Transparency is critical to our credibility with the public and our subscribers. Whenever possible, we pursue information on the record. When a newsmaker insists on background or off-the-record ground rules, we must adhere to a strict set of guidelines, enforced by AP news managers.

 Under AP's rules, material from anonymous sources may be used only if:

 1. The material is information and not opinion or speculation, and is vital to the report.

 2. The information is not available except under the conditions of anonymity imposed by the source.

 3. The source is reliable, and in a position to have direct knowledge of the information.

 Reporters who intend to use material from anonymous sources must get approval from their news manager before sending the story to the desk. The manager is responsible for vetting the material and making sure it meets AP guidelines. The manager must know the identity of the source, and is obligated, like the reporter, to keep the source's identity confidential. Only after they are assured that the source material has been vetted by a manager should editors and producers allow it to be used.

 Reporters should proceed with interviews on the assumption they are on the record. If the source wants to set conditions, these should be negotiated at the start of the interview. At the end of the interview, the reporter should try once again to move onto the record some or all of the information that was given on a background basis.

 The AP routinely seeks and requires more than one source when sourcing is anonymous. Stories should be held while attempts are made to reach additional sources for confirmation or elaboration. In rare cases, one source will be sufficient – when material comes from an authoritative figure who provides information so detailed that there is no question of its accuracy.

 We must explain in the story why the source requested anonymity. And, when it’s relevant, we must describe the source's motive for disclosing the information. If the story hinges on documents, as opposed to interviews, the reporter must describe how the documents were obtained, at least to the extent possible.

The story also must provide attribution that establishes the source's credibility; simply quoting "a source" is not allowed. We should be as descriptive as possible: "according to top White House aides" or "a senior official in the British Foreign Office." The description of a source must never be altered without consulting the reporter.

 We must not say that a person declined comment when that person the person is already quoted anonymously. And we should not attribute information to anonymous sources when it is obvious or well known. We should just state the information as fact.

Stories that use anonymous sources must carry a reporter's byline. If a reporter other than the bylined staffer contributes anonymous material to a story, that reporter should be given credit as a contributor to the story.

 All complaints and questions about the authenticity or veracity of anonymous material – from inside or outside the AP – must be promptly brought to the news manager's attention.

 Not everyone understands “off the record” or “on background” to mean the same things. Before any interview in which any degree of anonymity is expected, there should be a discussion in which the ground rules are set explicitly.

These are the AP’s definitions:

On the record. The information can be used with no caveats, quoting the source by name.

Off the record. The information cannot be used for publication. Background. The information can be published but only under conditions negotiated with the source. Generally, the sources do not want their names published but will agree to a description of their position. AP reporters should object vigorously when a source wants to brief a group of reporters on background and try to persuade the source to put the briefing on the record.

Deep background. The information can be used but without attribution. The source does not want to be identified in any way, even on condition of anonymity.

In general, information obtained under any of these circumstances can be pursued with other sources to be placed on the record.

ANONYMOUS SOURCES IN MATERIAL FROM OTHER NEWS SOURCES

Reports from other news organizations based on anonymous sources require the most careful scrutiny when we consider them for our report.

AP's basic rules for anonymous source material apply to material from other news outlets just as they do in our own reporting: The material must be factual and obtainable no other way. The story must be truly significant and newsworthy. Use of anonymous material must be authorized by a manager. The story we produce must be balanced, and comment must be sought.

Further, before picking up such a story we must make a bona fide effort to get it on the record, or, at a minimum, confirm it through our own reporting. We shouldn't hesitate to hold the story if we have any doubts. If another outlet’s anonymous material is ultimately used, it must be attributed to the originating news organization and note its description of the source.

ATTRIBUTION

 Anything in the AP news report that could reasonably be disputed should be attributed. We should deliver the full name of a source and as much information as needed to identify the source and explain why the person s credible. Where appropriate, include a source's age; title; name of company, organization or government department; and hometown. If we quote someone from a written document – a report, email or news release -- we should say so. Information taken from the internet must be vetted according to our standards of accuracy and attributed to the original source. File, library or archive photos, audio or videos must be identified as such. For lengthy stories, attribution can be contained in an extended editor's note detailing interviews, research and methodology.

Baylor School of Education offers several programs typically leading to professional licensure or certification. Click the links to see professional licensure disclosure information for each one. These links provide information about program compliance with licensure standards in all U.S. states and are particularly important references for students who believe they may not choose to practice or teach in the state of Texas. 

Educator Certification
Applies to SOE programs that prepare for licensing for teachers (BSEd, MAT), principals (MA School Leadership), and superintendents (EdD in K-12 Educational Leadership)

Educational Psychology
Applies to licensure programs in Applied Behavior Analysis

Educational Specialist
Applies to programs leading to licensure as a School Psychologist

General Information:

Background- Baylor University offers several programs leading to professional licensure within the State of Texas.  States vary in what professions they require to be licensed and how licensure functions.  Some states require an individual to graduate from an approved program.  Others require an individual to “meet [the] certification requirements of a national organization”.  A specific amount of training can also be required as well as passage of an test based on a state requisite test score.  Often, licensed professionals must complete continuing education on an annual basis (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, 2018).

State Authorization- Baylor is a member of the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (NC-SARA) which allows us to provide distance learning programs (both online and in the form of supervised field experiences) and coursework to residents of states other than Texas.  NC-SARA membership, however, does not grant reciprocity or exempt us from state professional licensing requirements.  As a result, licensing requirements in Texas may not be recognized as sufficient to obtain a license in any other state.

Relocation- Relocating while in the course of a program to another state may have impacts if the student can remain in the program, meet the state licensure requirements and/or continue to receive financial aid funding. Prior to considering relocation, please complete the Location Form and contact your program advisor to discuss authorization and licensure eligibility requirements. 

International Students- Prior to enrolling in any program at Baylor University, prospective students living and/or working outside of the United States should confirm with the appropriate certifying agency whether successful completion of any degree program at Baylor will meet the credentialing requirements of the country in which they intend to seek employment, as to certain types of employment or for advanced/specialized educational programs.

Students Responsibility- Students should review the specific academic requirements for the program in which they are enrolling, including those related to practicum/internship as well as pre-qualifications for licensure such as the need for a criminal background check. We highly recommend that students contact the applicable licensure board(s) in their state of residence or in the state where they intend to obtain a license before beginning an academic program that results in licensure and prior to beginning any internship/practicum. Many licensure boards have additional requirements beyond successful degree completion to obtain a license. Please be advised that state laws, regulations, and policies may change at any time. Changes in requirements can impact the program's ability to meet educational requirements for licensure. It is the responsibility of the student completing the licensure program to check with the licensing board(s) in their state of residence or in the state in which they intend to obtain a license for the most accurate information and requirements. Baylor shall not be held liable if the student is unable to qualify for licensure or certification in any jurisdiction or cannot obtain a practicum/internship location.

Information about all of BU’s programs leading to licensure can be found here:

Professional Licensure Disclosure by Program

If you want to proclaim to the world that you’re a geek, one good way to go about it is to wear a wristwatch that displays the time in binary. [Jordan] designs embedded systems, and he figured that by building this watch he could not only build up his geek cred but also learn a thing or two about working with PIC microcontrollers for low power applications. It seems he was able to accomplish both of these goals.

The wristwatch runs off of a PIC18F24J11 microcontroller. This chip seemed ideal because it included a built in real-time clock and calendar source. It also included enough pins to drive the LEDs without the need of a shift register. The icing on the cake was a deep sleep mode that would decrease the overall power consumption.

The watch contains three sets of LEDs to display the information. Two green LEDs get toggled back and forth to indicate to the user whether the time or date is being displayed. When the time is being displayed, the green LED toggles on or off each second. The top row of red LEDs displays either the current hour or month. The bottom row of blue LEDs displays the minutes or the day of the month. The PCB silk screen has labels that help the user identify what each LED is for.

The unit is controlled via two push buttons. The three primary modes are time, date, and seconds. “Seconds” mode changes the bottom row of LEDs so they update to show how many seconds have passed in the current minute. [Jordan] went so far as to include a sort of animation in between modes. Whenever the mode is changed, the LED values shift in from the left. Small things like that really take this project a step further than most.

The board includes a header to make it easy to reprogram the PIC. [Jordan] seized an opportunity to make extra use out of this header. By placing the header at the top of the board, and an extra header at the bottom, he was able to use a ribbon cable as the watch band. The cable is not used in normal operation, but it adds that extra bit of geekiness to an already geeky project.

[Jordan] got such a big response from the Internet community about this project that he started selling them online. The only problem is he sold out immediately. Luckily for us, he released all of the source code and schematics on GitHub so we can make our own.

Introduction

A patient typically leaves the hospital or clinic with a patient education package that has been vetted by department heads, checked and sanitized by the legal department, trimmed and restricted by finance, and augmented by sponsors. The patient has perhaps also spoken to physicians, radiologists, nurses, and administrative staff. Much of the information given to the patient is intended to educate the patient in self-care following the period of dependence upon hospital staff. How does this information help the patient at home when there is no medical staff on hand? Does it tell the patient how to remove the dressing, what to clean the wound with, or what to do if the drainage tubes seem to be clogged? There are questions the patient will simply not think to ask while still at the hospital.

If all patients were physicians or nurses who belonged to the medical community and all ascribed to common conventions and practices, there would be no difference essentially as to who was on which side of the stethoscope; the patient could reasonably be expected to understand exactly what was going on, and why. Each issue the nurse highlighted would fit neatly into demarcated categories and every significance placed on them would be understood and accepted by the patient. After returning home, there would be nothing that was unfamiliar to them about what to do and when to do it.

However, in reality, patients are bricklayers, plumbers, bankers, welders, accountants, teachers, lawyers, and philosophers. They cannot be expected to understand what it is you are doing or saying in the same way as your fellow physicians and nurses are likely to. These real-life patients may demarcate issues and assign significance differently from how the medical professionals do. The resonance will have been lost, and the information will stand alone without the rich context of mutuality that was shared in the previous scenario.

Just as facts are "theory-laden," so also information does not "speak for itself," it is interpreted and acted on through the spectacles and gloves of our beliefs and view of the world. The nurse needs to impinge on patients' world views, conveying the information to them by resignifying and demarcating it in such a way as to make it actionable by the patient.

As an example, one patient had the experience of being given practical instruction that included taking her physically through many sequences and procedures that would prove to be important to her. Her nurses didn't just tell her how to change a dressing or clean the surgical wound, they showed her, and critiqued her techniques. It was not just this practical, actionable knowledge that was imparted, but also the knowledge of where more knowledge resided. The nurse as an information-source stands out.

As it happened, the patient's nurse was changed and the new nurse did not become familiar with the patient's history and could not answer questions about what to do next when a particular test was returned negative. The flow of information had changed and the patient's experience was altered entirely.

The growing importance of data science, and the increasing role of information professionals in the management and use of data, are brought together in Practical Data Science for Information Professionals to provide a practical introduction specifically designed for information professionals.

Data science has a wide range of applications within the information profession, from working alongside researchers in the discovery of new knowledge, to the application of business analytics for the smoother running of a library or library services. Practical Data Science for Information Professionals provides an accessible introduction to data science, using detailed examples and analysis on real data sets to explore the basics of the subject.

Content covered includes:

• the growing importance of data science
• the role of the information professional in data science
• some of the most important tools and methods that information professionals may use
• an analysis of the future of data science and the role of the information professional.

This book will be of interest to all types of libraries around the world, from large academic libraries to small research libraries. By focusing on the application of open source software, the book aims to reduce barriers for readers to use the lessons learned within.

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.

The study of mollusks has captured the interest of amateur and scientist alike for many centuries. The National Museum of Natural History receives numerous requests from the general public for information on mollusks. We hope that the information contained in our new on-line Selected Sources of Information on Mollusks will be of help to the beginning shell collector as well as the amateur conchologist and malacologist. This bibliography is not comprehensive and is meant to serve only as a guide to selected references.

Selected Sources of Information on Mollusks has undergone a substantial change in format as well as a thorough revision to produce a more streamlined publication. To that end we have eliminated several sections and combined others to avoid redundancy in titles. The section listing shell clubs has been deleted because this information is best obtained by writing to one of the national malacological organizations which we are continuing to list or by checking the Internet.

The publications listed may not be obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Most of the references cited may be consulted at local libraries, requested through an interlibrary loan or purchased through local bookstores. Some books are out of print and would be available only from a secondhand book dealer.

Caldrey, Jennifer. Shells. Eyewitness Explorer Series. New York: DK Publishing, 1993. 64 pp., many illus.

Dudley, Ruth H. Sea Shells. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1953. 149 pp., 62 drawings.

Evans, Eva Knox. The Adventure Book of Shells. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Capitol, 1955. 93 pp., many illus.

Farmer, Wesley M. Sea-Slug Gastropods. Tempe, AZ: Wesley M. Farmer Enterprises, 1980. 177 pp. 157 species drawn by author. Identification and coloring book.

Florian, Douglas. Discovering Seashells. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1986. 32 pp., color drawings.

Hansen, Judith. Seashells in My Pocket: A Child's Guide to Exploring the Atlantic Coast from Maine to North Carolina. Boston: Appalachian Mountain Club Books, 1988. 124 pp., illus.

Hunt, Bernice Kohn. The Beachcomber's Book. New York: Viking Press, 1970. 96 pp., illus.

Hutchinson, William M. A Child's Book of Sea Shells. New York: Maxton, 1954. 30 pp., illus. in color and black-and-white.

Low, Donald. The How and Why Wonder Book of Seashells. Los Angeles: Price, Stern, Sloan, 1987. 48 pp., illus.

Myers, Arthur. Sea Creatures Do Amazing Things. New York: Random House, 1981. 70 pp., illus.

Paige, David. A Day in the Life of a Marine Biologist. Mahwah, NJ: Troll Associates, 1981. 32 pp., color photos.

Pallotta, Jerry. The Ocean Alphabet Book. Chicago: Children's Press, 1991. 28 pp., color illus.

Podendorf, Illa. The True Book of Pebbles and Shells. Chicago: Children's Press, 1954. 47 pp., illus.

Sabin, Louis. Wonders of the Sea. Mahwah, NJ: Troll Associates, 1982. 32 pp., color illus.

Whybrow, Solene. The Life of Animals with Shells: A Simple Introduction to the Way in Which Animals with Shells Live and Behave. London: Macdonald Educational, 1975. 63 pp., illus.

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Abbott, R. Tucker. Introducing Sea Shells. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand, 1955. 10 color and black-and-white plates, text figs.

______. Seashells of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. Under the editorship of Herbert S. Zim. New York: Golden Press, 1968.

______. Seashells of the World. Under the editorship of Herbert S. Zim. 2nd ed. New York: Golden Press, 1987. 48 pp., color illus.

______. Shells: Nature in Photography. New York: Portland House, 1989. 210 pp., 196 color illus.

Cameron, Roderick. Shells. New York: Octopus Books, 1972 (c.1961). 128 pp., 95 figs., 32 color plates.

Cate, Jean M., and Selma Raskin. It's Easy to Say Crepidula! (krehPIDuluh): a phonetic guide to pronunciation of the scientific names of sea shells and a glossary of terms frequently used in malacology. Santa Monica, CA: Pretty Penny Press, 1986. 153 pp.

Fair, Ruth H. Shell Collector's Guide. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle, 1976. 213 pp.

Harasewych, M.G. Shells: Jewels from the Sea. New York: Rizzoli, 1989. 224 pp., 210 color illus.

Jacobson, Morris K., and William K. Emerson. Wonders of the World of Shells: Sea, Land, and Fresh-water. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1971. 80 pp., illus.

Johns, Veronica P. She Sells Seashells. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1968. 198 pp., illus.

Johnstone, Kathleen Y. Sea Treasure: A Guide to Shell Collecting. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957. 242 pp., 8 color plates, numerous text figs.

Major, Alan P. Collecting World Sea Shells. Edinburgh: J. Bartholomew, 1974. 187 pp., illus.

Melvin, A. Gordon. Seashell Parade: Fascinating Facts, Pictures and Stories. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle, 1973. 369 pp., 75 illus.

Murray, Sonia. Seashell Collectors' Handbook and Identifier. New York: Sterling, 1975. 240 pp., color plates.

Oliver, Arthur P.H. The Larousse Guide to Shells of the World. New York: Larousse, 1980. 320 pp., color illus.

Sabelli, Bruno. Simon and Schuster's Guide to Shells. Edited by Harold S. Feinberg. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980. 512 pp., 1,230 color illus.

Saul, Mary. Shells: An Illustrated Guide to a Timeless and Fascinating World. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974. 192 pp., illus.

Stix, Hugh, Marguerite Stix, and R. Tucker Abbott. The Shell: Five Hundred Million Years of Inspired Design. New York: Abradale Press/H. N. Abrams, 1988. 200 pp., 203 illus., including 82 plates in color.

Travers, Louise A. The Romance of Shells, in Nature and Art. New York: Barrows, 1962. 136 pp., 8 color plates, text figs.

Violette, Paul E. Shelling in the Sea of Cortez. Tucson: Dale Stuart King, 1964. 95 pp., illus.

Zinn, Donald J. The Beach Strollers Handbook, from Maine to Cape Hatteras. 2nd ed. Chester, CT: Globe Pequot, 1985. 246 pp., illus.

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Prepared by the Department of Systematic Biology, Invertebrate Zoology,
National Museum of Natural History, in cooperation with Public Inquiry Services,
Smithsonian Institution