Renovated public libraries are modern showcases of architecture and access to knowledge. Recently the best places add the platform function of people meeting people there not only taking out and bringing back books. The Stockholm city library is an impressive example of all functions.
The library figures also in the list of the 25 best public libraries in the world shown by flavorwire: http://flavorwire.com/280318/the-25-most-beautiful-public-libraries-in-the-world You can actually walk up the stairs and access books directly. In the annex building is the international collection with its multilingual treasure as well as the press and journal sections. Impressive is the wide spread audience rather than intellectuals only.
The place is a top place for adult education and lifelong and lifewide learning.
Health and Care
Some surveys in the social sciences remain a reference due to their interesting scope of questions included. The Canadian National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses is such a survey since they “dared” to ask a representative sample of 18.000 nurses, health care workers and care assistants questions including medication errors, fall injuries, and complaints of older adults in Canada. The study by Zafar Mehdi, Ramzi Nasser, Hildegard Theobald and myself reveals the importance of further training and sufficient staffing to prevent medication errors, fall injuries and other complaints of patients. DOI: 10.5539/gjhs.v11n3p111
Besides the interesting results of this study based on a little used data set, the study should encourage and reward transparency of medical practices and analyses (relevant in #Covid-19). Hopefully many other studies, ideally with longitudinal designs, will build on this interesting kind of data collection. Evidence-based human resource policies should not stop in front of hospitals and care institutions. Unfortunately, such sensitive data are still rarely collected, although conclusions are helpful for nurses, patients and society as a whole.
The Link to the paper in the Global Journal of Health Sciences and the download is free of charge here. For science policy it is interesting to notice that the paper was part of a self-financed Ph.D. of Zafar Mehdi, accepted at the University of Vechta recently.
Anti-Mémoires Van Rompuy
When a conservative fellow writes his autobiography without depending on written notes or other documents as support, this exercise can be risky. Herman van Rompuy now also wants to turn anti-establishment? Following André Malraux he choses as title “Anti-mémoires”. Contrary to the image I have taken on 14.2.2019 on the book fair in Brussels, in the book Van Rompuy is opening up a bit, but just a bit.
The editorial support by Astrid Simonis seemingly was important in the easy read of these “end of life thoughts” of a heavily involved political figure in Belgium and Europe. If you count the pages without the 20 subtitle pages and transcripts of 2 speeches, it is less than 100 pages short. Full of well-known statements, but it is more the particular choice of those that makes the political man. Most surprising was the statement on page 118 “The principle quality in politics is trust”. On the same page he writes and cites Harry Truman “If you want a friend in politics, get a dog!” Now the puzzle is that the peace-building function of the European Union is building trust among nations. It seems to have failed in his experience in Belgium and apparently also in Europe according to him.
In the talk at the Book Fair in Brussels he agreed with the moderator that they did not want to sound too pessimistic this time. Many challenges ahead for Europe. Time for the next generation to get ready and find new solutions to old problems. However, attendance at the talk was spectacularly low.
My conclusion: Learning from experience is probably underrated in Europe.
Autorenlesung
In Verbindung mit den vorab bekannten Ergebnissen des 3. Deutschen Weiterbildungsatlas hat sich der Weiterbildungsausschuss des Saarländischen Bildungsministeriums einen der Autoren der neuesten Version nach Saarbrücken eingeladen. So habe ich mich auf die Reise gemacht und einige der Auswertungen und zentralen Ergebnisse dort vorgestellt. Es ergaben sich rege Diskussionen zur Datenbasis der amtlichen Statistik. Die vorgestellten und besonders angefertigten Auswertungen für das Saarland auf Kreisebene zeigen die Unterschiede im Angebot an Weiterbildung von Betrieben im Norden und Süden des Saarlandes.
AKK wird also bereits vertraut sein mit unterschiedlichen wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Entwicklungen in Landesteilen. Überraschend für ein Bundesland mit einer Bevölkerungszahl von ca 1 Million.
Vorab nur mal ein Blick auf einen Indikator. 
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Weiterbildung in Kreisen
In Zusammenarbeit mit der Bertelsmann Stiftung hat das DIE die Datengrundlage für den 3. Deutschen Weiterbildungsatlas gelegt. Darauf aufbauend habe ich in den letzten Monaten eine neue ausführlichere Analyse der Daten auf Kreis- und Länderebene durchgeführt. Gleichzeitig wurden Karten erstellt, die eindrücklich die Unterschiede zwischen Bundesländern und Kreisen in den jeweiligen Bundesländern verdeutlichen.
Das Manuskript liegt bereist bei den Koautoren und wird in wenigen Wochen erscheinen. Die Schlussfolgerungen aus der ersten Version (siehe unten) werden einer erneuten empirischen Prüfung unterzogen. Einkleiner Vorgeschmack lässt sich in dem Bild erkennen. Aber die Webseite zum Weiterbildungsatlas hat ja schon viel mehr an Daten und Auswertungen im Angebot. Hier geht’s lang.
Martin, A., Schömann, K., Schrader, J. & Kuper, H. (2015). Ausgewählte Ergebnisse: Die Wiederentdeckung der Bedeutung der Region. In A. Martin, K. Schömann, J. Schrader & H. Kuper (Hrsg.), Deutscher Weiterbildungsatlas (S. 26-130). Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann.