Leo Lo, Jason Coleman and Danielle Theiss
– The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into patrons' preferences for quick response code (QR code) design as well as data about their potential benefits.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into patrons' preferences for quick response code (QR code) design as well as data about their potential benefits.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was used to learn whether patrons find it easy to use a QR code, to gather patrons' opinions about several possible library uses for QR codes, and to solicit additional ideas for using QR codes in libraries. A small-scale pilot project was implemented to learn whether the Libraries' patrons would make use of QR codes. To augment the data gained from the first two studies, five focus groups were facilitated.
Findings
The authors found that patrons generally find QR codes easy to use and would welcome a variety of library services on their mobile devices.
Research limitations/implications
Further studies on a variety of mobile devices would be a useful way to gain more insight into how libraries can take advantage of mobile communication to provide services to patrons.
Originality/value
This paper would appeal to academic libraries considering implementing QR codes projects as there are only a very limited number of studies on library users' preferences of QR codes.
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Danielle Theiss‐White, Jenny Dale, Melia Erin Fritch, Laura Bonella and Jason Coleman
The purpose of this paper is to describe the new virtual reference system Libraryh3lp, developed to assist librarians with managing multiple instant messaging (IM) patrons at one…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the new virtual reference system Libraryh3lp, developed to assist librarians with managing multiple instant messaging (IM) patrons at one time.
Design/methodology/approach
A summary of the main features of the Libraryh3lp system, including setup and reports; and a discussion of how to provide staff training.
Findings
This paper provides an overview of the Libraryh3lp virtual reference platform including what it does, how it works, and its benefits for reference managers.
Originality/value
This paper is useful for information management professionals who are looking for a low‐cost, reliable alternative to current IM software systems.
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A lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) community’s hunger for its history became an arena for creative, unorthodox work involving a library and information…
Abstract
A lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) community’s hunger for its history became an arena for creative, unorthodox work involving a library and information science (LIS) educator, librarians and other educators, and even a university library. The result was fundamentally collaborative, involving community and educational organizations; all inspired by social responsibility and community engagement goals, some of which can be found in a university mission statement. The story of these individuals and organizations begins with a drive toward a greater awareness of LGBTQ+ history, a goal that led to creating inclusive high school history curricula. Along the way, these efforts generated information resources such as a community-generated database, a temporary history exhibit, a conference, and a workshop geared to gay straight alliance (GSA) organizations in high schools. GSAs and their statewide supporting organization, the Illinois Safe School Alliance, were also the part of this work. While the larger goal of this work was to help diverse constituencies understand the importance of their history by developing, curating, and utilizing information resources that fulfill overlooked community information needs, this chapter comes to focus on a piece of that work, the development of Illinois’s first LGBTQ+ history elective. Consequently, this chapter can show how librarians and libraries can actualize social justice aims and thereby expand traditional library practices through sustained efforts that may lead to smaller specific goals, some of which may develop in unforeseen ways. The key is to expand the existing aims of libraries into sustained community engagement while remaining open to the opportunities that arise along the way.
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Jason J. Griffith and Jocelyn Amevuvor
This paper aims to argue for the curricular inclusion of youth-generated young adult literature (YAL) alongside canonical literature and adult-generated YAL. The authors support…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to argue for the curricular inclusion of youth-generated young adult literature (YAL) alongside canonical literature and adult-generated YAL. The authors support this argument with the results of a qualitative analysis of youth memoir published in The Best Teen Writing. They strive to inform the debate between educators who value memoir as part of the secondary curriculum and critics who question the ability of youth to write purposeful, meaningful narrative. Additionally, the authors also present memoir as a unique genre for youth to document and process adolescence, and for youth to speak to issues which they deem important.
Design/methodology/approach
Informed theoretically by the Youth Lens, which considers how texts reinforce and/or disrupt various figurations of adolescence and youth, this study uses a multistage qualitative analysis of 83 youth memoir published in nine volumes of the Best Teen Writing from 2010 to 2018. First, the authors conducted a Labovian plot analysis to consider what themes and topics were present as well as what this sample could teach us about youth. Next, they analyzed the sample for genre hallmarks specific to creative nonfiction and memoir to consider the question of quality of youth memoir.
Findings
The findings suggest that there is no typical adolescence and that youth are balancing complex, intersectional identities, which they write about skillfully through memoir. These findings directly contrast with critics of youth memoir. Rather than clichéd, the memoirs the authors analyzed show youth as intercultural, capable of thoughtful reflection, capturing the transitory state of their youth (knowing they are not children anymore and lightly speculating about their future), skillfully integrating memoir genre hallmarks, and recording important events and perspectives with appeal to a broader readership. Furthermore, these findings position youth memoir as worthy of curricular inclusion alongside adult-generated YAL.
Originality/value
If the critics of youth memoir are the loudest voices, youth memoir will be, at best, relegated as examples for writers rather than seen as valid additions to curricular canon. This work gives due credit to the quality of published youth memoir to showcase their potential for curricular and canonical addition. This study builds on smaller-scale case studies and personal accounts to make an argument for curricular inclusion of youth voices and youth memoir in the secondary canon.
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Ikenna Uzuegbunam, Yin-Chi Liao, Luke Pittaway and G. Jason Jolley
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of human and intellectual capital on start-ups’ attainment of government venture capital (GVC). It is theorized that as a result…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of human and intellectual capital on start-ups’ attainment of government venture capital (GVC). It is theorized that as a result of government predisposition toward enhancing knowledge spillover and certifying underinvested start-ups, different types of human and intellectual capital possessed by start-ups will distinctly affect GVC funding.
Design/methodology/approach
The Kauffman Firm Survey, a panel data set of 4,928 new US firms over a five-year period (2004-2008), serves as the data source. Ordinary least squares regression, coupled with generalized estimating equations to check for robustness, is used to determine the effect of human and intellectual capital on GVC funding.
Findings
Founders’ educational attainment has a greater impact than their occupational experience in GVC funding. While the number of patents owned by the start-up increases GVC funding, the number of trademarks and copyrights negatively influence GVC funding.
Originality/value
By distinguishing between different aspects of human and intellectual capital, this study provides a more nuanced understanding of the influence of new venture resources in the context of GVC.
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Miguel Wilson, Sayoni Ghosh and Kendra Jason
Studies and programming on belonging in higher education tend to focus on college students’ sense of belonging, but the experiences of faculty and staff are equally important…
Abstract
Purpose
Studies and programming on belonging in higher education tend to focus on college students’ sense of belonging, but the experiences of faculty and staff are equally important. Minoritized faculty and staff disproportionately report lower levels of sense of belonging and experience greater turnover outcomes. A sense of belonging among faculty and staff lessens their intention to quit, facilitates research collaboration and increases organizational commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
In this scoping review, we analyzed 24 articles yielded from three databases (Academic Search Complete, JSTOR and Web of Science) that synthesize extant literature on faculty and staff’s sense of belonging.
Findings
We found that a sense of belonging for faculty and staff (1) is often examined without being consistently defined; (2) can be hindered by the stigmatization of minoritized identities (e.g. race, gender and class), exclusive organizational policies and the academy’s socio-political structure remain barriers to a sense of belonging and (3) can be fostered through social support, celebrating professional legitimacy and valuing diversity.
Originality/value
This study details the educational landscape of sense of belonging for faculty, and call for more attention to sense of belonging for staff, so that higher education institutions can utilize organizational policies and interventions to help foster a sense of belonging, which can lead to an increase in productivity, retention and job satisfaction.
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This ethnographic study of school food service employees at an elementary, middle, and high school in the Midwest introduces “feeding labor,” a concept to signify a form of…
Abstract
Purpose
This ethnographic study of school food service employees at an elementary, middle, and high school in the Midwest introduces “feeding labor,” a concept to signify a form of gendered labor that entails emotional and bodily feeding activities.
Methodology
This chapter is based on 18 months of participant-observation and 25 in-depth interviews.
Findings
I illustrate three characteristics of feeding labor: (1) the physical labor of attending to the feeding needs of customers, (2) the emotional labor of managing feelings to create and respond to customers, and (3) variations in the gendered performance of feeding labor as explained through the intersection of race, class, and age. These dimensions vary across different field sites and emerge as three distinct patterns of feeding labor: (1) motherly feeding labor involves physical and emotional attentiveness and nurturing with mostly middle- and upper-class young white customers, (2) tough-love feeding labor involves a mix of tough, but caring respect and discipline when serving mostly working- and lower-middle class racially mixed young teens, and (3) efficient feeding labor involves fast, courteous service when serving mostly working- and middle-class predominantly white teenagers.
Implications
These findings show that a caring and nurturing style of emotional and physical labor is central in schools with white, middle-class, young students, but that other forms of gendered feeding labor are performed in schools composed of students with different race, class, and age cohorts that emphasize displaying tough-love and efficiency while serving students food. Examining this form of labor allows us to see how social inequalities are maintained and sustained in the school cafeteria.
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The purpose of this paper is to report on the NFAIS 2013 Conference.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on the NFAIS 2013 Conference.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conference report.
Findings
The paper provides original reporting and viewpoints.
Originality/value
The author provides personal views on the conference.
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Kevin C. Cox, Jason Lortie and Ratan J.S. Dheer
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence that national levels of social capital have on entrepreneurial activity. Specifically, we argue that national and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence that national levels of social capital have on entrepreneurial activity. Specifically, we argue that national and regional level social capital positively influences the ability of entrepreneurs to mobilize and access important resources thereby positively impacting the rate of entrepreneurship within nations and regions.
Design/methodology/approach
We advance a multilevel and multidimensional conceptualization of social capital. Then based on a dataset of 68 nations and 665 within-nation regions, we empirically evaluate the effects of social capital at the national and regional level in explaining differences in entrepreneurial activity across nations and regions using a combination of regression analysis and multilevel hierarchical linear modeling (HLM).
Findings
Our findings emphasize the importance of formulating a multilevel conceptualization of social capital for entrepreneurship research. We discuss the results, provide implications for public policy and suggest avenues for future research.
Originality/value
The overwhelming majority of entrepreneurship research focused on investigating the implications of social capital reside at the individual level of analysis. Our unique inquiry is an inaugural effort to consider this important implications at the macro and meso-level of analysis by examining both regional and national-level effects.