1 year. A series of workshops used reading, films, discussion, and microteaching to develop the following concepts and skills: generation of warranted uncertainty, generation of alternative responses to a given problem, ability to ask questions, use of nonverbal techniques to promote warranted uncertainty in others, ability to distinguish between fact and inference, and strategies for teaching these concepts and skills to children. Evaluation of the institute by participants was very favorable. Several research projects being carried out in cooperation with the Uncertainty Studies Project involve the development of an observation instrument to measure the use of warranted uncertainty techniques by teachers, an analysis of the effectiveness of different teaching styles using warranted uncertainty techniques, and a determination of the correlates and predictors of elementary school students' ability to generate warranted uncertainty. Appendixes contain a list of participants, a schedule, copies of handouts that accompanied teaching demonstrations, an initial version of the observation instrument, and copies of tests of warranted uncertainty taken by elementary school students. (RT)