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The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework that is of practical use to those who are coaching for enhanced communication in the contact centre industry.

The conceptualization of this framework has emerged after several years of working, as an applied linguist and consultant in this industry.

The interdisciplinary framework proposed in this paper draws on the adult learning theory, on language assessment and applied linguistic practices and studies carried out looking at how competency is developed at work. It proposes four levels of competency from novice to expert with the attendant coaching approach to best target the needs of communications coachees in this industry.

Implications for improved coaching practices in the contact centre industry where there is heavy investment in coaching on the floor. Research limitations are that although there is strong anecdotal evidence that this framework and approach to coaching is effective, the authors need to carry out a large-scale study showing business impact.

The implications for coaching practitioners are that they have an informed theoretical framework upon which to base their coaching activity. This provides a more targeted approach to the needs of coachees of different levels of experience.

As a result of effective coaching, particularly at the early stages of working in a contact centre, the level of attrition may drop thus providing employees with work in a supportive environment.

No previous study has looked at how theoretical studies in adult learning and applied linguistic practice can inform communications coaching in this industry. It has also involved the quality assurance specialists in collaborating and contributing to this model.

Discharge planning home visits (DPHVs) are a routine part of occupational therapy clinical practice. However, there is a dearth of evidence to support or refute their efficacy and limited policies or standards to guide clinical practice. This study aims to investigate current clinical practice during home visits and the value that occupational therapists’ attribute to home visits within an Irish context.

Data collection was carried out by using a survey questionnaire (postal and electronic options). The study population comprised occupational therapists across 52 sites including acute, rehabilitation and convalescence settings within the Republic of Ireland. In total, 122 occupational therapists that completed the survey questionnaire were recruited for the study.

Quantitative data identified time spent per visit, departmental size, hospital size, number of visits and report writing times. Information was gathered regarding clinical areas assessed during visits in a Likert scale format. Qualitative data identified benefits, risks, recommendations to improve home visit practice and clinical criteria for home visits. Findings conclude that DPHVs are routinely carried out by occupational therapists and that there is consistency in clinical practice within an Irish setting. Occupational therapists value home visits as clinical assessments and have identified risks during practice, benefits of visits and ways to improve practice.

This study has provided a reflection of clinical practice in the Republic of Ireland. It is the only study of its kind in an Irish setting, and it could be used as a knowledge base regarding current practice on DPHV and occupational therapists’ clinical reasoning regarding home visits. The information gathered in this study could influence policies regarding DPHV and could serve as a comparison to standardise practice and justify the need for DPHV.

THE greatly increased interest in historical studies since the second world war has been, I hope, a welcome challenge to librarians, but it has been very difficult to meet it. That the librarians of our new universities should have had little research material to offer was only to be expected. Unfortunately, research scholars have discovered that our older libraries were also deficient, that source materials had either not been purchased, in the years when they were readily available, or had been acquired only to be discarded at a later date. Recently, therefore, both old libraries and new have found themselves in competition for a small and dwindling supply of out‐of‐print publications.

The purpose of this study is to narratively explore the influence of leader narcissism on leader/follower social exchange. Moreover, while researchers acknowledge that narcissistic personality is a dimensional construct, the preponderance of extant literature approaches the concept of narcissistic leadership categorically by focusing on the reactive or constructive narcissistic extremes. This bimodal emphasis ignores self-deceptive forms of narcissistic leadership, where vision orientation and communication could differ from leaders with more reactive or constructive narcissistic personalities.

The authors argue that they encountered a compelling example of a communal, self-deceiving narcissist during archival research of Robert Owen’s collective experiment at New Harmony, Indiana. To explore Owen’s narcissistic leadership, they utilize an analytically structured history approach to interpret his leadership, as he conveyed his vision of social reform in America.

Approaching data from a ‘history to theory’ perspective and via a communicative lens, the authors use insights from their abductive analysis to advance a cross-paradigm, communication-centered process model of narcissistic leadership that accounts for the full dimensional nature of leader narcissism and the relational aspects of narcissistic leadership.

Scholars maintaining a positivist stance might consider this method a limitation, as historical case-based research places greater emphasis on reflexivity than replication. However, from a constructionist perspective, a focus on generalization might be considered inappropriate or premature, potentially hampering the revelation of insights.

Through a multi-paradigmatic analysis of the historical case of Robert Owen and his visionary communal experiment at New Harmony, the authors contribute to the extant literature by elaborating a comprehensive, dimensional and relational process framework of narcissistic leadership. In doing so, the authors have heeded calls to better delineate leader narcissism, embrace process and relational aspects of leadership and consider leader communication as constitutive of leadership.

THE College of Librarianship is best considered on its own terms, as an institution unique in the history and present pattern of British library education, but its significance and probable future development can best be assessed if two external factors are kept in mind.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections between employee engagement, positive organizational psychology and an individual’s ability to adapt to ongoing organizational change.

The literature on individual adaptability, positive organizational psychology and employee engagement is reviewed. A model that suggests that a positive work culture enhances employee engagement and in specific cases leads to increased adaptability is developed.

While organizational engagement will have a positive effect on the individual’s ability to adapt to changes, job engagement will have the opposite effect, uncovering potential obstacles to change management in organizations.

Suggestions for future research are provided with the intent to further academic research in this area. This model can serve as a starting point for future research design and can be tested in organizations undergoing various changes.

A positive culture fosters both job and organizational engagement within an organization. Managers can understand how to cultivate a positive, engaged environment for employees while understanding how certain job changes might have both positive and negative effects on an individual’s ability to adapt.

A model for identifying relationships between positive organizational behaviors, two types of employee engagement (organizational engagement and job engagement) and an individual’s ability to adapt to change is helpful to researchers and practitioners alike.

This study addresses a gap in evidence on small employer experiences of managing mental health problems in the workplace. The authors gathered first-hand experiences of small business managers to empirically investigate how the small business context affects the management and support of mental health problems in the workplace, and the practice implications that arise.

Qualitative interviews, combining semi-structured and narrative approaches, with 21 small business managers with experience of managing employees with mental health difficulties. The 21 managers recounted a total of 45 employee cases, which were analysed thematically, using a case-based matrix. Study participants were drawn from small businesses within England and Scotland (UK). Interviews were conducted between November 2019 and February 2020.

Support aligned with current understanding of effective practice, yet was often informal, instinctive and flexible. Accommodating employees with mental health problems impacted the workload of managers and co-workers, and business operation and growth. Challenges and tensions reflected the difficult balancing act faced by managers in organisations of all sizes. However, the intensity and immediacy of cross-pressures was enhanced for small businesses, due to their smaller workforce and lack of dedicated Human Resource Management and occupational health expertise.

Guidance should address the navigation of day-to-day management and support for employees with mental health difficulties, including approaches to balancing the needs of the wider workforce and business operation. Access to HR and occupational health expertise is valuable. Financial subsidies may be of lesser concern to small businesses.

This study offers originality in focusing exclusively on small business managers with first-hand experience of supporting employees with mental health problems. Findings challenge the perception that small firms have unique experiences, whilst highlighting contextual features that exacerbate intensity and immediacy of impacts.

A WEEK or two ago The Municipal Journal, in chronicling the opening of new libraries at Barrow and Bethnal Green, expressed the opinion that libraries “were having a new lease of life.” The phrase is a curious one, as we were not aware that libraries were in a state of senility, although we were vividly aware of their imperfections. It is, nevertheless, true that there has been unwonted library activity of late, and library matters now receive some real attention in the public press. The latter may be due in some measure to the recent publicity campaign of the Library Association. Still, that does not account for the fact that many places, hitherto not quite awake to the value of libraries, are now asking about them, as Sutton, Weymouth, Marylebone, Coulsoon and Purley, while others are pressing for development, especially in the direction of Children's Libraries.

HIS holidays over, before the individual and strenuous winter work of his library begins, the wise librarian concentrates for a few weeks on the Annual Meeting of the Library Association. This year the event is of unusual character and of great interest. Fifty years of public service on the part of devoted workers are to be commemorated, and there could be no more fitting place for the commemoration than Edinburgh. It is a special meeting, too, in that for the first time for many years the Library Association gathering will take a really international complexion. If some too exacting critics are forward to say that we have invited a very large number of foreign guests to come to hear themselves talk, we may reply that we want to hear them. There is a higher significance in the occasion than may appear on the surface—for an effort is to be made in the direction of international co‐operation. In spite of the excellent work of the various international schools, we are still insular. Now that the seas are open and a trip to America costs little more than one to (say) Italy, we hope that the way grows clearer to an almost universal co‐working amongst libraries. It is overdue. May our overseas guests find a real atmosphere of welcome, hospitality and friendship amongst us this memorable September!

In the preceding rules the individual biographical entry has been ignored, as it lends itself to more convenient treatment apart. Collective biography is, of course, in no way different from the ordinary book ; and the same is to be said of autobiography. Owing to the change of form in the individual biographical entry, due to the author yielding in importance to the biographee, it is usual to separate collective and individual biography in the catalogue, whether this is done on the shelves or not. Individual biography might be further separated in the catalogue into autobiographical and non‐auto‐biographical, though I cannot recall any instance where this has been carried out. In any case, it is important to distinguish in some clear way, between the subject name and the name of the author. Mere position is hardly enough ; there should be a distinction in the type. Whatever type has been employed in the other parts for author should be retained for author in the individual biograhical entry, and the subject name should be in a different type. If the author is printed in a black‐face type, as suggested in these rules, the best type for the subject name will be small capitals, as :—