Susan A Henricks and Genevieve M. Henricks-Lepp
Public libraries can benefit from understanding the perspectives of various stakeholders leading to the development of measures for decision making and competing for funding as…
Abstract
Purpose
Public libraries can benefit from understanding the perspectives of various stakeholders leading to the development of measures for decision making and competing for funding as well as demonstrating accountability. The purpose of this paper is to examine library effectiveness from the perspective of multiple stakeholders from a list of indicators pertinent to today and to determine which are most important to a constituency of a single library and any differences among the various constituencies.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey that listed indicators of effectiveness for a public library was given to four stakeholder groups of a city library: employees, library board, library foundation members, and the public.
Findings
Of the 51 indicators, 39 comprised eight dimensions of effectiveness under the labels of: user experience, facility, digital collection, social media and board, community use, employees, administration, and collection management. The number of statistically significant differences was greatest between the library board and the public as well as the employees and the public.
Originality/value
Indicators of public library effectiveness have not been updated for the twenty-first century.
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Keywords
Nazanin Zargarpour and Susan R. Warren
This chapter recounts the story of the Regional Learning Collaborative (www.rlcollab.com) and its powerful positive impact, beginning in one urban region and expanding gradually…
Abstract
This chapter recounts the story of the Regional Learning Collaborative (www.rlcollab.com) and its powerful positive impact, beginning in one urban region and expanding gradually. It first sets forth the challenges that gave birth to its vision. It introduces the intersegmental solutions and strategies innovated to address the challenges that thousands of students faced in advancing across the education transitions. The chapter next provides significant student achievement data in evidence of the Regional Learning Collaborative's proof of concept in supporting over one hundred thousand (113,000) primarily low-income and largely first-generation students to successfully transition across their academic and career pathways. Finally and importantly, the rigorous collaborative community approach and framework that continue to generate the Collaborative's equity outcomes are introduced and discussed.
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Product development becomes more complex when co-development involves multiple parties crossing boundaries of functions, companies, countries and even competitors. An…
Abstract
Product development becomes more complex when co-development involves multiple parties crossing boundaries of functions, companies, countries and even competitors. An interdisciplinary framework is needed to understand the challenges of structuring collaborative work within global product teams – especially in the research arenas of strategic partnerships, product development teams, collaboration, distributed work, organizational learning and new metaphors. The multi-party partnership of the Joint Strike Fighter Program at Lockheed Martin, the largest aerospace program in history, provides an illustration of the complex information-sharing and problem-solving challenges in aligning a large, distributed, global integrated product team in an environment where even connectivity is a challenge. It sets the stage for the innovative management approaches needed to build collaborative climates as well as research directions for the future.
Susan O’Hara, Joanne Bookmyer, Robin Martin and Renee Newton
Organizational characteristics and systemic structures that prioritize and resource teacher professional growth and collaboration are central to the role of districts in…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizational characteristics and systemic structures that prioritize and resource teacher professional growth and collaboration are central to the role of districts in developing the ongoing professional growth of teachers. Yet, a key challenge facing districts is a lack of existing systemic structures to support professional growth to foster large-scale instructional improvement. The purpose of this paper is to explore how an organizational resourcing model might be used to build districts’ collective capacity to implement the cornerstones of a professional growth system.
Design/methodology/approach
An explanatory case study, in the context of a partnership between a university-based intermediary and three California school districts, is used to illustrate how districts applied a theory of resourcing as a sustainable capacity-building approach.
Findings
The findings of this paper demonstrate that, to varying degrees, participating districts were able to enact elements of professional growth systems through a recursive interaction of schema shifts, resource use, and intentional actions, supporting a practice-based theory of organizational resourcing. While university intermediaries can both mediate and enable the success of locally designed professional growth systems through a supported resourcing model, the key to sustaining change efforts are cross-role organizational schema shifts and actions taken to operationalize underutilized existing, latent resources.
Research limitations/implications
Case studies do have limitations including not being able to make generalizations from the findings and conclusions.
Originality/value
The corpus of research on educational reform and organizational learning in educational research situates the school as the organizational unit of change. This study contributes to the research by elevating districts as the lever of organizational change for resourcing teacher professional growth systems.
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This list of 41 “Stupid Things that Libraries Do” was largely culled from public library practitioners’ postings on the PUBLIB electronic discussion list. Libraries must take…
Abstract
This list of 41 “Stupid Things that Libraries Do” was largely culled from public library practitioners’ postings on the PUBLIB electronic discussion list. Libraries must take action to ensure that their operations, and particularly their public services, are unhampered by these common bad practices. By identifying possible failings in advance, librarians can better place themselves to meet the expectations of their users, and provide the professional service expected of them.