Investment in graduate education is costly in various ways so completion success is a big concern for universities and stakeholders. Largely the graduate educational landscape…
Abstract
Purpose
Investment in graduate education is costly in various ways so completion success is a big concern for universities and stakeholders. Largely the graduate educational landscape moves along a commonly structured path from acceptance to graduation. Despite many having successfully attained the award, the research literacies that signal doctoral achievement remain obscure and scholars continue to struggle with developing clear and tangible measures for the competencies that represent attainment of the degree. Feedback gathered from faculty at a large research institution through a series of semi-structured interviews illustrated the challenge departments have to effectively communicate what it takes to get through graduate education. As a result students still have a difficult time understanding the complexity of graduate training. This study views graduate education from the lens of intellectual journeys, as opposed to the research lifecycle, as a way of uncovering distinct disciplinary discourse practices and offering libraries critical points to align services using this framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology is highly flexible and adaptable to many contexts besides graduate education. This study takes a different approach from previous studies in its framing of discussions with academic faculty, using journey maps, to focus on the intellectual journeys of graduate students. Faculty from different disciplines participated in one-on-one, hour-long interviews. Discussions were audio recorded, transcribed, and then coded into NVivo. Iterative review on the data continued until themes emerged. The data gathered were used to compile a detailed map of the processes and requirements that make up graduate education. This approach to the data helped to identify what faculty perceive as the greatest struggles for graduate students and provide evidence of the key places within the intellectual journeys of graduate students.
Findings
This paper provides a discussion of graduate student personas revealed through intellectual journeys, assesses the issues students encounter, shares critical time points and key places within these intellectual journeys where significant development occur, and suggests how libraries can and should connect with graduate committee members to establish missing support structures. Practical suggestions for library support are given for the areas where students struggle most. These critical services can be aligned to key developmental phases that will not only positively impact the time to completion but also retention.
Originality/value
First, the methodology discussed is highly flexible and adaptable to many contexts besides graduate education. Second, librarians adopting this methodology can generate their own editable journey maps not only to offer the most critical services but these tools also double as visual communication and negotiation tools for graduate students and their mentors during graduate training. Third, previous research has suggested that the most instrumental factor for graduate students completing their degree was the concept of forward progress. Framing the graduate experience and orienting library graduate support through the lens of disciplinary intellectual journeys achieves an action-oriented approach that supplements and addresses structural inequities by providing consequential support at meaningful points in a student’s journey thus allowing students to make forward progress and ultimately lead to faster completion rates.
Details
Keywords
Leslie Sult, Yvonne Mery, Rebecca Blakiston and Elizabeth Kline
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and rationale for the creation of a scalable approach to online database instruction.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and rationale for the creation of a scalable approach to online database instruction.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses the pedagogical, organizational, and technological considerations for developing an interactive, online tutorial that can be used by librarians for database instruction.
Findings
Database instruction during one‐shot library sessions is a cornerstone of information literacy programs, but with a move to online instruction, it has not been clear how to replicate many of the pedagogical advantages that take place in a face‐to‐face environment. Librarians along with programmers have developed a new type of scalable and pedagogically‐sound interactive tutorial.
Originality/value
The paper provides librarians with a history of the development of a tutorial that has been released as open‐source software program that can be easily modified by other libraries.
Details
Keywords
Nevenka Zdravkovska and Mitchell Brown
To report on the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference held in June 2007 in Denver, Colorado.
Abstract
Purpose
To report on the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference held in June 2007 in Denver, Colorado.
Design/methodology/approach
Conference report.
Findings
The annual conference aims to provide attendees continuing professional education, vendor presentations, invited papers and social events. Exhibits from library vendors include technology, information materials and services.
Originality/value
A conference report of interest to information professionals in academia, corporate and governmental information centers and libraries.
Details
Keywords
Establishes a vision and a national (USA) strategy for civicnetworking. Encompasses citizen groups, voluntary organizations andlocal government, using an information…
Abstract
Establishes a vision and a national (USA) strategy for civic networking. Encompasses citizen groups, voluntary organizations and local government, using an information infrastructure for public benefit. Outlines four “Grand Challenges”, a set of policy goals and a detailed agenda for action.
Details
Keywords
Carol S. Kline, Leah Elizabeth Joyner, Jon F Kirchoff, Alleah Crawford, Stephanie Jilcott Pitts, Elizabeth Wall-Bassett, Christine Gurganus and Rebecca Dunning
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to formulate an exhaustive list of the issues, gaps, and barriers at each level of the agri-food value chain in North Carolina (NC)…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to formulate an exhaustive list of the issues, gaps, and barriers at each level of the agri-food value chain in North Carolina (NC), and second, to identify the issues of greatest importance to its members.
Design/methodology/approach
This research employed the Delphi technique in two stages of input. The first round of input was designed to create a comprehensive list of issues for each of nine “stages” of the agri-food value chain. In round two, the issues were prioritized.
Findings
The top ten responses of each stage were aggregated into themes that represent the most critical issues identified by respondents: connectedness within the value chain, access to markets and marketing, affordability/availability of food and food distribution, farm profitability, societal awareness, and education about healthy, local food, and supporting institutions.
Originality/value
The findings could be used by practitioners to inspire innovation in food-related products, programs, processes, organization, and marketing. The findings can help farmers, institutions, food distributors, policy makers, and other members of the agri-food value chain to make decisions about food distribution and access in NC and in other states facing similar issues and circumstances. The findings of this research also have further reaching implications, such as the connectivity of members along the agri-food value chain, the impact of a strong agri-food value chain on agritourism and the potential value of state marketing initiatives.
Details
Keywords
Cindy Blanthorne, L. Allison Jones-Farmer and Elizabeth Dreike Almer
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) offers researchers additional flexibility and enhanced research conclusions, yet it is still underutilized in accounting. This may be in part…
Abstract
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) offers researchers additional flexibility and enhanced research conclusions, yet it is still underutilized in accounting. This may be in part because many researchers are not sufficiently familiar with SEM. SEM can be difficult to apply, especially if the research study was not appropriately planned to accommodate the necessary assumptions and data requirements. This article helps researchers overcome some barriers to using SEM by providing a simple guide to effectively planning a study suitable for an SEM analysis while also suggesting references and additional reading on the topic. To further encourage the use of SEM, the practical benefits of using SEM over the traditional regression approach for some research situations are also explained. Finally, a comparison of a regression and an SEM analysis of the same data testing the same theoretical model is included in the Appendices A and B in order to compare the differences in the research conclusions obtained by the two methods of analysis.
Emily Machado, Rebecca Woodard, Andrea Vaughan and Rick Coppola
This study examines how writing teachers manage linguistic ideological dilemmas (LIDs) around grammar instruction and highlights productive strategies employed by one teacher in…
Abstract
This study examines how writing teachers manage linguistic ideological dilemmas (LIDs) around grammar instruction and highlights productive strategies employed by one teacher in an instructional unit on poetry. We conducted semi-structured interviews with nine elementary and middle-school teachers to better understand how they conceptualized and enacted writing pedagogies in urban classrooms. Then, we documented the teaching practices of one teacher during a 9-week case study. We describe three LIDs expressed by the teachers we interviewed: (1) a perception of greater linguistic flexibility in speech than in writing; (2) a sense that attention to grammar in feedback can enhance and/or inhibit written communication; and (3) apprehension about whether grammar instruction empowers or marginalizes linguistically minoritized students. We also highlight three productive strategies for teaching grammar while valuing linguistic diversity employed by one teacher: (1) selecting mentor texts that showcase a range of grammars; (2) modeling code-meshing practices; and (3) privileging alternative grammars while grading written work. We describe how teachers might take up pedagogical practices that support linguistic diversity, such as evaluating written assignments in more flexible ways, engaging in contrastive analysis, and teaching students to resist and rewrite existing language rules.
Details
Keywords
Elizabeth Kocevar‐Weidinger, Candice Benjes‐Small, Eric Ackermann and Virginia R. Kinman
The aim of this paper is to document how two university libraries determined whether mystery shopping is an effective and statistically feasible instrument for evaluating customer…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to document how two university libraries determined whether mystery shopping is an effective and statistically feasible instrument for evaluating customer service at public service desks.
Design/methodology/approach
Mystery shopping exercises were conducted at both libraries during the 2008 spring and fall semesters. Trained mystery shoppers recorded staff behaviors and the answers given to their reference questions and open‐ended comments about their reference experience. Using ClinTools, Excel, and Atlas.ti, the authors conducted a meta‐analysis of the data.
Findings
Mystery shopping is an effective method for evaluating customer service in libraries. The shoppers observed staff behaviors that were generally in line with the libraries' guidelines, but their comments revealed suggestions for improvement. When the behavior rubric results were combined with the comments, the authors learned that shoppers were somewhat unsatisfied.
Research limitations/implications
The results are approximate since the two instruments used were not identical, requiring the combination of common elements with some loss of accuracy. In this study, the authors used meta‐analysis to compensate for the differences in the instruments. However, another solution would be to create one instrument for both institutions that contained common elements for inter library comparison and local elements for local customization.
Practical implications
Other libraries can adapt this mystery shopping methodology and data analysis to measure customer service in their libraries.
Originality/value
No other study of mystery shopping has included the questionnaires used at both institutions, the aggregated data, and the method of analysis for meaningful evaluation.
Details
Keywords
Rosemary Fisher, Elizabeth Merlot and Lester W. Johnson
The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of entrepreneurial passion and in doing so explores the relationship between harmonious and obsessive passion (OP) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of entrepreneurial passion and in doing so explores the relationship between harmonious and obsessive passion (OP) and resilience. A pathway between passion and entrepreneurial success (ES) that is mediated by sustained entrepreneurial commitment (SEC) and resilience is tested.
Design/methodology/approach
An online questionnaire survey was completed by (n=215) Australian entrepreneurs. Results were based on structural equation modelling analysis.
Findings
Harmonious passion contributes directly and indirectly to perceptions of ES through resilience; OP contributes to SEC which contributes to success through resilience.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations stem from the survey methodology used. Implications for incorporating harmonious and OP into training to ensure well developed entrepreneurs are raised.
Originality/value
This study is one of the few studies to test the theoretical constructs of passion and resilience in the entrepreneurship context, and seemingly the first to do so on an Australian sample of entrepreneurs. This research finds that both types of passion are important to individual level resilience and ultimately to ES. An OP for one’s venture is an important contributor to persisting with the venture.