At the turn of the twenty-first century, academic libraries revived their tradition of working with readers, which resulted in a surge of publications in this area. However, the…
Abstract
Purpose
At the turn of the twenty-first century, academic libraries revived their tradition of working with readers, which resulted in a surge of publications in this area. However, the nature and thematic coverage of these publications has not changed dramatically in the past 18 years, signaling little advancement in the reach and scope of this professional activity. This paper aims to address the following research problem: What do citation patterns reveal about reading research and practice in academic libraries and do they point to interdisciplinary research and the presence of an evidence base or do they carry a mark of an inward disciplinary orientation?
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative exploratory study, also involving descriptive statistics, that uses bibliographic and citation analysis as a method.
Findings
The study discovers a disconnect between the diversity of interdisciplinary research cited in the published work on reading in academic libraries and the sameness of respective professional practices; it describes a relatively small community of reading researchers in academic libraries, emerging as leaders who can change the direction and scope of reading practices; and it highlights a preference of academic librarians for relying on interdisciplinary knowledge about reading over building on the readers’ advisory experience of public librarians.
Originality/value
Translating the incredible wealth of interdisciplinary reading knowledge possessed by academic librarians into practical applications promises to advance and diversify reading practices in academic libraries. One method that could aid in this effort is more intentional learning from the readers’ advisory practices of public librarians.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate student use of the reference desk at a residential college, so that academic libraries can better understand the role of in‐person…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate student use of the reference desk at a residential college, so that academic libraries can better understand the role of in‐person assistance to meet the information needs of students.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey respondents answered open‐ended questions related to ways they ask for help in the library; data were coded and analyzed for salient trends. Photo diary entries and interviews with smaller groups of students were also used to illuminate findings.
Findings
Students express a need for the kind of help provided by the reference desk in terms of how students use and describe the desk. Usage patterns can also be predicted in terms of class year, gender, and major, indicating a way for the library to provide specific outreach to students who underutilize the reference desk.
Research limitations/implications
The study investigates student use of the reference desk at a single institution. The unique characteristics of the institution might limit the implications that can be drawn from the study's conclusions for institutions that are not residential and do not serve a primarily traditional‐aged college population.
Originality/value
As information and our users move increasingly online, libraries must consider the value of reference desks. Findings at a residential institution demonstrate the value‐added benefit of this service in helping students with their research.
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Abstract
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Paulette M. Rothbauer and Lucia Cedeira Serantes
The purpose of this paper is to explore various concepts of time and temporal dimensions in the context of everyday reading experiences.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore various concepts of time and temporal dimensions in the context of everyday reading experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses theoretical bricolage that puts existing reading research into conversation with theories of time and temporalities.
Findings
Three registers of time in reading are put forward: (1) libraries and books as places that readers return to again and again over time, (2) temporalized reading bodies and (3) everyday reading as a temporalized practice.
Research limitations/implications
Using lenses of time and temporalities, everyday reading is shown to be central to ways of being in time. Subjectives experiences of time in the context of reading expand the limited ways that time is presented in much Library and Information Science (LIS) reading research.
Originality/value
This paper offers a new conceptual framework for studies of reading and readers in LIS.
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Marie-Hélène Gilbert, Julie Dextras-Gauthier, Maude Boulet, Isabelle Auclair, Justine Dima and Frédéric Boucher
Maintaining a healthy and productive workforce is a challenge for most organizations. This is even truer for health organization, facing staff shortages and work overload. The aim…
Abstract
Purpose
Maintaining a healthy and productive workforce is a challenge for most organizations. This is even truer for health organization, facing staff shortages and work overload. The aim of this study is to identify the resources and constraints that influence managers' mental health and better understand how they are affected by them.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was chosen to document the resources, the constraints as well as their consequences on managers in their day-to-day realities. The sample included executive-, intermediate- and first-level managers from a Canadian healthcare facility. A total of 62 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The coding process was based on the IGLOO model of Nielsen et al. (2018) to which an employee-related level was added (IGELOO).
Findings
Results highlight the importance of considering both resources as well as constraints in examining managers' mental health. Overarching context, organizational constraints and the management of difficult employees played important roles in the stress experienced by managers.
Practical implications
The results offer a better understanding of the importance of intervening at different levels to promote better organizational health. Results also highlight the importance of setting up organizational resources and act on the various constraints to reduce them. Different individual strategies used by managers to deal with the various constraints and maintain their mental health also emerge from those results.
Originality/value
In addition to addressing the reality of healthcare managers, this study supplements a theoretical model and suggests avenues for interventions promoting more sustainable organizational health.
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Marie-Hélène Gilbert, Julie Dextras-Gauthier, Pierre-Sébastien Fournier, André Côté, Isabelle Auclair and Mouna Knani
The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the difficulties encountered in the hybrid roles of physician−managers (P−Ms), examine the impact of organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the difficulties encountered in the hybrid roles of physician−managers (P−Ms), examine the impact of organizational constraints on the role conflicts experienced by P−Ms and explore the different ways their two roles are integrated.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was adopted, using six focus groups made up of clinical co-managers, medical directors and P−Ms. In all, 43 different people were interviewed to obtain their perceptions of the day-to-day realities of the role of the P−M. The data collected were subsequently validated.
Findings
Although the expectations of the different groups involved regarding the role of P−Ms are well understood and shared, there are significant organizational constraints affecting what P−Ms are able to do in their day-to-day activities, and these constraints can result in role conflicts for the people involved. Such constraints also affect the ways P−Ms integrate the two roles. The authors identify three role hybridization profiles.
Practical implications
The results afford a better understanding of how organizational constraints might be used as levers of organizational change to achieve a better hybridization of the dual roles of P−Ms.
Originality/value
This paper seeks to reach beyond a simple identification of constraints affecting the dual roles of P−Ms by analyzing how such constraints impact on these professionals’ day-to-day activities. Results also enable us to further refine Katz and Kahn’s (1966) role model, in addition to identifying hybridization profiles.
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The emotional labor of headteachers and teachers is complex. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of the use of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence…
Abstract
Purpose
The emotional labor of headteachers and teachers is complex. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of the use of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence test (MSCEIT) (Mayer, Caruso & Salovey, 2000) when assessing the emotional intelligence of headteachers as part of an investigation which aimed to reveal the ways in which female secondary school leaders were emotionally intelligent and whether it was possible to test for emotional intelligence.
Design/methodology/approach
Seven female headteachers’ MSCEIT reports are investigated. Semi-structured interviews were held pre- and post-test to explore the headteachers’ emotional labor. In addition, teachers serving under the headteachers were interviewed.
Findings
The accuracy of the MSCEIT is questioned, rather than taking the results at face value, attention is given to its content, language and cultural differences. The MSCEIT originates from the USA and is used globally. The findings of this investigation suggest it is possible the MSCEIT represents a deficit model due to the test takers’ interpretation of nuanced language. The findings show a disparity in relation to MSCEIT scores and self-reported emotional responses.
Research limitations/implications
Although the sample size is small and therefore cannot claim generalization from the findings, the use of emotional intelligence tests should be used with caution. Emotional responses are best understood through life experience as the headteachers attach retrospective meaning to their leadership actions.
Originality/value
Headteachers’ work is multifaceted because emotion is integral to the processes of teaching and learning. The emotional labor of headteachers and teachers impacts and has relevance to their roles as educational landscapes continue to shift.
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Michael Crowhurst and Julie Faulkner
From one Graduate Diploma Secondary student taking a pro-diversity course that both authors had a connection with there was a very angry response, encapsulated by the statement…
Abstract
Purpose
From one Graduate Diploma Secondary student taking a pro-diversity course that both authors had a connection with there was a very angry response, encapsulated by the statement “This course made me feel guilty to be an Australian”. We are aware that negative student evaluations can be part of the territory for tertiary teachers working in diversity courses. The purpose of this paper is to explore the students’ confronting comment which will be construed as a type of offer that is being extended to us – an offer that we are refusing. We draw on Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of “exterior assemblages”, and we shift our gaze to consider “what constitutes the territory” that is our response to the pre-service teacher’s evaluative claim.
Design/methodology/approach
The specific methods we deployed involved an eclectic appropriation of various tools. We embarked on this process of exploration by journaling, collective reflection and informal discussions with other colleagues. Our journals responded to the question: What constitutes the place that is the territory that is our refusal of the student’s offer? In order to explore this place we: kept a hand-written journal; used conventional text and arts based practice techniques in our journaling; discussed our journal entries periodically (face to face, via Skype and via e-mail); discussed this project with colleagues – giving them knowledge that we were doing this – and that we might write journal entries about these conversations; and read a variety of relevant texts We engaged in these processes for a three month period. At the end of this period we shared journals, and set about the task of analysing them. We engaged in a number of analyses and detailed our findings over the next month. Further, over a longer period of time we engaged with this incident and our journal entries and presented a series of in progress papers at a variety of conferences and seminars. The analysis of the data generated involved discourse analysis and dialogue.
Findings
A series of key discourses were identified and listed in the paper.
Research limitations/implications
The key identified ideas are briefly linked to a series of implications for practitioners.
Practical implications
One of the key practical implications is the suggestion that where disagreements surface in education that one response to such moments might be for the parties to consider where they are located.
Social implications
The paper outlines a way of thinking about disagreements that has useful implications when considering issues relating to pedagogical strategies aiming to work towards social justice.
Originality/value
The paper is an original response to a critical moment that occurred for two lecturers in pre-service teacher education.
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Kristjan Kikerpill, Andra Siibak and Suido Valli
Purpose: The study makes use of situational crime prevention framework for analyzing online community reactions to the banning of deepfake pornographic content from Reddit…
Abstract
Purpose: The study makes use of situational crime prevention framework for analyzing online community reactions to the banning of deepfake pornographic content from Reddit.
Methodology/approach: Qualitative text analysis of user comments posted to Reddit’s rule-change announcement (N = 582) was carried out. Analysis relied on the original 25 techniques of situational crime prevention that were adapted into a table of activities and mechanisms meant specifically for use with online platforms.
Findings: Analysis indicates that Reddit users voiced several shortcomings that are currently present in Reddit’s platform management approach. In particular, users emphasized issues related to the lack of a consistent and transparent approach to community rule enforcement, as users believed the rule changes to be sudden and poorly reasoned. The general reactionary nature of Reddit’s approach to moderating community-harming actions also was a point of emphasis, alongside the platform’s continued rigid stance on freedom of expression, even with regard to illegal and demeaning content. Regarding Reddit and the new rules on involuntary pornography and the sexualization of minors, enforcement of sitewide policy appears contingent on external influences, such as attention from mainstream media or financial matters, rather than stemming from an inherent stance on decreasing community-harming activities.
Research limitations: The study only pertains to a specific rule change by Reddit and subsequent reactions from the platform’s community. Future research is needed to test the applicability of the adapted table of 25 techniques of situational crime prevention in the context of other online platforms.
Originality/value: First, the study applies the situational crime prevention approach in the context of moderating online platforms. Second, results from the study shed light on current practices in online content moderation from the perspective of criminological theory, as well as inform specific actions that can be taken to decrease the presence of community-harming phenomena and improve the enforcement of sitewide policy rules in general. Finally, by adapting the original 25 techniques of situational crime prevention to online content moderation, the study suggests a tentative roadmap for similar research in the future.