Addressing the selection of invisible Web sites for business subject pages as part of collection development, this discussion begins with defining the invisible Web and examining…
Abstract
Addressing the selection of invisible Web sites for business subject pages as part of collection development, this discussion begins with defining the invisible Web and examining why certain Web pages are “invisible.” Followed by an acknowledgement of problems concerning the use of terminology, implications for the process of collection development and a brief examination of the criteria in selecting the items for subject Web pages are addressed. Upon using strategies to locate these materials in order to create useful subject pages, selection criteria for the Web sites include determining the credibility of the source, and examining the scope and quality of content.
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Gregory A. Crawford, Glenn McGuigan and Debra Mattern Kephart
This research aims to examine the inclusion of biographies of presidential candidates in library collections.
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to examine the inclusion of biographies of presidential candidates in library collections.
Design/methodology/approach
OCLC's WorldCat database was used to search for biographies of presidential candidates that were held by libraries. Only biographies from the two years preceeding and the actual year of a presidential election were included in the analyses.
Findings
The results show that although candidate biographies are plentiful, most are owned by only a few libraries. Recent elections have seen the greatest number of these biographies, many of which have been produced by special interest groups. Analyses show that libraries collect these biographies without regard to party affiliation of the candidate or whether the candidate was victorious.
Research limitations/implications
Only major party candidates were included in the analyses.
Originality/value
Although such campaign materials may seem ephemeral, the paper shows that this material provides the raw material for future research on presidential campaigns and its associated advertising.
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The purpose of this paper is to address dimensions of crisis as applied to the profession of librarianship from a public administration frame of reference. For librarians to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address dimensions of crisis as applied to the profession of librarianship from a public administration frame of reference. For librarians to retain professional status, the human element of librarianship must be promoted through an emphasis on their educational mission, inspired by public administration's professional code of ethics. Within this process, librarians must promote themselves as educators, embracing the concept of information literacy as their field of jurisdiction.
Design/methodology/approach
Reflecting an interdisciplinary approach, literature from public administration and library science is used to support these points.
Findings
A robust professional education and affiliation with professional associations reinforces the informational asymmetries of professionals through specialized instruction and knowledge sharing, which will lead to not only a strengthened profession, but also to opportunities for leadership.
Practical implications
To reinforce professionalism, the human element of librarianship must be promoted through an enhanced emphasis on the educational mission of librarians within the ethical framework of the profession. The place for this to occur is within schools of graduate education and professional associations.
Originality/value
This discussion addresses dimensions of crisis as applied to the profession of librarianship from a public administration frame of reference. The rationale for this approach is that library and information science can benefit from elements of the public administration school of thought regarding professionalism, in general, and ethical codes, in particular.
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Glenn S. McGuigan, Gregory A. Crawford and Jessica L. Kubiske
This research used a sample of titles drawn from the Harvard Business School Core Collection to examine the holdings of libraries of institutions offering the Master of Business…
Abstract
This research used a sample of titles drawn from the Harvard Business School Core Collection to examine the holdings of libraries of institutions offering the Master of Business Administration degree within the state of Pennsylvania. Of the 82 books selected from the Core Collection, the average number of books owned by the libraries was 25.3 (30.8 percent). In addition, the results showed that those libraries supporting AACSB accredited MBA programs owned significantly more of the sample of titles (37.06, 45.2 percent) than did libraries supporting non‐AACSB accredited programs (16.9, 20.6 percent).
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The paper seeks to propose that librarians act to ensure the continued existence of small, specialized, and non‐profit publishers as avenues of intellectual and academic discourse…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to propose that librarians act to ensure the continued existence of small, specialized, and non‐profit publishers as avenues of intellectual and academic discourse in an era of growing publishing monopolies.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the profitability of commercial publishers and their plans for expansion in the digital book market, and contrasts this with the continued financial hardships of public‐welfare academic publishers.
Findings
The problems for non‐profit academic publishers will not be solved by simply “going digital”.
Practical implications
Librarians need to exclude small academic publishers from further burdening through collective collection development.
Originality/value
The paper reviews developments in digital book publication from the perspective of a 1997 conference on the “crisis” in academic publishing with current business practices and expansions by large publishing houses.
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Abstract
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Innovation Strategy/Entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Subject area
Innovation Strategy/Entrepreneurship.
Study level/applicability
The case can be used in an MBA/postgraduate management program for a course on Innovations Strategy with a focus on disruptive innovation, specifically in relation to disruption in the value chain with the adoption of new technologies or for a course on Entrepreneurship focusing on the opportunities created by the Internet-based technologies for start-up businesses. Alternatively, it can be used in a course on e-commerce strategies, particularly to demonstrate the efficiency of online distribution vis-à-vis physical channels.
Case overview
The case illustrates how Medknow Publications created a profitable e-commerce model out of a struggling conventional business, namely, the learned society journal publishing. It also provides a useful ground to discuss the challenges faced by the conventional scholarly journal publishing models, the current crisis in scholarly journal publishing and how Medknow, a disruptive business model innovation, would address these issues. Besides, the case illustrates how Medknow created a sustainable “for-profit” alternative to the prevailing not-for-profit models of open access publishing.
Expected learning outcomes
After the analysis and discussion of this case, students will be able to: appreciate how technological innovation can disrupt existing business models; understand how digitization helps improve the efficiency of value chain in the content industry, particularly the scholarly journal publishing industry; and appreciate that the flexibility of digitized content and the global reach of the Internet have the potential to transform the scholarly journal publishing industry for good.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
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Brendan T. O'Connell, Paul De Lange, Greg Stoner and Alan Sangster
The overall aim of this paper was to examine the impact of the Australian research assessment exercise on the research approaches (positivist/non-positivist) favoured by…
Abstract
Purpose
The overall aim of this paper was to examine the impact of the Australian research assessment exercise on the research approaches (positivist/non-positivist) favoured by accounting disciplines in Australia. Our key research question examined how the outputs and foci of research in elite accounting disciplines changed over a 16-year period. Our analysis was informed by Bourdieu's notions of academic elitism and symbolic violence.
Design/methodology/approach
We analysed all papers published in 20 major accounting journals across a 16-year period by Australian accounting disciplines that were highly rated in the research assessment exercise. We also compared our results from this group against two case study accounting disciplines that were not rated as “world class”.
Findings
Our key finding is that the introduction of a research assessment exercise in Australia has resulted in research outputs of elite accounting disciplines over this period being increasingly focused on positivist rather than non-positivist research. Our findings evidence a narrowing of accounting disciplines' research agendas and foci across the period.
Research limitations/implications
Our findings highlight a considerable narrowing of the research agenda and paradigms in accounting disciplines that is not in the public interest. Our findings also have implications for the literature on academic elitism. The narrowing of the research agenda and greater foci on positivist research exhibited in our findings demonstrates the role of dominant elites in controlling the research agenda through a research assessment exercise.
Practical implications
A practical implication is that proper research, regardless of the approach used, must be appropriately recognised and accepted by Accounting Disciplines, not ostracised or discouraged. Research implications are the breadth of accounting research should be celebrated and concentration eschewed. Australian accounting discipline leaders should not fall for the illusion that the only good research is that which is published in a small number of North American positivist journals.
Originality/value
Our findings provide insights into Bourdieu's work through demonstrating how dominant players have successfully exploited an external regulatory mechanism, a research assessment exercise, to strengthen their position within a field and exert control over the research agendas of accounting disciplines. Previous work by Bourdieu has not directly examined how actors utilise these outside forces as instruments for shaping their own field.
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Timothy Hackman and Margaret Loebe
This chapter discusses the project to investigate, recommend, and create user-focused solutions for opening and operating Severn Library, a high-density storage facility, at the…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter discusses the project to investigate, recommend, and create user-focused solutions for opening and operating Severn Library, a high-density storage facility, at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.
Methodology/approach
This chapter takes the case study approach, discussing the practical application of project management techniques to various stages of a large-scale project to plan for a high-density storage facility.
Findings
Although the Severn Library project began with a large project team, lack of formal project management expertise and the massive nature of the project led to its breakdown into smaller constituent projects, with the two authors filling the roles of “accidental project managers” to complete the work on time. Although this approach was ultimately successful, the overall success of the project could have been improved through more formal application of project management techniques.
Research limitations/implications
This chapter discusses the experience of the authors at one large, public state university. The experience of other libraries and library managers may vary based on institutional context.
Practical implications
This chapter will be valuable to library managers interested in project management techniques in libraries, and/or in planning for high-density library storage facilities.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the only writing on the application of project management techniques to construction and operation of a high-density library storage facility.
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Anna Marie Johnson, Claudene Sproles, Robert Detmering and Jessica English
The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.
Findings
Information is provided about each source, and the paper discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.