This exploratory study, a Ph.D. dissertation completed at the University of Western Ontario in 2013, examines the materially embedded relations of power between library users and…
Abstract
This exploratory study, a Ph.D. dissertation completed at the University of Western Ontario in 2013, examines the materially embedded relations of power between library users and staff in public libraries and how building design regulates spatial behavior according to organizational objectives. It considers three public library buildings as organization spaces (Dale & Burrell, 2008) and determines the extent to which their spatial organizations reproduce the relations of power between the library and its public that originated with the modern public library building type ca. 1900. Adopting a multicase study design, I conducted site visits to three, purposefully selected public library buildings of similar size but various ages. Site visits included: blueprint analysis; organizational document analysis; in-depth, semi-structured interviews with library users and library staff; cognitive mapping exercises; observations; and photography.
Despite newer approaches to designing public library buildings, the use of newer information technologies, and the emergence of newer paradigms of library service delivery (e.g., the user-centered model), findings strongly suggest that the library as an organization still relies on many of the same socio-spatial models of control as it did one century ago when public library design first became standardized. The three public libraries examined show spatial organizations that were designed primarily with the librarian, library materials, and library operations in mind far more than the library user or the user’s many needs. This not only calls into question the public library’s progressiveness over the last century but also hints at its ability to survive in the new century.
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The appearance of revolutionary information technologies must elicit equivalent responses from the library profession, if for no other reason than simply to provide services that…
Abstract
The appearance of revolutionary information technologies must elicit equivalent responses from the library profession, if for no other reason than simply to provide services that are fast becoming desired and needed by users. Because the implications of the new technology also suggest the possible demise of libraries, it is incumbent on us to make a revolutionary response. Part of that response should be making accessible to the public the vast stores of hidden information and knowledge that lie beyond the purview of conventional publishers. Creating local online databases ‐ information dropshipping ‐ is an activity that public and academic libraries alike can implement because librarians routinely uncover little‐known caches of information and knowledge that would be of great interest to general and academic communities alike, if only they were made easily accessible. Until now, libraries have located themselves on the distribution side of information delivery, along with the wholesalers and retailers, the jobbers and bookstores. We now have a choice. We can refashion our profession and create a new domain on the production side of knowledge and information that was once reserved for publishers.
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Far from being ‘paperless’, libraries of the 21st century will not wholly convert from print to electronic formats, as many have predicted. Instead, libraries of the future will…
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Far from being ‘paperless’, libraries of the 21st century will not wholly convert from print to electronic formats, as many have predicted. Instead, libraries of the future will combine information in many formats, print and non‐print, and partition their collections into various electronic, computerised, media and print formats: in effect ‘freezing’ portions of the collection in their most appropriate formats based on the content and usage of the materials, in somewhat the same way as libraries of the late 20th century ‘froze’ their catalogues during their retrospective conversion projects. As part of the coming climatic adaptation, a new and important occupation of future libraries will be the design, construction and maintenance of unique, value‐added databases to hold information that is immediately pertinent to the specific needs of the library's patrons. In this new type of librarianship, the lines separating librarian, researcher and publisher will become flexible in order to capture information needed immediately by library users.
Bobbi-Jo Wathen, Patrick D. Cunningham, Paul Singleton, Dejanell C. Mittman, Sophia L. Ángeles, Jessica Fort, Rickya S. F. Freeman and Erik M. Hines
School counselors are committed to serving students' social-emotional, postsecondary, and academic needs while they navigate primary and secondary school (American School…
Abstract
School counselors are committed to serving students' social-emotional, postsecondary, and academic needs while they navigate primary and secondary school (American School Counselor Association, 2019). Much has been said about the ways in which school counselors can impact postsecondary outcomes and social emotional health. It is important that we also address the ways school counselors can impact positive academic outcomes as it is intertwined in postsecondary options and success. For Black males, academic success has traditionally been met with systemic barriers (i.e., school-to-prison pipeline, lower graduation rates, lower incomes, higher unemployment rates, and lower college going rates (National Center for Edcuation Statisitics, 2019a, 2019b, 2020a, 2020b) and low expectations. School counselors are charged to be leaders and change agents for social justice and equity in our schools by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2019) and can impact systemic change. This chapter will explore ways in which school counselors can impact positive academic outcomes for Black males. School counselors as change agents and advocates are positioned to make a real impact for Black male academic success. The authors will also provide some recommendations and best practices for elementary, middle, and high school counselors as they work with students, teachers, and families from an anti-deficit model as outlined by Harper (2012).
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Emma Tonkin, Julie Henderson, Samantha B. Meyer, John Coveney, Paul R. Ward, Dean McCullum, Trevor Webb and Annabelle M. Wilson
Consumers’ trust in food systems is essential to their functioning and to consumers’ well-being. However, the literature exploring how food safety incidents impact consumer trust…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumers’ trust in food systems is essential to their functioning and to consumers’ well-being. However, the literature exploring how food safety incidents impact consumer trust is theoretically underdeveloped. This study explores the relationship between consumers’ expectations of the food system and its actors (regulators, food industry and the media) and how these influence trust-related judgements that consumers make during a food safety incident.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, two groups of purposefully sampled Australian participants (n = 15) spent one day engaged in qualitative public deliberation to discuss unfolding food incident scenarios. Group discussion was audio recorded and transcribed for the analysis. Facilitated group discussion included participants' expected behaviour in response to the scenario and their perceptions of actors' actions described within the scenario, particularly their trust responses (an increase, decrease or no change in their trust in the food system) and justification for these.
Findings
The findings of the study indicated that food incident features and unique consumer characteristics, particularly their expectations of the food system, interacted to form each participant's individual trust response to the scenario. Consumer expectations were delineated into “fundamental” and “anticipatory” expectations. Whether fundamental and anticipatory expectations were in alignment was central to the trust response. Experiences with the food system and its actors during business as usual contributed to forming anticipatory expectations.
Originality/value
To ensure that food incidents do not undermine consumer trust in food systems, food system actors must not only demonstrate competent management of the incident but also prioritise trustworthiness during business as usual to ensure that anticipatory expectations held by consumers are positive.
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Given its importance in library operations and in the profession, reference service should be an important consideration in any library reorganization, regardless of the other…
Abstract
Given its importance in library operations and in the profession, reference service should be an important consideration in any library reorganization, regardless of the other factors contributing to the decision to reorganize. But because the conditions prompting a reorganization are often sudden and extraordinary, a library manager may overlook their impact on reference service, reacting instead to the more immediate pressures of budget cuts, staff losses, and other constraints that have been externally imposed. With informed planning, however, even a reorganization begun in a negative context can result in continued good reference service or even place the library in a position to improve reference quality.
Proposing an integrated model based on multiple theoretical approaches, such as the theory of planned behavior, the model of goal-directed behavior and self-determination theory…
Abstract
Purpose
Proposing an integrated model based on multiple theoretical approaches, such as the theory of planned behavior, the model of goal-directed behavior and self-determination theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine factors influencing college students’ campus recycling intention and actual recycling behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey method was used to test the proposed model with college students. A total of 434 students participated in the survey.
Findings
This study found that self-determined motivation, attitude toward recycling, perceived behavioral control and negative anticipated emotion had direct effects on campus recycling intention, while recycling intention and self-determined motivation influenced students’ actual campus recycling behavior.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of the study may not be generalizable to the broader population. Respondents’ self-reported assessment of their recycling behaviors may also be a drawback of the study. However, the study provides statistical evidence testing the proposed model of campus recycling.
Practical implications
The study’s findings provide communication planners for university recycling and sustainability departments with communication and message strategies to enhance college students’ recycling behavior.
Originality/value
The study proposes a more comprehensive, tailored model that integrates other compelling theoretical models, to address college students’ sustainability engagement on campus.
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In November 2001, Scott Carlson, in the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote an article on library use titled “The deserted library: As students work online, reading rooms empty…
Abstract
In November 2001, Scott Carlson, in the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote an article on library use titled “The deserted library: As students work online, reading rooms empty out—leading some campuses to add Starbucks” (Carlson, 2001). The essence of this chapter is that many librarians, facing dramatic declines in library gate counts resulting from the wealth of electronic resources accessible remotely, were beginning to move away from traditional conceptions of the library as primarily a repository for print collections. Carlson describes the “tough sell” that the Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville had experienced when planning a $19.5 million library addition in the mid-1990s. In response librarians had begun “fighting back” with “plush chairs, double-mocha lattes, book groups, author readings.” Still, no one knew whether these stratagems would enhance learning or bring its readers back.