Maurice Atkinson and Valerie Maxwell
This paper aims to present the rationale for the adoption of a performance measurement approach within a partnership setting, the process followed to develop a multi‐agency…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present the rationale for the adoption of a performance measurement approach within a partnership setting, the process followed to develop a multi‐agency performance measurement framework, the resulting model and the associated challenges and key success factors.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper used a case study approach.
Findings
This paper describes the multi‐agency outcomes‐based performance measurement model used by Children's Services Planning in Northern Ireland to monitor agreed outcomes and identifies the key success factors of developing and implementing such a model.
Research limitations/implications
Findings are limited to the analysis of the development of a performance measurement approach within a single partnership.
Originality/value
This paper has contributed to the debate on performance measurement by illustrating a paradigm shift from collecting activity data on an organization by organization basis to managing information on a multi‐agency basis using indicators based on outcomes as part of an integrated performance measurement system.
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The purpose of this paper is to define corporate performance management, provide an overview of the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority's performance management framework…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to define corporate performance management, provide an overview of the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority's performance management framework (PMF) and explain how the PMF might be used to enhance organisational effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes the form of a case study.
Findings
This paper describes the performance management framework developed by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority in Northern Ireland, and identifies how such a framework may be proactively used to enhance organisational effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are limited to the analysis of the development and use of a performance management framework within a single organisation.
Originality/value
This paper has contributed to the debate on performance management by outlining a mechanism by which a performance management framework can be utilised in practice to fundamentally challenge the organisation and provide a platform for action and improvement.
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THE Reference Department of Paisley Central Library today occupies the room which was the original Public Library built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1871. Since that…
Abstract
THE Reference Department of Paisley Central Library today occupies the room which was the original Public Library built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1871. Since that date two extensions to the building have taken place. The first, in 1882, provided a separate room for both Reference and Lending libraries; the second, opened in 1938, provided a new Children's Department. Together with the original cost of the building, these extensions were entirely financed by Sir Peter Coats, James Coats of Auchendrane and Daniel Coats respectively. The people of Paisley indeed owe much to this one family, whose generosity was great. They not only provided the capital required but continued to donate many useful and often extremely valuable works of reference over the many years that followed. In 1975 Paisley Library was incorporated in the new Renfrew District library service.
An introduction to a book of papers by Maurice Line published in 1988.
Abstract
Purpose
An introduction to a book of papers by Maurice Line published in 1988.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on personal recollections and knowledge of the author.
Findings
A personal view of Maurice Line and his distinguished career.
Originality/value
Provides an personal insight into Maurice Line.
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To describe the part played by Maurice Line in the use of survey evidence and performance information in the management of academic libraries, commencing with the publication of…
Abstract
Purpose
To describe the part played by Maurice Line in the use of survey evidence and performance information in the management of academic libraries, commencing with the publication of the “Parry Report” in 1967.
Design/methdology/approach
The Parry Committee found little practical evidence in 1963, and had to commission some work. Two studies carried out by Line at Southampton University were available, and this and other work by Line featured significantly in the committee's work. The emergence of Line as a major figure in the development of academic and research libraries, the further development of the use of an evidence‐based approach to the management of academic libraries, and the links between these two factors are outlined.
Findings
The advance of Line's professional career was accompanied by a substantial output of highly‐regarded professional writing, which incorporated original thought and an evidence‐based approach to a degree which was unusual for that time, especially from somebody in a relatively junior post. The paucity of similar work prior to 1970 is outlined and the development of the empirical approach, especially through the work of the newly‐founded Library Management Research Unit (LMRU) is described. The 1976 report of the Atkinson Committee is portrayed as confirming the importance of evidence for the future management of academic libraries.
Originality/value
Sketches the early stages of a career which has had a profound impact on the development of academic and research libraries since 1960.
Cathriona Nash, Lisa O'Malley and Maurice Patterson
The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical reflection on the experience and challenges associated with conducting a family ethnography along with methodological guidance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical reflection on the experience and challenges associated with conducting a family ethnography along with methodological guidance that generates insights for future researchers.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a family ethnography as a methodological approach to investigate family consumption in context with a view towards capturing detailed consumption experiences.
Findings
A family ethnography is a valuable but challenging methodology to follow in its preparation, practice and publishing. Despite these challenges, they are surmountable with some lateral thinking to conduct methodologically and ethically sound ethnographic research.
Research limitations/implications
The method, challenges and guidance offered here can be used to make the most of ethnography as a methodological approach to family research.
Practical implications
The critical reflection of the experience and challenges of conducting a family ethnography along with the practical advice offered here may guide those considering using ethnographic research.
Originality/value
Contributions include a critical reflection on the experience and challenges of conducting a family ethnography, ethical and methodological guidelines to overcome them and operational guidelines for their use.
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IAN WINKWORTH and BRIAN ENRIGHT
The fifteen years before Atkinson represented for many British university librarians a golden age, as the number and size of universities expanded, young men received promotion…
Abstract
The fifteen years before Atkinson represented for many British university librarians a golden age, as the number and size of universities expanded, young men received promotion long before they might reasonably have expected, and funds for collections and buildings to house them became available on a scale never before seen in most British universities. The thesis of this contribution is that the “golden age” provided an opportunity for the testing of attitudes and approaches to academic librarianship which before had always been constrained by financial circumstances, and that in that test the traditional philosophies were found wanting. The Atkinson Report was a turning point when the reluctant academic library community was reminded of reality.
Leonie Lynch, Maurice Patterson and Caoilfhionn Ní Bheacháin
This paper aims to consider the visual literacy mobilized by consumers in their use of brand aesthetics to construct and communicate a curated self.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to consider the visual literacy mobilized by consumers in their use of brand aesthetics to construct and communicate a curated self.
Design/methodology/approach
The research surveyed a range of visual material from Instagram. Specifically, the goal was to use “compositional interpretation”, an approach to visual analysis that is not methodologically explicit but which, in itself, draws upon the visual literacy of the researcher to provide a descriptive analysis of the formal visual quality of images as distinct from their symbolic resonances. The research also incorporates 10 phenomenological-type interviews with consumers. Consistent with a phenomenological approach, informants were selected because they have “lived” the experience under investigation, in this case requiring them to be keen consumers of the Orla Kiely brand.
Findings
Findings indicate that consumers deploy their visual literacy in strategic visualization (imaginatively planning and coordinating artifacts with other objects in their collection, positioning and using them as part of an overall visual repertoire), composition (becoming active producers of images) and emergent design (turning design objects into display pieces, repurposing design objects or simply borrowing brand aesthetics to create designed objects of their own).
Research limitations/implications
This research has implications for the understanding of visual literacy within consumer culture. Engaging comprehensively with the visual compositions of consumers, this research moves beyond brand symbolism, semiotics or concepts of social status to examine the self-conscious creation of a curated self. The achievement of such a curated self depends on visual literacy and the deployment of abstract design language by consumers in the pursuit of both aesthetic satisfaction and social communication.
Practical implications
This research has implications for brand designers and managers in terms of how they might control or manage the use of brand aesthetics by consumers.
Originality/value
To date, there has been very little consumer research that explores the nature of visual literacy and even less that offers an empirical investigation of this concept within the context of brand aesthetics. The research moves beyond brand symbolism, semiotics and social status to consider the deployment of abstract visual language in communicating the curated self.
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This review looks firstly at a set of recent articles that examine basic concepts of interlending in particular and resource sharing in general. Some authors are supportive of…
Abstract
This review looks firstly at a set of recent articles that examine basic concepts of interlending in particular and resource sharing in general. Some authors are supportive of resource sharing and interlending, while others question its validity, demanding better examination of its benefits or better local provision. A very forthright paper concentrates on access, whilst another foresees greater user involvement in interlending. New technological developments are reported in a review of several articles on the successes and failures of telefacsimile transmission, ending with a brief mention of a new development — CD—hypenROMs. The European Communities' Docolsys proposal is reported, and a series of contrasting articles on interlending and union catalogues in the USSR is discussed. Recent developments in Canada are briefly reported, and the review ends with a consideration of a paper on humanities interlending requests surveyed by a Spanish research institute.
The aim of this paper is to bridge the gap between the organizational effectiveness (OE) models developed in the field of organizational theory and the performance measurement…
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to bridge the gap between the organizational effectiveness (OE) models developed in the field of organizational theory and the performance measurement models presented within the management accounting literature. The specific evolution of these two complementary streams of research stemming from two different fields of research are reconciled and integrated by analyzing their convergences and divergences. As a response to theoretical and practical pressures, the evolution of OE models reflects a construct perspective, while the evolution of performance measurement models mirrors a process perspective. Performance measurement models have moved from a cybernetic view whereby performance measurement was based mainly on financial measures and considered as a component of the planning and control cycle to a holistic view based on multiple nonfinancial measures where performance measurement acts as an independent process included in a broader set of activities. This paper contributes to the performance measurement literature by establishing the origins of the performance measurement models and by shedding light on unexplored fertile areas of future research.