Article summarizing the approach to bibliographic metadata development at the University of Michigan Library for journal articles published and archived in HathiTrust.

This article looks at Mark A. Greene and Dennis Meissner's attitudes towards preservation as revealed in their articles on More Product, Less Process (MPLP), the relationship between access and preservation, and the importance of preservation within archives; it also offers strategies for efficient preservation.

Article in a column for "The Reference Librarian," Material-Mind-Method: On the Teaching of Reference. This article discusses teaching the catalog as a reference tool.

These grant materials were prepared for a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage program to digitize, preserve, and provide access to community historical records. The award funded digitization of print and media items related to the motion picture history of Denton County and a lecture highlighting Denton’s film history and materials discovered during the program. For this grant, UNT served as the lead institution and collaborated with the Texas Archive of the Moving Image. The grant materials include a history of Denton County’s involvement in film production and distribution, digitization standards, and a work plan for the project. This proposal was funded for $11,840.

Article on the findings of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) survey of text encoding practices in libraries.

Article on the fear of negative evaluation and differences amongst librarians.

Article describing the results of informal and formal research regarding electromagnetic (EM) effects of near-death experiences (NDEs); it reviews cases in which a person acts on his environment and those in which a person reacts to the environment. The paper also proposes more precise terminology regarding EM phenomena based on the research and literature review.

Partial abstract: In this article, we present a case study of an adult male who experienced both gravity induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) as a Korean War aviation cadet, including narrowing of his visual field to a point of light and also two subsequent transpersonal experiences -- a near-death experience (NDE) and an after-death communication (ADC) -- that both included a tunnel-and-light feature. His Near-Death Experience Scale scores for each experience and his comparison of the qualia of these experiences provide unique evidence in the debate about the nature and likely origins of such experiences. These data place more weight on the argument that the tunnel and light in transpersonal experiences cannot reasonably be attributed to loss of oxygen in the brain.

Article on improving access to collections with an online holds service at the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries.

This paper analyzes the relationship between subject terms -- both authorized terms from controlled vocabularies and free-text keywords -- used to succinctly describe the content of the electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) and the search terms entered by users to discover and access the ETDs. Identification of search terms and comparison of search results with subject terms used in describing ETDs provides a basis for assessing the relative usefulness of controlled-vocabulary subject terms supplied by professional indexers and free-text keywords supplied by authors of ETDs in facilitating access to ETDs. Arguably, there has been a shift in the way users search, access, and use information resources.

Conference paper exploring three case studies on how methods of retrieval of geographic data offered by libraries. The online catalog (Case no. 1) includes various materials available to users. Case no. 2 is Special Collections in general, including the Portal to Texas History. Case no. 3 is a particular collection digitized by UNT: The map collection of the University of Texas at Arlington.

Article on a study of enhancing access to e-books.

This article reviews the book "Style and Performance for Bowed String Instruments in French Baroque Music," by Mary Cyr and published in 2012.

This article contains survey data on cataloging services as assessed by personnel in the Public Services Division and the Catalog and Metadata Services Department.

Editorial commentary discussing the author's personal accounts and the accounts of others who have had near-death experiences and how their lives have been affected afterward by others who insist on having proof or deny their experiences due to lack of verification.

Abstract: Electromagnetic (EM) aftereffects have been reported following near-death experiences (NDEs). These effects include both (a) EM actions, apparent actions by the individual on the surrounding EM environment, and (b) EM reactions, apparent reactions of the individual to the EM environment. This study investigated EM aftereffects among 216 NDErs, 54 persons who had been close to death without NDEs, and 150 persons who had never been close to death. NDErs reported both greater EM actions and greater EM reactions than did either comparison group. Among NDErs, those with higher scores on the NDE Scale reported more EM aftereffects. These findings corroborate and extend prior studies and suggest the need for controlled experiments to measure the kinds and strengths of EM fields generated or channeled by NDErs, the kinds of EM fields and devices that are affected by NDErs, and the kinds and strengths of EM fields to which NDErs react.

Abstract: The authors present both unconfirmed and externally confirmed cases of children's pre-existence memories with paranormal aspects that apparently cannot be explained by childish fantasy. The anomalous phenomena mostly comprise extrasensory perception with one case involving psychokinesis. Such aspects are similar to and convergent with paranormal aspects of near-death experiences and point to a common, non-physical origin of both types of experiences.

Abstract: Unusual occurrences at the end-of-life have been reported anecdotally over centuries yet have only recently attracted increased academic attention. Recent studies suggest commonality to end-of-life experiences (ELEs), which can be broadly categorized into six types. ELEs are relatively common, frequently occurring in terminally ill and palliative patients. They also reportedly have positive effects on the dying, facilitating more peaceful deaths. We present a case report of the death of a woman of Cook Island Maori and New Zealand Maori descent who died from cancer, as retrospectively reported by her husband. The case is interesting due to the number of ELEs occurring for the dying as well as significant others during the period leading up to, at the moment of, and after her death. The case is discussed in relation to previous findings on ELEs and resulting implications for enhancing understandings of the dying process and consciousness.

Article discussing current research and possible causes of near-death experiences, comparing the hypotheses regarding physiological causes (e.g., neural circuitry) and non-physical causes (e.g., a separation of consciousness).

Abstract: In 2015, I began communicating with an events planner for the U.S. Army who shared with me a series of anomalous dreams -- anomalous in the sense that the dreams usually contained specific names of deceased servicemen previously unknown to her but known to an assistant chaplain with whom she worked. The goal of my ensuing case study research into this apparent episode of spontaneous mediumship was to collect these dreams, search for commonalities, and propose explanations for their anomalous aspects. Alternative explanations included fraud, faulty memory, coincidence, and telepathy or some other form of remote perception. None of these alternatives explained these anomalies as well as what the experiencer herself proposed: that the deceased themselves had successfully communicated with her during her nighttime dreams.

Abstract: Near-death experiences (NDEs) entail complex and structured conscious experience during conditions known to coincide with rapid loss of consciousness often associated with decline or disruption of the neurological correlates currently held to be causative factors of visual imagery and cognition. In this study, 653 NDE reports of cardiac and/or respiratory arrest patients were analyzed for unprompted, spontaneous references to quality of conscious visual imagery and mentation during an NDE. Results indicate that in a majority of NDEs, both figurative and abstract mentation are either preserved or markedly improved during unconsciousness and unresponsiveness in the context of respiratory and cardiac arrests. These findings underscore the call to further study the mechanisms behind the 'outliving' of a conscious sense of selfhood and complex, structured visual imagery and cognition during severely deteriorating physiological function -- and perhaps especially during clinical death.

Abstract: Spontaneous mediumship experiences (SMEs), in which living people are visited uninvited by discarnates -- deceased humans -- who ask the living person to convey a message to another living person, are considered a subtype of after-death communication and a potential aftereffect of near-death experiences. In this article, we describe two case studies based on semi-structured interviews in which two near-death experiencers described features and descriptions of their SMEs, positive and negative aspects associated with their SMEs, and related experiences including help-seeking behaviors. Implications for characterizing SMEs include differences in degree of spontaneity and types of discarnates and similarities in experiences of distress and number of SMEs.

This article serves as an introduction to new and mostly free online art auction and market sites and some traditional paper resources that are essential to answer reference questions about art value.

This article discusses turning news into learning opportunities.