scholarly journals Journey of discovery: challenges of e-book lending in a digital world

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 51-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Xu ◽  
Margarita Moreno
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Interlibrary Loan ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Document Delivery ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Library Users ◽  
Original Presentation ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of e-books on interlibrary loan and document delivery practices based on the experience of the National Library use of e-resources and the analysis of different e-book lending models based on one of authors travels to the USA. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a case study approach and their own experiences with e-resources. Findings – E-books are increasingly important to libraries, and there are different models for acquiring and providing access to them. Whilst document delivery is permitted, interlibrary lending is usually not. Interlibrary loan departments are encouraged to be part of the dialogue between libraries and publishers, to seek a middle ground that balances the needs of the authors/publishers and library users wherever they are. Originality/value – This paper will be of interest to anyone involved with collecting or providing access to e-books through their own collections or through interlibrary loan (ILL)/document delivery (DD). The contrast of different approaches to e-book access in Australia and the United States is instructive. This paper is based on the authors’ original presentation at the 13th Interlending & Document Supply Conference, October 16-18, 2013 in Beijing China.

Measuring the funding landscape of COVID-19 research

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheikh Shueb ◽  
Sumeer Gul ◽  
Nahida Tun Nisa ◽  
Taseen Shabir ◽  
Shafiq Ur Rehman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citation Impact ◽  
The United States ◽  
Collaboration Network ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Sponsored Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Funded Research ◽  
Funding Agencies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to map the funding status of COVID-19 research. The various aspects, such as funding ratio, geographical distribution of funded articles, journals publishing funded research and institutions that sponsor the COVID-19 research are studied. To visualize the country collaboration network and research trends/hotspots in the field of COVID-19 funded research, keyword analysis is also performed. The open-access (OA) status of the funded research on COVID-19 is also discussed.Design/methodology/approachThe leading indexing and abstracting database, i.e. Web of Science (WoS), was used to retrieve the funded articles published on the topic COVID-19. The scientometric approach, more particularly “funding acknowledgment analysis (FAA),” was used to study the research funding.FindingsA total of 5,546 publications of varied nature have been published on COVID-19, of which 1,760 are funded, thus indicating a funding ratio of 32%. China is the leading producer of funded research (760, 43.182%) on COVID-19 followed by the USA (482, 27.386%), England (179, 10.17%), Italy (119, 6.761%), Germany (107, 6.08%) and Canada (107, 6.08%). China is also in lead in terms of the funding ratio (60.94%). However, the funding ratio of the USA (31.54%) is at 11th rank behind Canada (40.68%), Germany (34.18%) and England (35.87%). The USA occupies a central position in the collaboration network having the highest score of articles with other countries (n = 489), with the USA–China collaboration ranking first (n = 123). National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is the largest source of funding for COVID-19 research, supporting 342 (19.432%) publications, followed by the United States Department of Health Human Services (DHHS) and National Institute of Health (NIH), USA with 211 (11.989%) and 200 (11.364%) publications, respectively. However, China's National Key Research and Development Program achieves the highest citation impact (80.24) for its funded publications. Journal of Medical Virology, Science of the Total Environment and EuroSurveillance are the three most prolific journals publishing 63 (3.58%), 35 (1.989%) and 32 (1.818%), respectively, of the sponsored research articles on the COVID-19. A total of 3,138 institutions produce funded articles with Huazhong University of Science Technology and Wuhan University from China at the forefront publishing 92 (5.227%) and 83 (4.716%) publications, respectively. The funded research on COVID-19 is largely available in OA mode (1,674, 95.11%) and mainly through the Green and Bronze routes. The keyword clustering reveals that the articles mainly focus on the impact, structure and clinical characteristics of the virus.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's main limitation is that the results are based on the publications indexed by WoS, which has limited coverage compared to other databases. Moreover, all the funding agencies do not require or authors miss to acknowledge funding sources in their publications, which ultimately undermines the number of funded publications. The research publications on COVID-19 are also proliferating; thus, the study's findings shall be valid for a minimum period.Practical implicationsThe funding of research on the COVID-19 is highly essential to accelerate innovative research and help countries fight against the global pandemic. The study's findings reflect the efforts made by nations and institutions to remove the financial and accessibility hurdles. It not only underscores the lead of the USA in the research on COVID-19, but also shows China as a forerunner in sponsoring the research, thus, helping to know the contribution of nations toward understanding the dynamics of pandemic and controlling it. The study will help healthcare practitioners and policymakers recognize the areas that remain the focus of sponsored research on COVID-19 and other left-out areas that need to be taken up and thus may help in policy formulation. It further highlights the impact of prolific funding agencies so that efforts may be initiated to increase the impact and thereby the returns of investment. The study can help to map the scientific structure of COVID-19 through the lens of funded research and recognize core inclinations of its development. Overall, a comprehensive analysis has been performed to present the detailed characteristics of sponsored research on emerging area of COVID-19, and it is informative, useful and one of its kind on the theme.Originality/valueThe study explores the funding support of research on COVID-19 and its other aspects, along with the mode of availability.

A scheme to improve the international inter-library loan service in the National Library of China

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 88-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing’an Feng
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Development ◽  
National Library ◽  
Interlibrary Loan ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Document Delivery ◽  
Sustained Innovation ◽  
National Library Of China ◽  
Payment Policies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a scheme to promote and improve international interlibrary loan (ILL) service at the National Library of China (NLC). The NLC is the center for international ILL in all of China, but as user needs change in response to the rapid development of information technology, it is necessary to investigate how to recast the international ILL service of the NLC. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a systematic case study approach. First, a brief introduction to international ILL practice in the NLC is given. Second, issues that concern request communications, copyright and payment methods are analyzed. Next, a scheme to modernize and improve international ILL is proposed as a response to the aforementioned problems. Finally, new challenges to international ILL are analyzed. Findings – The NLC should make the following efforts to improve international ILL service: enhance and expand the number of request transmission methods, update the legacy ILL and document delivery system, create a Chinese interlibrary loan alliance and fashion more reasonable copyright and payment policies. In addition, it should foster sustained innovation to meet the ongoing challenges to international ILL in the information age. Originality/value – This paper offers practical solutions for Chinese libraries engaged in international ILL activities.

The impact of personality on pay satisfaction among small business managers in the United States and China

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan C. Shrader ◽  
Luke Singer
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pay Satisfaction ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Personality Test ◽  
Business Managers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect personality has on pay satisfaction among small business managers in China and the USA. Design/methodology/approach – This research is in attempt to further understanding and provide application of how companies can better incentive talent through compensation and benefit programs. The goal is to extend and deepen the comprehension of how to encourage talent pools to increase intrinsic performance through compensation programs. Findings – The measures that were used in this study were the Big Five Personality Test and the Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire. Originality/value – Similar results were found across the two countries, and having primary empirical data such as these is original.

Does poverty lead to crime? Evidence from the United States of America

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (10) ◽  
pp. 1424-1438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Imran ◽  
Mosharrof Hosen ◽  
Mohammad Ashraful Ferdous Chowdhury
Keyword(s):  
Time Series Data ◽  
Property Crime ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Hardship ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Advanced Economy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Economic hardship and crime is always a debatable issue in the political economy literature. Some authors define poverty leads to crime some are completely opposite. The purpose of this paper is to find out the impact of poverty on crime in the USA. Design/methodology/approach Using time series data of USA over the period from 1965 to 2016, this study applies autoregressive distributed lag approach to identify the effect of poverty on crime. Findings The outcomes confirm a positive co-integrating relationship between poverty and property crime. It can be argued that poverty ultimately leads property crime in long run in the USA. However, unemployment and GDP exhibit neither long-run nor short-run relationship with property crime and they are not cointegrated for the calculated period. Research limitations/implications The subject of this paper helps to explain and analyze the nexus between poverty and crime in the USA. Practical implications Government and policymakers should focus more on poverty rather than unemployment alone to control property crime. Originality/value This study attempts to identify the consequences of economic hardship and poverty on the crime in the advanced economy like USA.

Consumer sentiment and house prices: asymmetric evidence from state-level data in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee ◽  
Hesam Ghodsi ◽  
Muris Hadzic
Keyword(s):  
House Prices ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Symmetric Model ◽  
Consumer Sentiment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Asymmetric Effects ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess and compare the symmetric and asymmetric effects of consumer sentiment on house prices in each state of the USA. This is the first study that uses state-level data. Design/methodology/approach Both linear and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approaches are used to assess the asymmetric effects of consumer sentiment on house prices in each state of the USA. Findings When the authors estimated a linear symmetric model, this paper found short-run effects of consumer sentiment on house prices in 34 states that lasted into the long-run in only 13 states. The comparable numbers by estimating a nonlinear asymmetric model were 47 and 22, respectively. The increase in the number of states where consumer sentiment affects house prices was attributed to the nonlinear adjustments of consumer sentiment. Originality/value The authors deviate from previous research and assess the impact of consumer sentiment on house prices by using data from each state of the USA. The authors also deviate from previous research by demonstrating that the effects could be asymmetric. No study has done this at the state-level.

The changing paradigm of fair trade social entrepreneurship in the United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (7) ◽  
pp. 1732-1756 ◽  
Author(s):  
John James Cater ◽  
Brent D. Beal ◽  
Lorna A. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Fair Trade ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Living Wages ◽  
The Usa

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine why social entrepreneurs in the USA choose to operate an entirely fair trade business and the factors that affect fair trade social entrepreneurship. Fair trade seeks to benefit producers in developing countries by providing a market for their goods in developed countries. Fair trade enables all parties in the supply chain to make living wages and/or a profit. Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative multiple case study approach of social entrepreneurs in 35 US fair trade companies, the authors develop a model and nine propositions to explain the findings. Findings – The authors identify three primary motivational factors (ethical belief, religious faith, and business values), four contributory factors that strengthen fair trade engagement (family member involvement, the trend toward for profit status, industry professionalism, and consumer education), and three negative factors that work to discourage involvement (loss of identity, lack of industry consensus, and the shortage of retailers). The authors conclude by using the findings to consider the future of US fair trade social entrepreneurship. Research limitations/implications – The authors recognize limitations due to the sample size. Practical implications – The authors believe that fair trade is worthy of further study and increased awareness. Social implications – Increased awareness of fair trade may lead to better consumer buying decisions. Originality/value – The authors contribute to the development of theory in the study of fair trade, which has rarely been studied in the context of US social entrepreneurs.

An analysis of interlibrary loan services: a case study of a university in South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siviwe Bangani ◽  
Sabelo Chizwina ◽  
Mathew Moyo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
Interlibrary Loan ◽  
Content Type ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Library Users ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The landscape of teaching, learning and research has changed requiring the need for diverse information resources. Given the current budgetary constraints and financial conditions prevailing in many universities, sharing of information resources has become a necessity. The Interlibrary Loan (ILL) services have thus become an important service to meet the immediate needs of library users. The aim of this paper is to analyse the ILL services of the North-West University in South Africa from 2006 to 2016. Using statistical data, the paper shows the emerging pattern in borrowing and lending between institutions as well as determines the existence of correlations between borrowing and lending libraries. The results of this study show that ILL amongst libraries has decreased in the past 11 years. A need exists for increased awareness of ILL and there is need for technological innovations that will ensure that library users are able to request for information resources seamlessly. Design/methodology/approach This is a quantitative study that uses ILL data from the North-West University. Data were downloaded from the SABINET ILL system using the three NWU JC codes. They were then collated and uploaded on excel spreadsheets. In the main, the excel spreadsheets were used to interpret the data. Further, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, in particular Spearman’s Correlation Analysis, was used to test correlations between data from libraries that requested information resources from NWU and data from libraries that supplied information resources to NWU during this period using Rumsey’s guidelines to interpret the correlations. Findings The findings of the study reveal that ILL among libraries in South Africa had generally declined owing mostly to the proliferation of online resources resulting to changes in user information-seeking behaviour. The decline is despite the challenges of low budgets received by most libraries for the acquisition of information resources. It can also be concluded that public university libraries still value ILL as demonstrated by the high number of items requested from other libraries. The findings also reveal that most ILL activities were conducted by public universities. Research limitations/implications It was not possible to obtain the list of titles that have been requested and also to obtain the user’s details. This would have enabled the authors to determine the type of titles that are being requested, and the users that request them. Practical implications ILL should continue to be enhanced in view of the challenge of dwindling library budgets against the escalating prices of information resources. There is also a need for user education so that they become aware of the ILL service. From experience, library users normally give up once they realize that what they wanted is not available through the local catalogue and this calls for librarians to create an awareness to users that ILL could help solve their frustrations. Social implications These results show that ILL can play a significant role to level the playing field between the well-resourced libraries in urbanized regions or provinces and the poorly resourced ones in rural regions or provinces. This social justice aspect of ILL is probably the reason why better resourced libraries in South Africa have decided to remain in the scheme unlike other countries where better resourced libraries opted out of reciprocal arrangements with small and medium-sized institutions. Originality/value The study adds to a very limited number of studies emanating from Africa. A study of this nature has never been conducted in Africa, as previous studies were nationwide studies. As far as the authors know, this is the first study that uses ILL data to research the impact of the global financial crisis on libraries in Africa.

scholarly journals Impact of temperature and relative humidity on the transmission of COVID-19: a modelling study in China and the United States

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e043863
Author(s):  
Jingyuan Wang ◽  
Ke Tang ◽  
Kai Feng ◽  
Xin Lin ◽  
Weifeng Lv ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reproductive Number ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Higher Temperature ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact

ObjectivesWe aim to assess the impact of temperature and relative humidity on the transmission of COVID-19 across communities after accounting for community-level factors such as demographics, socioeconomic status and human mobility status.DesignA retrospective cross-sectional regression analysis via the Fama-MacBeth procedure is adopted.SettingWe use the data for COVID-19 daily symptom-onset cases for 100 Chinese cities and COVID-19 daily confirmed cases for 1005 US counties.ParticipantsA total of 69 498 cases in China and 740 843 cases in the USA are used for calculating the effective reproductive numbers.Primary outcome measuresRegression analysis of the impact of temperature and relative humidity on the effective reproductive number (R value).ResultsStatistically significant negative correlations are found between temperature/relative humidity and the effective reproductive number (R value) in both China and the USA.ConclusionsHigher temperature and higher relative humidity potentially suppress the transmission of COVID-19. Specifically, an increase in temperature by 1°C is associated with a reduction in the R value of COVID-19 by 0.026 (95% CI (−0.0395 to −0.0125)) in China and by 0.020 (95% CI (−0.0311 to −0.0096)) in the USA; an increase in relative humidity by 1% is associated with a reduction in the R value by 0.0076 (95% CI (−0.0108 to −0.0045)) in China and by 0.0080 (95% CI (−0.0150 to −0.0010)) in the USA. Therefore, the potential impact of temperature/relative humidity on the effective reproductive number alone is not strong enough to stop the pandemic.

The impact of labor freedom on geographic cost of living differentials

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-395
Author(s):  
Richard Cebula ◽  
James E. Payne ◽  
Donnie Horner ◽  
Robert Boylan
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Significant Finding ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of labor market freedom on state-level cost of living differentials in the USA using cross-sectional data for 2016 after allowing for the impacts of economic and quality of life factors. Design/methodology/approach The study uses two-stage least squares estimation controlling for factors contributing to cost of living differences across states. Findings The results reveal that an increase in labor market freedom reduces the overall cost of living. Research limitations/implications The study can be extended using panel data and alternative measures of labor market freedom. Practical implications In general, the finding that less intrusive government and greater labor freedom are associated with a reduced cost of living should not be surprising. This is because less government intrusion and greater labor freedom both inherently allow markets to be more efficient in the rationalization of and interplay with forces of supply and demand. Social implications The findings of this and future related studies could prove very useful to policy makers and entrepreneurs, as well as small business owners and public corporations of all sizes – particularly those considering either location in, relocation to, or expansion into other markets within the USA. Furthermore, the potential benefits of the National Right-to-Work Law currently under consideration in Congress could add cost of living reductions to the debate. Originality/value The authors extend the literature on cost of living differentials by investigating whether higher amounts of state-level labor market freedom act to reduce the states’ cost of living using the most recent annual data available (2016). That labor freedom has a systemic efficiency impact on the state-level cost of living is a significant finding. In our opinion, it is likely that labor market freedom is increasing the efficiency of labor market transactions in the production and distribution of goods and services, and acts to reduce the cost of living in states. In addition, unlike previous related studies, the authors investigate the impact of not only overall labor market freedom on the state-level cost of living, but also how the three sub-indices of labor market freedom, as identified and measured by Stansel et al. (2014, 2015), impact the cost of living state by state.

Policy and institutions facilitating entrepreneurial spin-offs: USA, Asia and Europe

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Caiazza ◽  
David Audretsch ◽  
Tiziana Volpe ◽  
Julie Debra Singer
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
The Usa ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
National Analysis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cross National

Purpose – Existing work documents the role that institutional setting plays in the process of spin-off creation. However, despite decades of studies, scholars have not clearly explained why some regions are more involved in spin-off activity than others. Drawing from institutional theory, the purpose of this paper is to compare different institutional settings identifying factors affecting the general environment capability to support spin-off activity of a specific region. Design/methodology/approach – The authors utilize a cross-national analysis of American, Asian, and European areas identifying factors affecting their different rate of spin-off activity. This study contributes to the policy debate concerning entrepreneurship and how best to spur spin-off activities. Findings – In this paper, the authors identify the general and specific factors that explain the cross-national diversity in spin-off creation. The authors then perform an analysis of the impact of these factors in various regions of the USA, Asia, and Europe, providing evidence for the necessity of specific combinations of these factors. Originality/value – The paper offers a new perspective on the causes of spin-offs through a cross-national analysis of many areas around the world.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document