Caroline Norman and Robert Jerrard
Designers’ careers can be compromised if they are unable to understand the business context they operate in and cannot communicate effectively across other disciplines. Where…
Abstract
Purpose
Designers’ careers can be compromised if they are unable to understand the business context they operate in and cannot communicate effectively across other disciplines. Where governments are calling for an increase in design management skills, design careers can limit the opportunities for the development of such skills. Universities have an opportunity to support designers’ professional development through work-based learning (WBL). The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the above.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study, based on the master’s in design management (the business side of design) at Birmingham City University, investigates designers’ learning styles, their early career experiences and the challenges they face due to their lack of business understanding. Participant narratives are developed from in-depth interviews and describe professional progress through WBL.
Findings
The paper finds WBL lends itself to the experiential nature of designers’ learning and skills acquired through WBL can have significant influence on design managers. The case study provides evidence of designers gaining insight into the business perspective and developing communication skills through specific elements of “professional learning”.
Research limitations/implications
The small case study deals with the UK and Europe, however, implications for the universal and international aspects of practice remain.
Practical implications
The paper considers the importance of design management skills to designers’ careers and the opportunity for designers to acquire these skills through universities via WBL.
Originality/value
Unique experiences highlight the value brought about through non-linear educational and professional pathways, indicating novel joint policies for higher education and employers.
Details
Keywords
“Questionable” books are as easily identified and as quickly discovered as brightly dyed Easter eggs. The titles of such books invariably terminate with interrogation marks; not…
Abstract
“Questionable” books are as easily identified and as quickly discovered as brightly dyed Easter eggs. The titles of such books invariably terminate with interrogation marks; not with dots, dashes, or asterisks. Nevertheless, even a well read scholar finds himself hard put to recollect half a dozen illustrative titles unless he has previously indulged in considerable bibliographic dowsing. The reason so few examples readily come to mind is that intriguing interrogatory titles are actually few in number.
THE year 1954 opened more brightly, in some respects, than most previous years. Salaries are better than they used to be, staffs are larger, and hours are shorter. But there is…
Abstract
THE year 1954 opened more brightly, in some respects, than most previous years. Salaries are better than they used to be, staffs are larger, and hours are shorter. But there is even less room for complacency or even bare satisfaction than there was forty years ago. Then, however poor was the pay and however long the hours, there was every indication that librarianship was gradually becoming recognized as a profession which in time would rank with the great professions. Principles and objectives were clear and were never lost sight of, but librarians and assistants of that day realized that the great professions were dependant, not only on principles but upon absolute mastery of technique; that no lawyer could survive who merely talked grandiloquently about the principles and objectives of his calling; that the medical man endured—and in many instances enjoyed—a severe and lengthy training in technique and practice, and that even when he became a specialist his prime need and principal qualification was absolute mastery and up to date knowledge of technique and practice in his field of specialisation. In the light of that fad a detailed study of library technique became accepted as essential, and a mass of practical and technical literature was studied and mastered by more than one generation. For examination purposes, perhaps more than for any other reason, the present generation of assistants continues that study, but there has been a change of weight. Today we hear frequently that technique is relatively unimportant and that principles and objectives are the vital essentials.
Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).
THIS issue of The Library World marks the commencement of a new volume, and we take the opportunity of thanking our many readers for their continued good feeling and support. It…
Abstract
THIS issue of The Library World marks the commencement of a new volume, and we take the opportunity of thanking our many readers for their continued good feeling and support. It is a pleasure to us to record the fact that we are able to enlarge this initial number of the volume and that we feel the time has come when we shall make such enlargement a permanency, without any corresponding increase in the subscription price.
THE Fifty‐First Conference of the Library Association takes place in the most modern type of British town. Blackpool is a typical growth of the past fifty years or so, rising from…
Abstract
THE Fifty‐First Conference of the Library Association takes place in the most modern type of British town. Blackpool is a typical growth of the past fifty years or so, rising from the greater value placed upon the recreations of the people in recent decades. It has the name of the pleasure city of the north, a huge caravansary into which the large industrial cities empty themselves at the holiday seasons. But Blackpool is more than that; it is a town with a vibrating local life of its own; it has its intellectual side even if the casual visitor does not always see it as readily as he does the attractions of the front. A week can be spent profitably there even by the mere intellectualist.
WE endorse with much pleasure the welcome that has greeted the election of the new President of the Library Association. When the Association, in what seems now a somewhat remote…
Abstract
WE endorse with much pleasure the welcome that has greeted the election of the new President of the Library Association. When the Association, in what seems now a somewhat remote past, determined to place the executive side of its business in the hands of a permanent Secretary, the question of the continuance of an Honorary Secretary was given careful consideration. It was resolved that he should continue and that his main function would be to represent the President at all times when the latter was not available. He had other duties, even if they were not clearly expressed, including a general overall initiative in committee and Council matters. The successive holders of the office since, Stanley Jast, Dr. E. A. Savage and Lionel R. McColvin proved so clearly the wisdom of that decision that the Association made each of them President; they have been heads of the profession in a real sense, inspiring and actively creative. The last of them, Mr. McColvin, is known everywhere librarians meet, here and overseas, and only the newest library recruits are unfamiliar with his reports, essays and many books, or have not heard of his home and other county surveys and his fearless, suggestive appraisals of what he has seen and thought. In a rather difficult time the Library Association is fortunate to have so statesmanlike a librarian to lead it.
Grant Aguirre, David M. Boje, Melissa L. Cast, Suzanne L. Conner, Catherine Helmuth, Rakesh Mittal, Rohny Saylors, Nazanin Tourani, Sebastien Vendette and Tony Qiang Yan
This intervention study outlines the continuing journey of a university towards its sustainability potentiality. We introduce the importance of sustainable development and link it…
Abstract
This intervention study outlines the continuing journey of a university towards its sustainability potentiality. We introduce the importance of sustainable development and link it to our intervention study of potentiality for sustainability from a Heideggerian phenomenological perspective. Through a case study of sustainability at New Mexico State University, we provide an insight into the development of a new dimension of university sustainability interface. This interface exists in terms of a dialogic of sustainability, as it relates to the balancing of competing needs, such as efficiency, heart, and brand identity. An important aspect of this interface is intervention, highlighting new possibilities for the top administrators regarding the university's goals and environmentalities. A qualitative and interpretive approach using ontological storytelling inquiry is employed. Data for the study were collected through in-depth interviews with university members from all hierarchical levels. This article raises interesting ontological issues for sustainability researchers, and has implications for strategy as practice.
Peter Joyce and Neil Wain
The purpose of this paper is to examine the elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). It seeks to analyse the policies put forward by the candidates and evaluate the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). It seeks to analyse the policies put forward by the candidates and evaluate the significance of the elections for the future landscape of policing.
Design/methodology/approach
The research for this paper is library based, making particular use of primary source material. The objectives for this research are organised around key themes – preparations for the elections, the election contest, the election campaign and key issues that were raised, the election results and the significance of the introduction of the office of PCC for the future landscape of policing.
Findings
The research established that most candidates put forward policies that would seek to skew policing towards combating low level crime and disorder. It highlighted issues relevant to the future landscape of policing, including the relationships forged between chief constables and PCCs, the politicisation of policing and the extent to which PCCs are held adequately accountable for their actions.
Research limitations/implications
The research focuses on the 2012 PCC elections and identifies a number of key issues that may need to be addressed in the future, either by academic or political investigation.
Practical implications
The research suggests that future PCC election contests should receive improved publicity and attention should also be paid to the candidates’ deposit. It suggests that the future operation of the office should be subject to thorough investigation by the Home Affairs Committee.
Social implications
The creation of the office of PCC was designed to empower communities and those who resided within them. However, this goal cannot be realised without effort on the part of government to urge their involvement in future PCC election contests.
Originality/value
The subject matter is original and its interpretation is informed by both academic and practitioner perspectives.