Dee Magnoni, Charles Offenbacher and Ananya Kejriwal
Engineers fundamentally solve problems. Engineering students are obtaining the education necessary to develop problem‐solving skills and tools. Olin College of Engineering was…
Abstract
Purpose
Engineers fundamentally solve problems. Engineering students are obtaining the education necessary to develop problem‐solving skills and tools. Olin College of Engineering was founded on the philosophy that a hands‐on, entrepreneurial, design‐centered engineering education would create engineers ready to solve current and emerging problems. This paper aims to discuss the philosophy and development of Olin College and the Olin College Library, and then to address its evolving materials collection.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents the development of Olin College, its philosophy and discusses its evolving materials samples collection.
Findings
Olin's library has embraced the college's philosophy through the development of a realia, or learning objects collection that supports multiple intelligences. Moving beyond these learning objects, library staff wanted to build a collection of materials samples that enhance the engineering curriculum, and specifically design, sustainability and materials science courses. Students use the objects to make project decisions and for inspiration. The hands‐on nature of the collection aligns with the pedagogical philosophy of the college. These objects are physically available and also are beginning to have digital representation. A growing partnership between the library and specific courses is helping build the collection, while subscriptions from vendors assure a steady growth of new objects.
Practical implications
The collection requires three phases of thought and development beyond acquisitions: display of objects, storage of objects, and the digital representation of objects. The digital representation has several layers of development, from database building to metadata decisions to object photos to the workflow and policy decisions.
Originality/value
The paper discusses the philosophy and development of the Olin College materials samples collection.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Details
Keywords
James Powell, Carol Hoover, Andrew Gordon and Michelle Mittrach
The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation and impact of a locally customized Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCiD) profile wizard. It also provides a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation and impact of a locally customized Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCiD) profile wizard. It also provides a broader context for adopting ORCiD as an identity and single sign-on solution.
Design/methodology/approach
A custom web application was designed by a library team and implemented using a combination of the OAuth protocol and the ORCiD web services API. The tool leveraged a rich, curated set of local publication data, and exposed integration hooks that allowed other enterprise systems to connect ORCiD IDs with an internal employee identifier.
Findings
Initially the tool saw only modest use. Ultimately its success depended upon integration with other enterprise systems and the requirement of an ORCiD ID for internal funding requests, rather than exclusively on the merits of the tool. Since introduction, it has been used to generate over 1,660 ORCiDs from a population of 4,000 actively publishing researchers.
Practical implications
Organizations that desire to track publications by many affiliated authors would likely benefit from some sort of integration with ORCiD web services. This is particularly true for organizations that have many publishing researchers and/or track publications spanning many decades. Enterprise integration is crucial to the success of such a project.
Originality/value
Research inputs and research products are now primarily digital objects. So having a reliable system for associating researchers with their output is a big challenge that, if solved, could increase researcher impact and enhance digital scholarship. ORCiD IDs are a potential glue for many aspects of this problem. The design and implementation of the wizard eased and quickened adoption of ORCiD Ids by local researchers due in part to the ease with which a researcher can push publication information already held by the library to their profile. Subsequent integration of researcher ORCiD IDs with local enterprise systems has enabled real-time propagation of ORCiD IDs across research proposal workflow, publication review and content discovery systems.
Details
Keywords
Hizlinda Tohid, Sheen Dee Ng, Anis Azmi, Nur Farah Adrina Nur Hamidi, Syahirah Samsuri, Amir Hazman Kamarudin and Khairani Omar
The quality of asthma care may be affected if asthma management is overlooked, thus needing frequent clinical audits to identify areas for improvement. The purpose of this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The quality of asthma care may be affected if asthma management is overlooked, thus needing frequent clinical audits to identify areas for improvement. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of the process (e.g. documentation of asthma-specific information), the structure (e.g. availability of resources) and the outcome (e.g. proportion of patients prescribed with asthma medications) at a university-based primary care clinic. The associated clinical factors for non-documentation of asthma control at the last visit were also examined.
Design/methodology/approach
This retrospective study involved auditing medical records and the pharmacy data system of 433 adult patients with asthma to evaluate 18 quality indicators. The standard target for the indicators of process and structure was 80 percent and the standard target for the indicators of outcome was 100 percent.
Findings
All the indicators failed to reach the standard targets. Documentation of asthma-specific information and availability of resources were deficient. The non-documentation of asthma control was significantly associated with presence of acute complaint(s) unrelated to asthma, presence of other issues and number of the documented parameters for asthma control. Although the prescription rates of inhaled reliever and preventer were substandard, they were reasonably high compared to the targets.
Research limitations/implications
In this study, evaluation of the quality of care was limited by absence of asthma register, use of paper-based medical records and restricted practice capacity. Besides, the asthma-specific assessments and management were only audited at one particular time. Furthermore, the findings of this study could not be generalised to other settings that used other methods of record keeping such as patient-held cards and electronic medical records. Future studies should sample asthma patients from a register, evaluate more reliable quality indicators (e.g. over-prescription of short-acting β-2 agonist and underuse of inhaled corticosteroid) and assess asthma management over a duration of time.
Practical implications
This study provides quality information on all aspects of asthma care (process, structure and outcome) which can be a basis for clinical improvement. It is hoped that the study could assist the stakeholders to plan strategies for improvement of the asthma care. A more strategic and reliable system of documentation is needed, such as the use of a simple template or structured form, which should not jeopardise the provision of personalised and comprehensive care. With complete documentation, thorough investigational audits can be continuously performed to determine the quality of asthma care.
Social implications
This study could provide useful findings to guide healthcare providers in developing a more strategic model of asthma care that can ensure asthma patients to receive a personalised, comprehensive, holistic and continuous care. Through this approach, their physical and psychosocial well-being can be optimised.
Originality/value
Even though our healthcare has advanced, the quality of asthma care is still suboptimal which requires further improvement. However, it could be considered assuring due to high outcome levels of asthma care despite having limited resources and practice capacity.