Bob Gerrity, Theresa Lyman and Ed Tallent
Over the past year, the Boston College libraries have been engaged in making available to our users two new resources, MetaLib and SFX. MetaLib is portal/gateway software that…
Abstract
Over the past year, the Boston College libraries have been engaged in making available to our users two new resources, MetaLib and SFX. MetaLib is portal/gateway software that allows for simultaneous searching of several databases, as well as some options to customize the interface. SFX technology provides context‐sensitive reference linking from citations to extended services. In this article we review the pedagogical, technical, and service reasons for making these resources available. We discuss how we believe these technologies respond to current student use of the library, and how we approached the installation process. We also review the challenges of the installation (both technical and service) and future possibilities.
Details
Keywords
Glenn Haya, Else Nygren and Wilhelm Widmark
This paper aims to understand how students experience the search tools Google Scholar and Metalib and the role of prior instruction.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand how students experience the search tools Google Scholar and Metalib and the role of prior instruction.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 32 undergraduate students searched academic articles for their thesis work. Searches were recorded using Morae software and were analysed along with the number of articles saved and responses to a questionnaire. All searched with both tools. Half of the students received training before searching.
Findings
Google Scholar performed better in almost all measures. Training had a positive effect on the amount and quality of articles saved. Responses to Google Scholar were more positive than to Metalib. However, the students were not overwhelmingly enthusiastic about either of the tools. Research limitations/implications – Each Metalib implementation is to some extent unique, which limits the extent to which results can be generalised to other implementations.
Practical implications
Training is valuable for both tools. The user interface to Metalib does not conform with students' expectations and needs further improvement. Both tools strive to be a first alternative search tool for academic literature but neither performed well enough in this study to recommend it to be used in that role in an academic library setting.
Originality/value
These tools are important to academic libraries but few user studies have been published, particularly on Google Scholar. To one's knowledge no other user study on these tools has looked at the effects of instruction.
Details
Keywords
As the Boston College Libraries prepared to migrate to a new release of MetaLib, a metasearch and portal tool from Ex Libris, the library conducted some informal usability studies…
Abstract
As the Boston College Libraries prepared to migrate to a new release of MetaLib, a metasearch and portal tool from Ex Libris, the library conducted some informal usability studies on its existing implementation. These studies combined conversations with undergraduate and graduate students about their research style and observations of students conducting searches using MetaQuest. This article reviews the main issues culled from this, focusing on student research style, asking if MetaLib, as an example of a metasearch engine, responds to this need, reviewing the existing MetaLib design issues, and finishes with pointers on where the Boston College Libraries are headed with this product.
Details
Keywords
To investigate the relationship between learning, organizational change, organizational culture and narratives. The issues are explored on the basis of a case study of an…
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the relationship between learning, organizational change, organizational culture and narratives. The issues are explored on the basis of a case study of an automotive supplier based in North‐East England where learning is deeply integrated in the daily routines of the company.
Design/methodology/approach
The project reported upon in this paper was of qualitative and interpretive nature, using narrative cross‐national comparative research. The main data collection method was in‐depth interviewing with organizational members from all hierarchical levels. The interviews were tape‐recorded, transcribed and fed back to the interviewees. The data was analysed using grounded theory.
Findings
The research concludes that organizational change, learning and culture are deeply interwoven. More specifically, the success of the case study company is based to a large extent on its people focus and unique learning culture, which are reflected in, separable from and sustained by the prevailing organizational narratives.
Research limitations/implications
The generalizability of case studies is limited, but opens up new questions to be explored by further research into the relationship of organizational change, learning, culture and narratives.
Practical implications
Organizational narratives are a powerful tool for managers to examine cultural aspects within the firm, which should be used more widely.
Originality/value
The paper raises interesting issues for management researchers, challenging some previously taken for granted assumptions.
Details
Keywords
The Buy British Campaign of 1931 was the National Government's attempt to tackle a balance of payments crisis without initially resorting to tariff protection. The operation was…
Abstract
The Buy British Campaign of 1931 was the National Government's attempt to tackle a balance of payments crisis without initially resorting to tariff protection. The operation was managed by the Empire Marketing Board and employed previously‐developed publicity techniques plus voluntary support to deliver its message on the benefits to be brought to the balance of trade, the value of sterling, the value of employment and commercial relations with the Empire. Although technically efficient, the campaign nevertheless had only a limited and temporary impact.
Details
Keywords
Organizational learning and the learning organization are concepts that have attracted a considerable amount of attention over the last decade. The article provides an analysis…
Abstract
Organizational learning and the learning organization are concepts that have attracted a considerable amount of attention over the last decade. The article provides an analysis and evaluation of the main perspectives on learning, particularly in relation to organizational change and effectiveness. The issues involved are illustrated by a brief examination and discussion of four comparative case studies of companies in the automotive industry: the Rover Group, Volvo AB, Tallent Engineering, and GKN Hardy Spicer. The article shows that the four companies attempted to introduce organizational learning in order to develop and maintain their competitiveness. It identifies the issues which appear to be of prime importance when introducing organizational learning. However, the article also maintains that, although organizational learning may be an important factor in building an organization’s competitiveness, by itself it cannot and does not guarantee success.
Details
Keywords
Inclusion, defined as nondiscriminatory education for all, involves embracing gifted students whose special needs should be considered in curriculum planning and in the teaching…
Abstract
Inclusion, defined as nondiscriminatory education for all, involves embracing gifted students whose special needs should be considered in curriculum planning and in the teaching methods used. However, inclusion has often been connected with disability and special needs education. It has been claimed that inclusion neglects the needs of the gifted. This chapter identifies ethical challenges in inclusive education, with gifted students as a case example. Several critical misconceptions about gifted students and gifted education are identified as leading to ethical challenges for teachers. These misconceptions are discussed in the ethical framework of distributive justice in teaching, and recommendations are given for ways to support teachers in meeting the needs of gifted students in inclusive educational settings.
Details
Keywords
Kate Fitch and Jacquie L'Etang
The aim of this paper is to begin a conversation about historicising the public relations (PR) curriculum in universities.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to begin a conversation about historicising the public relations (PR) curriculum in universities.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses PR history and historiography to identify the underlying ideological and methodological influences. It considers scholarship on PR education, and the inclusion or, more often, the exclusion of history except where it serves to reinforce a narrative of steady, and apparently unproblematic, professional development. The paper reviews the presentation of history in textbooks and discusses the authors' experiences of teaching PR history. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the inclusion of history in the PR curriculum offers an important critical intervention in PR education.
Findings
The PR curriculum tends to meet industry expectations around practice and skills in order to develop students as future practitioners. But this paper argues that a more historical and historiographical understanding of PR can develop in students important skills in research, analysis and interpretation. It can also introduce students to working with ambiguity and alternate perspectives. Foregrounding new histories and challenging existing histories introduce students to richer and more complex understandings of PR. It also introduces students to epistemology and ethics, and therefore offers a way to introduce critical thinking into the curriculum.
Originality/value
A more historical understanding of PR develops student skills in research, analysis and interpretation as well as critical thinking.
Details
Keywords
The paper takes up the challenge offered in the call for papers for this special issue to explore the notion of public relations as “ethical guardian”. The approach taken is to…
Abstract
The paper takes up the challenge offered in the call for papers for this special issue to explore the notion of public relations as “ethical guardian”. The approach taken is to review some influential academic perspectives as well as practitioner perspectives that emerged throughout the 20th century. It is argued that the ethics and social responsibility have long been an intrinsic part of public relations self‐identity. The paper identifies a number of problems for the public relations occupation that arise from its historical legacy and considers the implications for professional status.
Details
Keywords
IT was in last June of flaming memory that we posed the question “What will the Bullock Committee achieve?” Well, there is still a little hope that this committee, like so many…
Abstract
IT was in last June of flaming memory that we posed the question “What will the Bullock Committee achieve?” Well, there is still a little hope that this committee, like so many others in the past, will produce a report that will simply be shelved. But this hope is very small.