Peer reference assistants in a small liberal arts college: case study

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasia Gonnerman ◽  
Ken Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Liberal Arts College ◽  
Library Science ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mentorship Program ◽  
Reference Services ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Student Assistants

Purpose The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how to create and sustain a successful mentoring program for reference student assistants in the liberal arts environment. The study delineates student training, program assessment and the impact on reference practice in a way that can be used at other institutions considering implementing a similar initiative. Design/methodology/approach This case study is written by professionals who have been deeply engaged in initiating, running and assessing the program. It presents the value of the program in an unbiased and objective manner by including the voices of the student mentees themselves reflecting on the experience. Findings The mentorship program has proven to be worthwhile and rewarding in equal measures to both the mentees and reference librarians working with our future successors. It serves an important role in inspiring and encouraging library student workers to become interested in academic librarianship as a career choice and it prepares them to be successful students in library and information science graduate programs. Originality/value Although the discussion of training reference student assistants per se is not rare in the library literature, this particular program is unique in several ways: its main intent is to mentor students who are interested in pursuing librarianship as a career goal; it occurs in the context of a liberal arts college rather than in a larger university setting, especially those offering degrees in information and library science; and it empowers students to provide in-depth independent reference services for their peers and faculty.

PlumX: a tool to showcase academic profile and distinction

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elise Y. Wong ◽  
Sarah M. Vital
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Faculty Scholarship ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New System ◽  
Academic Profile

PurposeThe Saint Mary’s College of California (SMC) library plays an integral role in supporting one of the goals in the College’s Strategic Plan: “Raise the Academic Profile and Distinction”. This case study aims to assess the effectiveness of PlumX as a tool to showcase the academic profile and distinction of SMC. The library recognizes the importance of capturing impact of non-traditional creativity and engagement in addition to just traditional impact metrics of research. Design/methodology/approachThis paper describes the collaborative effort of the College and the College’s library to identify faculty scholarship, creativity and engagement and collect data demonstrating the impact of the works. Traditional metrics, like citation counts, do not do SMC faculty justice because faculty scholarship comes beyond just books and articles. To more fully document the real intellectual corpus the College, the library is working with a new system, PlumX, to collect web-based information about both traditionally and non-traditionally published work. FindingsThe collection of metrics across five categories (citations, usage, social media, mentions and captures), and the flexibility of displaying on screen or downloading for use in other analytic reports made possible through PlumX proved to be a start toward demonstrating the academic distinction of College’s unique faculty. SMC will continue to partner with PlumX to assess and improve its usability and effectiveness. Originality/valueThis paper outlines how altmetrics can be used to measure and share impact of faculty research at a liberal arts, teaching-focused college in ways reflective of the unique intellectual contributions.

From request to assess: using cloud-based tools for the library instruction lifecycle

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 14-20
Author(s):  
James Parrigin
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Research University ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Liberal Arts College ◽  
Instruction Scheduling ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Library Instruction ◽  
Graduate Assistant ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Large Research

Purpose The author first gained experience with library instruction scheduling at a large research university library as an Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) graduate assistant. Design/methodology/approach The author would occasionally shadow the faculty librarians as they received instruction requests, which were vetted by an administrative assistant and entered into some mystical technology that would facilitate the reservations and populate a library staff calendar. Findings The author remembers it as a fairly mundane process that he did not think much of at the time. Social implications The author soon became an instruction librarian who was put in charge of orchestrating the multitudes of course-integrated one-shots at a small, private four-year liberal arts college. Originality/value The author thinks back to this experience and marvels at the humble instructional requests (e.g. “just show them JSTOR”) and the primitive tool that their library used for scheduling their sessions: a spreadsheet on our network drive.

Energy challenges: isolating results due to behavior change

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Boulton ◽  
Eric Pallant ◽  
Casey Bradshaw-Wilson ◽  
Beth Choate ◽  
Ian Carbone
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Change ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Liberal Arts College ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Electricity Use ◽  
Energy Challenge ◽  
Climate Neutrality ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Approximately 700 colleges and universities have committed to climate neutrality, which will require significant reductions in energy consumption. This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of an Annual Energy Challenge in curtailing electricity use by changing consumption behaviors at one liberal arts college. Design/methodology/approach From 2010 to 2014, Allegheny College (Meadville, PA, USA) ran four-week energy challenges. Electricity consumption was measured and compared to a baseline year of 2008. An alternate baseline, more granular data for 20 sub-metered buildings and historic utility bill consumption trends were further analyzed to identify any persisting change and understand the impact of behavior change separate from efficiency retrofits, changes in population and normal seasonal shifts. Findings Electricity consumption during the challenge period dropped an average of 9 per cent compared to the 2008 baseline and 6 per cent compared to the baseline of the 4 weeks preceding each challenge. Consumption trends changed in the years during challenge implementation compared to the years before engaging the campus community. All analyses reinforce that the challenge reduces electricity consumption. However, results must be analyzed in multiple ways to isolate for behavior change. Practical implications The analyses used to isolate energy challenge results due to behavior change are replicable at other institutions and would allow campuses to compare results and share proven strategies. Originality/value While many campuses organize energy challenges, few have published details about the results both during the challenge and continuing afterwards. Nor has a research explored the need to put results into contexts such as natural seasonal trends to isolate the impacts of behavior change.

Establishing a maker culture beyond the makerspace

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Beavers ◽  
Jennifer Esteron Cady ◽  
Amy Jiang ◽  
Liberty McCoy
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Maker Movement ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Liberal Arts University ◽  
Culture Influence ◽  
Maker Culture ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of fostering a maker culture in a liberal arts university. It explores the impact of making on student learning and engagement, as well as the role of the library’s maker program. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a case study that presents the tools and activities used in an academic library’s maker program. Structured interviews were conducted with faculty, staff and students to review the program and maker culture influence on campus. Findings Findings highlight the library’s role in supporting maker culture on a liberal arts campus and address ways making contributes to student engagement and learning. Interviewees also recommend strategies to increase awareness and market the library’s maker program to engage a wider community. Originality/value Though there are many articles written about the maker movement and libraries, this study contributes to the growing body of research on makerspaces in higher education, with particular focus on a library at a liberal arts university.

A cold call on work-based learning: a “live” group project for the strategic selling classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Lloyd ◽  
Michael J. Martin ◽  
James Hyatt ◽  
Addison Tritt
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Prospective Students ◽  
Group Project ◽  
Target List ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Students ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Live Group

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe a case study used in a strategic sales class that employs the use of work-based learning pedagogy to expose students to real-life cold calling experiences. This real-life cold calling experience involves students within the course building a target list of prospective students for a small liberal arts college. The students must then construct pre-call strategies, build rapport with prospective students and finally “close the deal” by having the prospective student visit campus. Design/methodology/approach This paper begins by describing work-based learning as a unique pedagogical method and the importance of cold-calling skills in the context of workplace skills in demand. Theoretical foundations in Lichtenstein and Lyon’s (1996) entrepreneurial skillset is analyzed, as is the application of “live” group projects. The case is then described in detail and focuses on the project itself, the personal and group incentives used in the course of the project, and finally, a review of the learning outcomes and desired skillset outcomes for the class. Findings The case shows that students can learn and implement the behaviors, attitudes and practices that make professional cold-callers successful. The impact on the university can also be seen since real contributions were made to the recruiting efforts of the college vis-à-vis higher matriculation numbers. The entrepreneurial skillsets and “live” group project literature is contextualized in light of the findings of the project. This research found that students engaged in varying levels of progress in their managerial, entrepreneurial, technical skillsets as well as levels of personal maturity. Finally, the authors provide guidance for future research to expound the findings of this project by testing the variables using quantitative methodologies. Originality/value The paper showcases an innovative pedagogic approach to exposing students to the best practices of cold-calling and allows them to exercise these tools real time as they make actual cold calls and work toward sales incentives. The focus on recruiting new students as customers of the college serves is not only active classroom learning, but it also serves mission-based outcomes to help the college achieve desired recruiting goals. This case study will provide a tool for small, liberal arts colleges to use which mobilizes faculty and students in the effort to recruit new students, in an environment where enrollment numbers are falling for this market sector in higher education.

How we missed the boat: reading scholarship and the field of LIS

2015 ◽  
Vol 116 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 477-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keren Dali
Keyword(s):  
Information Science ◽  
Library Science ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Corporate University ◽  
Reading Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Fields

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the reasons for the gradual extinction of reading scholarship in Library and Information Science (LIS) departments and to identify three problematic areas accounting for its dropping prestige: paradigmatic conflicts, the influence of the corporate university and low awareness of the potential of reading research. It also proposes possible solutions to each problem. Design/methodology/approach – Close reading and analysis of an extensive selection of sources with novel conceptualization and critical perspectives. Findings – The information science paradigm, which has dominated LIS, is not sufficient to accommodate reading research. The information science model has a detrimentally restrictive effect on reading scholarship. Library science, which should be considered an autonomous discipline rather than an appendix of information science, is more conducive to the study of reading. Non-specialization-based academic hiring to increase values-based diversity in LIS through a larger influx of reading scholars is advocated. Originality/value – Reading scholarship, unduly deemed “old-fashioned”, or euphemistically “traditional”, is one of the most potent areas of academic inquiry, to which LIS scholars are perfectly positioned to make a unique contribution. Reading research in LIS has great merit irrespective of its connection to information and technology; a set of evaluative questions to determine the quality of reading scholarship is introduced. Using a case study, the paper illustrates the potential of reading research for interdisciplinary connections, community partnerships and the enrichment of LIS education and professional practices. An honest look at one of the most exciting academic fields, regrettably neglected by LIS.

Transitioning to Blended Learning: Understanding Student and Faculty Perceptions

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanette P. Napier ◽  
Sonal Dekhane ◽  
Stella Smith
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Faculty Perceptions ◽  
Liberal Arts College ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Faculty Teaching ◽  
Face To Face Instruction ◽  
The Impact

This paper describes the conversion of an introductory computing course to the blended learning model at a small, public liberal arts college. Blended learning significantly reduces face-to-face instruction by incorporating rich, online learning experiences. To assess the impact of blended learning on students, survey data was collected at the midpoint and end of semester, and student performance on the final exam was compared in traditional and blended learning sections. To capture faculty perspectives on teaching blended learning courses, written reflections and discussions from faculty teaching blended learning sections were analyzed. Results indicate that student performance in the traditional and blended learning sections of the course were comparable and that students reported high levels of interaction with their instructor. Faculty teaching the course share insights on transitioning to the blended learning format.

How do social skills enable nascent entrepreneurs to enact perseverance strategies in the face of challenges? A comparative case study of success and failure

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 517-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wadid Lamine ◽  
Sarfraz Mian ◽  
Alain Fayolle
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
New Technology ◽  
New Ventures ◽  
Nascent Entrepreneurs ◽  
Entrepreneurial Process ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Start Up ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – This paper seeks to advance ongoing research in entrepreneurial perseverance. While the concept of perseverance is not new, few researchers paid attention to behavioural persistence in the entrepreneurial context. The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence of new technology based firms (NTBF) by focusing on the role of nascent entrepreneurs’ social skills in the meeting the changes of entrepreneurial perseverance. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the authors study the start-up phase of entrepreneurial process. The authors opted for a longitudinal case study approach in order to enhance the knowledge on entrepreneurs’ social skills and perseverance. For triangulation purpose the data were gathered using four different information sources. The use of Nvivo8 as the data analysis tool helped to impose a discipline and structure which facilitated the extraction of core insights. Findings – This paper contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurial perseverance in the context of new venture creation. Particularly, reading the entrepreneurial process through the lens of the perseverance strategies model (Van Gelderen, 2012) provided a way to identify and then to assess the impact of the social skills on the overall entrepreneurial perseverance and their combined impact on the performance of NTBF creation process. In doing so, the authors identify the impact of entrepreneurs’ social skills to deal with a series of entrepreneurial problems such as scarcity of resources, uncertainty and ambiguity and consequently their impact on the likelihood of survival for new ventures. The issues that arose mostly reflected the inherent complexity of technology transfer processes, the university and entrepreneurs’ diverging cultures, and the very characteristics of the start-up phase of NTBFs. The findings reveal how social skills impact the entrepreneurial paths and probable outcomes. Research limitations/implications – This paper contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurial perseverance in the context of NTBF creation. The findings reveal how social skills and perseverance impact the entrepreneurial paths and probable outcomes. Practical implications – The paper has implications for entrepreneurial support mechanisms such as technology business incubators in helping them to improve the efficacy and efficiency of their assistance to entrepreneurs through the development of their skill-sets and perseverance and providing enabling networking. In addition, the research has implications for entrepreneurship education and training. Indeed, there is an urgent need to design and implement courses and programs aiming at developing soft skills in entrepreneurship. Originality/value – In exploring networking and issues of perseverance for nascent entrepreneurs operating in new technology-based sectors, which the authors consider as an under searched area in entrepreneurial literature.

Managing multichannel coordination in retail banking: the influence of customer participation

2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 327-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loïc Plé
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Design ◽  
Retail Banking ◽  
Customer Participation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Retail Banks ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Depth Interviews

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to explore the combining of marketing and organizational literature. This paper seeks to evaluate the relationships between multichannel coordination and customer participation, as seen through the lens of potential customer opportunism. It aims at showing the impact of this opportunism on the organizational design of multiple channels structures.Design/methodology/approachThe research reports on an exploratory case study in a French retail bank. A total of 25 in‐depth interviews were conducted, and the use of other sources enabled data triangulation.FindingsThe results show first that an increase in the number of distribution channels is liable to favor customer opportunistic behavior. To counter this, the bank mainly relies on impersonal coordination modes. An emerging result highlights the role of the customer as a “perceptual filter” between the different channels of employees.Research limitations/implicationsCustomer opportunism is studied via channels employees perceptions. An investigation using a customer survey may help to better understand this construct, e.g. to identify its antecedents, and to measure it precisely. Moreover, further qualitative and/or quantitative studies with larger sample sizes are needed to try and generalize these results.Practical implicationsIt is recommended not to forget that customers can facilitate or hinder multichannel coordination. Retail banks have the power to use them conveniently, provided that they are fully conscious of the scope of the “partial employee” role played by the customer.Originality/valueThis paper broadens understanding of how multichannel distribution structures are coordinated, and in a way belies traditional organizational design literature. The emerging result gives birth to the concept of “reversed interactive marketing”, which has interesting theoretical and practical repercussions.

scholarly journals “You would expect the successful person to be the man”

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Jones
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Symbolic Violence ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Multiple Method ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – This paper aims to to explore power and legitimacy in the entrepreneurship education classroom by using Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological and educational theories. It highlights the pedagogic authority invested in educators and how this may be influenced by their assumptions about the nature of entrepreneurship. It questions the role of educators as disinterested experts, exploring how power and gendered legitimacy “play out” in staff–student relationships and female students’ responses to this. Design/methodology/approach – A multiple-method, qualitative case study approach is taken, concentrating on a depth of focus in one UK’s higher education institution (HEI) and on the experiences, attitudes and classroom practices of staff and students in that institution. The interviews, with an educator and two students, represent a self-contained story within the more complex story of the case study. Findings – The interviewees’ conceptualization of entrepreneurship is underpinned by acceptance of gendered norms, and both students and staff misrecognize the masculinization of entrepreneurship discourses that they encounter as natural and unquestionable. This increases our understanding of symbolic violence as a theoretical construct that can have real-world consequences. Originality/value – The paper makes a number of theoretical and empirical contributions. It addresses an important gap in the literature, as educators and the impact of their attitudes and perceptions on teaching and learning are rarely subjects of inquiry. It also addresses gaps and silences in understandings of the gendered implications of HE entrepreneurship education more generally and how students respond to the institutional arbitration of wider cultural norms surrounding entrepreneurship. In doing so, it challenges assertions that Bourdieu’s theories are too abstract to have any empirical value, by bridging the gap between symbolic violence as a theory and its manifestation in teaching and learning practices.

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