(Question)
It will come as no surprise to those working in the UK’s higher education (HE) sector that universities are currently suffused with anxiety. The University and College Union (UCU) has recently been in dispute with employers over proposed changes to the USS pension scheme, and the most sustained period of industrial action in the sector’s history has highlighted the fears staff have for the security of their futures post-retirement. Such unprecedented strike action needs to be situated within the wider context of a public sector undergoing transformation: while the concept remains contested, the influence of “neoliberal” ideas on universities can most clearly be seen in Success as a Knowledge Economy – the government white paper that preceded the 2017 Higher Education and Research Act – which states: “Competition between providers in any market incentivises them to raise their game, offering consumers a greater choice of more innovative and better quality products and services at lower cost. Higher education is no exception.” Yet what might “raising our game” mean for academic staff? The university has been described as an “anxiety machine”: the creeping marketisation of the sector along with pressure to recruit students (now “consumers”), increasing managerialism, and the implementation of processes of audit – such as the REF and TEF – to evaluate performance have arguably contributed to a progressively anxious landscape in which to labour. In 2016/17, 34% of academic staff were employed on fixed-term contracts – a figure likely to be disputed by the UCU, since in 2016 it estimated the extent of casualisation in the sector to be closer to 54% once atypical contracts had been taken into consideration. In addition to pressures facing many staff in universities – such as time-management, meeting growing employer expectations, and the evaluation of performance – “casualised” contracts present particular challenges for those facing employment uncertainty: in a material sense, this can be a case of keeping up with... After the end of the text, how do the professors probably feel about their retirements? Pick the correct answer from the following options:  A. not enough information  B. excited about them  C. worried about them  D. hopeful about them
(Answer)
C


(Question)
The doctors told me I would be placed on a seventy-two hour hold for observation. Knowing this was the only way out, I obeyed and diligently signed all the papers. I hated my parents but still felt the inescapable drive to prove to them that I was worth something. I had to show them I wasn't crazy. As the hours passed, I was shown to a blank room with plastic sheets and plastic pillows, which caused me to wonder what kind of distant confused souls had been imprisoned in this sterile place. There were bars on the windows and the only door out of the unit was locked 24/7. I knew my only refuge for the time being would be through the hour a day art therapy class and the smoke breaks I could take at will. They had given me a legal pad after my parents had told them of my affinity for writing. With it I set to work on the flow of words and the river of thoughts, both dark and hopeful that careened through my tired mind. Instead of sleep, I would write. I expressed my vicious frustration for the place and thought constantly of the passing hours, counting them down as they went. Because of this I was thankful for the eight to ten I would use up easily in my escapes to the world behind my eyelids. There I was free and could experience a life unhindered by limitations of ethics or gravity. When I'd awake I'd write what I could remember of my escapes on the obtrusive legal pad. I had the suspicion that the attendants would come in and read my thoughts as I was eating meals or watching TV and I wondered if this was hindering my ability to get out. I wondered what kind of opinions and judgments they were forming about me. I had bared my soul on those pages explaining desperately how the thoughts would not leave even in this place, where it mattered most that they were gone. The fuckers would never leave. Maybe I was crazy. What did the speaker do instead of sleeping? Pick the correct answer from the following options:  A. write  B. eat  C. not enough information  D. watch TV
(Answer)
A


(Question)
For years, Aimee Lind, a librarian at the Getty Research Institute, has been struggling with ways to make architecture archives more accessible to users. To help solve this problem, she co-founded the California Architecture Archives Network (or CalArchNet) with her Cal Poly SLO colleague Jessica Holada. Together they have organized a series of one-day mini-conferences designed to foster dialogue and collaboration among librarians, archivists, and curators at California institutions that house architecture archives. The goal of these semiannual meetings is to create a space for convergence among professionals who intersect with architectural archives in different ways. Architecture archives, often containing large drawings and scale models, present unique problems due to their size and fragility. CalArchNet participants are interested in improving the overall user experience for visitors to the archives by looking for solutions to obstacles to access. This space for an informal exchange of ideas provides an opportunity to be transparent about the challenges repositories face when managing and processing architecture holdings, as well as encourages investigation and experimentation into ways new technologies may help to solve accessibility issues, such as improved interaction with digitized collections via the IIIF protocol or 3D-scanned facsimile models and virtual walk-throughs. October 27 marked the third meeting of CalArchNet, held at the Palm Springs Art Museum, Architecture and Design Center, with representatives from 13 institutions in attendance. Topics discussed included historic site preservation research methodology, leveraging statewide resources to enhance discovery of collections, security considerations, GIS mapping technologies, and the use of linked open data to make connections between collections. The day concluded with a curator-led tour of the exhibition Albert Frey and Lina Bo Bardi: A Search for Living Architecture. If you’re an archivist, librarian, or curator working with architecture... Who cofounded the California Architecture Archives Network? Pick the correct answer from the following options:  A. Albert Frey  B. Jessica Holada  C. not enough information  D. Aimee Lind
(Answer)

D