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To inform readers about these regional conferences that enhance the ongoing work of EDUCAUSE and to encourage the academic library and IT communities to share and communicate information and partner when opportunities avail themselves.

A report of the 2005 EDUCAUSE Southeast Regional Conference shared by one of this year’s EDUCAUSE Ryland Fellows.

Libraries are increasingly developing IT and digital solutions to most collection and service sectors of their work and dealing with many complex issues regarding technology.

By having this population of colleagues conferring with library staff the benefits to each constituency are more meaningful and richer.

In addition to the research and long‐term work, there are many opportunities to develop services, share equipment and expertise that are born out of these kind of conferences. Also a good way to become acquainted with colleagues in your area, region and allows for professional development and networking opportunities.

Expands horizons of librarians by bringing together IT personnel and administrators, teaching faculty, library administrators, library systems staff and other people interested in related academic and administrative computing issues.

For decades, the Department of Defense (DoD) has employed numerous reporting and monitoring tools for characterizing the acquisition cost estimates of its programs. These tools have led to dozens of studies thoroughly documenting the magnitude and extent of DoD acquisition cost growth. However, little attention has been paid to the behavior of the other main cost component of a system's life cycle cost: Operating and Support (O&S) costs. Consequently, the DoD has little knowledge regarding the accuracy of O&S cost estimates or how that accuracy changes over time. In a previous paper, the authors described an analytical methodology for remedying this deficiency via a study to characterize the historical accuracy of O&S cost estimates. The results are presented here, and indicate there tend to be large errors in DoD O&S cost estimates, and that the accuracy of the estimates improves little over time

The purpose of this paper is to offer an understanding of the development and consequence of absorptive capacity (AC) at the individual level of analysis. The authors assess how perception of organizational commitment to learning and intrinsic motivation affects individual potential AC, and employee creativity and job performance as the key outcomes of individual AC. Furthermore, the authors examined the dual role of realized AC as a mediator in the potential AC-creativity relationship, and a moderator on the creativity-job performance relationship.

This paper draws from 125 paired supervisor-employee survey data, where supervisors rated subordinates’ creativity and job performance. Hierarchical regression was used to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results confirm that both perception of organizational commitment to learning and intrinsic motivation contribute to the development of individual potential AC (above and beyond extrinsic motivation). Individual realized AC mediated the potential AC-creativity relationship. Employee creativity was positively related to job performance.

This study speaks directly to the question of how an organization can encourage its employees to absorb new knowledge, and the benefits of employee learning activities on their creativity and job performance.

This is one of the first studies to offer a more nuanced understanding of the development and consequences of individual AC – a level of analysis has been lack of empirical studies. It further point out how individual characteristic and perceptions can influence their learning capacity, and in turn, their performance.

In the context of the Australian Government’s attempts to impose budget austerity measures on publicly funded universities in its higher education sector, the purpose of this paper is to assess the sector’s financial health.

The multi-dimensional study is based on seven years of government financial data from all 39 publicly funded Australian universities, supplemented by information from universities’ annual reports. Using a financial health model that reflects vulnerability, viability and resilience, the authors examine sector data using a suite of metrics. The authors analyse differences between those universities in the Top 10 and Bottom 10 by revenue, as a window into the financial health of the sector at large.

While mostly financially viable, the sector shows signs of financial vulnerability, particularly in the areas of expense control and financial sustainability. Possibly in response to an uncertain funding environment, universities are managing long-term liquidity by growing reserves. Debt represents largely untapped potential for universities, while differences between the Top 10 and Bottom 10 universities were most evident in the area of revenue diversity, a strong predictor of financial viability.

Focussing on a specific set of financial metrics limits the scope of the study, but highlights further research possibilities. These include more detailed statistical analysis of data, financial case studies of individual universities and the implications of revenue diversification on academic standards.

The paper contributes to higher education literature, providing empirical evidence of universities’ finances. It highlights the importance of universities’ financial resilience in an uncertain funding environment.