Lynne Armitage and Janine Irons
The purpose of this paper is to consider some of the approaches which have been developed to bring forward awareness of the role of heritage and its significance in reducing the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider some of the approaches which have been developed to bring forward awareness of the role of heritage and its significance in reducing the use of carbon incurred by the creation of new structures.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach adopted is to look at the emergence and dissemination of these issues through published literature including professional standards and guidelines for the management and valuation of historic property and also to consider the practice of heritage management and assessment in Western Australia.
Findings
The paper finds that Australia has a well‐developed system of heritage management but has been slow to adapt to its responsibilities under international treaties in the area of sustainable practices in the property field but that there is evidence of progress to improve the situation. Whilst the overall picture of the impact of heritage listing on property value remains clouded, and arguments for both positive and negative impacts are evident from the many perspectives researchers have considered, the sustainable use of resources is one which is currently receiving more attention in professional and academic circles.
Research limitations/implications
The predominant focus of this paper is from an Australian perspective but with reference to the UK context.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is that, by drawing attention to the value of built heritage as an expression of cultural worth, the demand for new structures can be constrained to some extent by reuse of existing buildings, resulting in more sustainable practices. This environmental view of heritage property may result in its being more favoured as an investment asset in the future due to its smaller carbon footprint than more recent, or potential replacement, structures.
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Leisa Gibbons and Janine Douglas
This paper aims to explore how and why the Australian records and archives professions are in decline by examining job advertisements. The hypothesis was that competencies…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how and why the Australian records and archives professions are in decline by examining job advertisements. The hypothesis was that competencies, developed as standards to communicate a professional identity to recruiters, would show in job advertisements.
Design/methodology/approach
Searches were set up to capture job advertisements for records and archives positions advertised on Australia’s largest job seeking website: Seek.com.au. Criteria developed to identify relevant advertisements were based on existing competencies and standards outlining records professionals’ skills, knowledge and attributes. Statistical analysis was used to assess the data.
Findings
Employers and recruiters are looking for generalist skills rather than specialist knowledge. Additionally, the requirement of having experience outweighs qualifications. Most job advertisements did not demonstrate awareness of records professionals’ specialist skills, knowledge and attributes.
Originality/value
There is a dearth of research into the Australian records workforce. There has been only one other research project into job advertisements in Australia, which focussed only on Western Australia. This research collected data over a three-month period for jobs advertised all over Australia. This paper raises questions about the role of competencies in establishing and communicating professional identity, as well as the future of records profession in Australia.
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Corporate culture is a spirit formed by the shared values of the individuals in the organization that has potential to make the library more than the sum of its parts, both…
Abstract
Corporate culture is a spirit formed by the shared values of the individuals in the organization that has potential to make the library more than the sum of its parts, both positively and negatively. It is the vehicle by which the organization defines itself, for both itself and the clientele, with the purpose of providing the best service possible by sharing a vision of the organization as an organic whole. It operates through the power of peer influence rather than direct vertical authority. This paper takes a holistic approach to a concept that is more complex than it first appears; it addresses the molding of corporate culture, not as a management function, but as a complex and deep system, being in effect the soul of the organization, which resides in the motivation of each individual and which, therefore, requires a special kind of leadership.
The purpose of this paper is to explore links between a revisionist view of the “feminisation of poverty” in developing countries and women’s work and home-based enterprise in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore links between a revisionist view of the “feminisation of poverty” in developing countries and women’s work and home-based enterprise in urban slums.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper’s discussion of the “feminisation of poverty” draws substantially from ethnographic field research conducted in The Gambia, The Philippines and Costa Rica. This research led the author to propose the notion of a “feminisation of responsibility and/or obligation”. The latter approach draws attention to issues such as gendered disparities of labour, time and resource inputs into household livelihoods, which are often most marked in male-headed units, and are not captured in conventional referents of the “feminisation of poverty”, which are rather narrowly confined to incomes and female household headship.
Findings
An integral element of the author’s critique is that the main policy response to classic “feminisation of poverty” thinking, to date, has been to “feminise” anti-poverty initiatives such as Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and microfinance programmes.
Originality/value
The paper argues that the “feminisation of poverty” compounds the tensions women already face in terms of managing unpaid reproductive and/or “volunteer” work with their economic contributions to household livelihoods, and it is in the context of urban slums, where housing, service and infrastructure deficiencies pose considerable challenges to women’s dual burdens of productive and reproductive labour. The paper emphasizes that to more effectively address gender inequality while also alleviating poverty, policy interventions sensitive to women’s multiple, time-consuming responsibilities and obligations are paramount.
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Cristiano Codagnone, Athina Karatzogianni and Jacob Matthews
Academic library consortia activity has become an integral part of academic libraries’ operations. Consortia have come to assert considerable bargaining power over publishers and…
Abstract
Academic library consortia activity has become an integral part of academic libraries’ operations. Consortia have come to assert considerable bargaining power over publishers and have provided libraries with considerable economic advantage. They interact with publishers both as consumers of publishers’ products, with much stronger bargaining power than individual libraries hold, and, increasingly, as rival publishers themselves. Are consortia changing the relationship between academic libraries and publishers? Is the role of academic library consortia placing academic libraries in a position that should and will attract the attention of competition policy regulators? Competition policy prohibits buying and selling cartels that can negatively impact the free market on which the Canadian economic system, like other Western economies, depends. Competition policy as part of economic policy is, however, only relevant where we are concerned with aspects of the market economy. Traditionally, public goods for the greater social and cultural benefit of society are not considered part of the market economic system. If the activities of academic library consortia are part of that public good perspective, competition policy may not be a relevant concern. Using evidence gained from in-depth interviews from a national sample of university librarians and from interviews with the relevant federal government policy makers, this research establishes whether library consortia are viewed as participating in the market economy of Canada or not. Are consortia viewed by librarians and government as serving a public good role of providing information for a greater social and cultural benefit or are they seen from a market-economic perspective of changing power relations with publishers? Findings show government has little in-depth understanding of academic library consortia activity, but would most likely consider such activity predominantly from a market economic perspective. University librarians view consortia from a public good perspective but also as having an important future role in library operations and in changing the existing scholarly publishing paradigm. One-third of librarian respondents felt that future consortia could compete with publishers by becoming publishers and through initiatives such as open source institutional repositories. Librarians also felt that consortia have had a positive effect on librarians’ professional roles through the facilitation of knowledge building and collaboration opportunities outside of the home institution.
The user-centered approach to understanding information use and users has shaped research in library and information science (LIS). In a user-centered environment, catalogers are…
Abstract
The user-centered approach to understanding information use and users has shaped research in library and information science (LIS). In a user-centered environment, catalogers are told to focus on users and adapt standards to meet users’ needs while following standards in order to be efficient in their jobs. This study describes three academic cataloging units as they negotiate both the demands to follow and adapt these standards to meet users’ needs. New institutional theory served as a framework for the study. The results suggest that standards and users are pressures that cataloging units negotiate in their jobs, along with demands for work efficiency and professional legitimacy. While negotiating these pressures, catalogers and cataloging units redefine their work jurisdiction and maintain legitimacy to remain relevant in a complex work environment. Understanding how catalogers negotiate the normative institutional pressures of standards and users leads to an understanding of the complex nature of work in areas that deal with issues of standards and users, shows how an area within a profession maintains legitimacy when the profession no longer values that work, and, finally, shows the limits of the user-centered focus in LIS practice.
Hayfaa Tlaiss and Saleema Kauser
The purpose of this paper is to address the research gap on Lebanese women managers and to demonstrate how gender, work, and family factors influence the career advancement of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the research gap on Lebanese women managers and to demonstrate how gender, work, and family factors influence the career advancement of women managers.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is qualitative in nature. A total of 32 in‐depth face‐to face interviews were conducted with 32 women managers.
Findings
Interview data reveal that Lebanese women managers do not perceive gender‐centered factors as obstacles to career advancement. The women in the study used different terms to describe the impact of gender, work, and family factors on their career progression to those found in existing literature. Their responsibilities towards their families were not perceived as barriers hindering their career progress. In addition, their personality traits, aspirations for management, levels of educational attainment and work experience, and family‐related factors were also not perceived as inhibiting their careers.
Practical implications
The paper provides new practical insights into the relationships and the interconnections between Arab society, women, and their managerial careers. A strong theme is the significant role of Wasta, the reliance and dependence on social connections versus personal education and achievements to achieve career progress, in enhancing career progression and how gender is less of a criterion in the presence of Wasta.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the limited knowledge about women and management in Lebanon, as well as the Middle Eastern region in general.
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Olivia Giles and Daniel Murphy
This paper aims to explore any potential link between the corporate issue of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) with a changed environmental, social and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore any potential link between the corporate issue of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) with a changed environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting focus as part of a complementary communicative legitimation strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal content analysis of the annual reports of three sample Australian corporations was undertaken, measuring changes in ESG disclosure levels and disclosure focus around the time a SLAPP was issued by each sample firm.
Findings
This paper provides support for the contention that both the number of ESG disclosures and the type of ESG disclosures changed after the sample firms issued SLAPPs.
Research limitations/implications
A number of limitations are identified within the paper, including difficulties identifying when SLAPPs are initiated.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first investigation of the relationship between SLAPPs and ESG reporting, and this study helps open up a new area of research into how ESG reporting is used by corporations in a strategic manner.