Jeremy Paley, Julia Cottrill, Katherine Errecart, Aimee White, Carrie Schaden, Tyler Schrag, Robert Douglas, Beeta Tahmassebi, Rachel Crocker and David Streatfield
The purpose of this paper is to describe the evolution of a common approach to impact assessment across the Global Libraries (GL) portfolio of grants. It presents an overview of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the evolution of a common approach to impact assessment across the Global Libraries (GL) portfolio of grants. It presents an overview of two systems, the Performance Metrics (PMs) and the Common Impact Measurement System (CIMS). By providing a standard set of definitions and methods for use across countries, these systems enable grantees to collect data that can be compared and aggregated for the purpose of collective learning, improvement, accountability, and advocacy.
Design/methodology/approach
The PMs offer a standard methodology to collect library project performance management data, whereas the CIMS is a standard survey of public library users. The paper describes how the PM and CIMS data are being visualized and used, with examples of findings and lessons learned.
Findings
The paper cites examples of the type of PM and CIMS data available, with a focus on employment, gender, and case studies from Botswana and Indonesia. These highlights illustrate how libraries’ user demographics differ from other types of public internet access venues and how libraries can contribute to strong employment and growth.
Research limitations/implications
The measurement systems rely on different partners collecting data for the same metrics across different countries; while each grantee adheres to a standard methodology, small procedural, and methodological differences are inevitable. Future research could focus on conducting similar studies elsewhere, outside the cohort of countries in the GL portfolio of grants.
Practical implications
The paper offers insights and lessons for library agencies or institutions interested in implementing a common measurement system. Recognizing that few library projects have the resources to track a comprehensive set of indicators, a case study is presented about how smaller initiatives can adapt these systems to their needs.
Social implications
The indicators described in this paper enable public libraries to shift their focus from services provided to the outcomes they help individuals and communities realize, potentially increasing the potency of their programming and advocacy.
Originality/value
Common measurement systems are not new, but their application in the public library field is novel, as is the Data Atlas, a platform grantees use to compare results across metrics, track progress, and conduct advocacy.
Details
Keywords
Julia Cottrill, Fernando Letelier, Pablo Andrade Blanco, Henry García, Marcel Chiranov, Yuliya Tkachuk, Tetiana Liubyva, Rachel Crocker, Matthew Vanderwerff, Giedre Cistoviene, Ineta Krauls-Ward, Eugenijus Stratilatovas, Dan Mount, Agniete Kurutyte and Triyono .
The purpose of this paper is to outline the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries (GLs) initiative approach to advocacy and how it informs, guides, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to outline the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries (GLs) initiative approach to advocacy and how it informs, guides, and integrates impact data to support sustainability of GL program results.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper defines advocacy in the context of GL, and explores the GL grant planning process, tools, and collaboration between advocacy and impact specialists. Results are demonstrated through grantee examples that illustrate a variety of approaches to library advocacy using impact data at local, country, and regional levels.
Findings
The paper demonstrates the importance of identifying community needs, designing impact measures to demonstrate how libraries help to address those needs, and the variety of ways impact evidence can be used to effectively advocacy for public libraries. This basic formula can be applied to advocacy efforts ranging from a broad national policy to a small incremental change in perceptions of libraries by local decision makers.
Originality/value
This paper reinforces the essential link between library impact measurement data and successful advocacy.
Details
Keywords
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to effectively end race-conscious admissions practices across the nation, this paper highlights the law’s commitment to…
Abstract
Purpose
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to effectively end race-conscious admissions practices across the nation, this paper highlights the law’s commitment to whiteness and antiblackness, invites us to mourn and to connect to possibility.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from the theoretical contributions of Cheryl Harris, Jarvis Givens and Chezare Warren, as well as the wisdom of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissenting opinion, this paper utilizes CRT composite counterstory methodology to illuminate the antiblack reality of facially “race-neutral” admissions.
Findings
By manifesting the impossible situation that SFFA and the Supreme Court’s majority seek to normalize, the composite counterstory illuminates how Justice Jackson’s hypothetical enacts a fugitive pedagogy within a dominant legal system committed to whiteness as property; invites us to mourn, to connect to possibility and to remain committed to freedom as an intergenerational project that is inherently humanizing.
Originality/value
In a sobering moment where we face the end of race-conscious admissions, this paper uniquely grapples with the contradictions of affirmative action as minimally effective while also radically disruptive.
Details
Keywords
Jordan L. LeBel and Nathalie Cooke
The purpose of this research is to examine the nature of consumers' relationships with branded spokescharacters by drawing upon brand personality theory and reader‐response…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine the nature of consumers' relationships with branded spokescharacters by drawing upon brand personality theory and reader‐response theory, focusing specifically on food trade characters. We aim to show that the persuasive power of these characters resides not only in their appearance, but also in the complex narratives consumers project (sometimes unwittingly) onto the spokescharacter.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports the results of a survey – blending quantitative and qualitative methodologies – designed to document consumer perceptions, affective responses and spontaneous associations to different characters (i.e. Aunt Jemima, Robin Hood, Betty Crocker, Uncle Ben, Poppin' Fresh the Pillsbury's Doughboy, and M. Felix and Mr Norton, characters created by a Montreal‐based cookie company).
Findings
The results revealed that consumers associate spokescharacters with distinct personality profiles. Also, a connection was found between spokescharacters and narrative: a relationship where the characters become part of a larger narrative paradigm and more importantly, a relationship where the consumer is cast in a specific role vis‐à‐vis the spokescharacter.
Practical implications
These results should invite brand managers to stay current with the variety of associations that consumers form and how these associations influence the perception of their brand's personality. The results further underscore the need to understand the role into which consumers are cast vis‐à‐vis a branded character. Future research should examine cross cultural differences in the perception and narratives of branded characters, especially since many multinational companies use branded characters across cultural divides.
Originality/value
The paper shows how consumers play an active role in rendering a spokescharacter likeable, credible, and even memorable and documents the narratives that engage consumers and are both constructed collaboratively with them and propagated by them.
Details
Keywords
In the face of increasing resource insecurity, environmental degradation and climate change, more governments and businesses are now embracing the concept of the circular economy…
Abstract
In the face of increasing resource insecurity, environmental degradation and climate change, more governments and businesses are now embracing the concept of the circular economy. This chapter presents some historical background to the concept, with particular attention paid to its assumed opposite, the ‘linear’ or growth economy. While the origins of the circular economy concept are to be found in 1960s environmentalism, the chapter draws attention to the influence of the then ‘new’ sciences of ecology and ‘cybernetics’ in shaping the public environmental discourse of the period. It also draws attention to the background of the present linear economy in postwar policies that encouraged reconstruction and a social and economic democratisation across the West, including an expansion of mass-consumption. It emphasises the role of the 1960s counterculture in generating a popular reaction against this expansionary growth-based agenda, and its influence in shaping subsequent environmentalism, including the ‘metabolic’ and ecological economic understanding of the environmental crisis that informs the concept of the circular economy. Reflecting upon this historical preamble, the chapter concludes that more attention should be paid to the economic, cultural and social contexts of consumption, now more clearly the main driver of our global environmental crisis. Without now engaging more directly with the ‘consumption problem’, the chapter argues, it seems unlikely that the goals of the circular economy can be met.
Details
Keywords
Michael Denhof, Rachel Crawley, Leigha Puckett, Jesse Wiese and Theresa Ferry
This paper aims to describe the development and validation of the Prison Fellowship Well-being index (PF-WBI), a new quantitative tool for assessing prisoner and staff well-being…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe the development and validation of the Prison Fellowship Well-being index (PF-WBI), a new quantitative tool for assessing prisoner and staff well-being within prison cultures.
Design/methodology/approach
The PF-WBI was developed through an iterative process of item creation, administration alongside established well-being measures and a series of data analyses. Data was collected from both staff and prisoners (n = 989) across four North Dakota prisons.
Findings
Analysis supported a four-factor structure for the PF-WBI measuring motivation/self-esteem, relationships/community functioning, hope/mood and stress-related detriments. The PF-WBI demonstrated excellent internal consistency reliability, convergent validity with established well-being measures and criterion-related validity for both staff and prisoners. Measurement invariance across staff and prisoners was also confirmed.
Originality/value
The PF-WBI offers a new and versatile tool for researchers and practitioners to assess staff and prisoner well-being in correctional settings. It can be used to evaluate prison cultures and the effectiveness of culture improvement efforts.
Details
Keywords
Rachel Heydon, Zheng Zhang and Beatrix Bocazar
Illustrated through ethnographic data drawn from a case study of a full-day kindergarten in Ontario, Canada, this chapter argues for an approach to inclusive curriculum that…
Abstract
Illustrated through ethnographic data drawn from a case study of a full-day kindergarten in Ontario, Canada, this chapter argues for an approach to inclusive curriculum that places the ethical relation at the center and promotes children’s rights through opportunities for multimodal communication. Theoretically, this case drew on multimodal literacy and ethical curricula. The study used ethnographic tools such as class observations, semi-structured interviews, and collection of children’s work. Findings indicate that responsive, ethical curricula through multimodal pedagogies were intrinsically inclusive of all children’s funds of knowledge and encouraged children to become curricular informants and take control of their choices of meaning making.
Details
Keywords
Rachel A. Addis and Marko Grünhagen
Rural consumers’ in- and out-shopping intention has been a research topic for many years. This study investigates the relationship between social identity and rural consumers�…
Abstract
Rural consumers’ in- and out-shopping intention has been a research topic for many years. This study investigates the relationship between social identity and rural consumersʼ intent to shop within their local community, along with a number of moderating demographic variables. Using a sample of respondents from the Midwest, this study found a significant and positive relationship between rural consumers who socially identify with people in their local community and their intent to inshop. The influence of several demographic moderators is also explored, and implications for practice and future re-search are discussed.
Details
Keywords
Nathan Jarvis, Tiffany S. Legendre and Rachel Hyunkyung Lee
This research aims to investigate the feasibility of imperfect produce use in the on-site foodservice management industry.
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to investigate the feasibility of imperfect produce use in the on-site foodservice management industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1 explored experts’ perspectives via expert interviews on the use of imperfect produce in on-site foodservice operations, acceptability, and willingness to choose imperfect produce. Study 2, a sensory discrimination test, was performed with 100 consumers.
Findings
Study 1 yielded seven themes with managerial recommendations: appearance perception, customer value perception, operational difficulties, concerns for the world, food safety concerns, corporate advantages, and implementation. Study 2 found that participants were willing to choose menu items prepared with imperfect produce over those prepared with perfect produce. The ability to taste differences depended on the type of produce; participants could not taste differences between tangerines but could taste differences between apples and pears.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study suggested that the psychological barriers of imperfect produce impact managers’ perceptions and decision-making processes. It is recommended that operators communicate with consumers about imperfect produce, its waste reduction benefits, and its quality.
Originality/value
This study shows that taste perception could be influenced by how imperfectness is described. Thus, appropriate marketing strategies could improve consumer acceptance of imperfect produce.