scholarly journals The Ph.D.-candidate as an information literate resource

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilde Daland
Keyword(s):  
Reference Group ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Support ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Library Resources ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University ◽  
Do So

One of Agder University Librarys goals is to support teaching and research at the University of Agder (UoA). To do so, the library should be involved in research projects and offer the right products at the right time. The spring of 2012 a survey was conducted among researchers (academic staff and Ph.D.-students) at the faculty of humanities and education at UoA as well as the library staff. Aditional interviews was made with the library´s research librarians and two of the Ph.D.-students. The surveys and interviews made it clear that researchers and librarians have a different conception on what research support is and should be. While librarians focus mostly on library resources, the researchers focus more generally on practical, economical and administrative help to make research possible. However, the majority answered yes to the question on the library being an important part of research support.Working closely with the researchers can help to offer the right library resources at the right time. Ph.D.-students are less likely to be set in their ways in regards to information behaviour and will often be positive to try new approaches. Also, the Ph.D.-students can be used as a reference group for developing library resources for researchers, for example subject guides. The outside perspective on the library can help to find new ways of approaching research support to make it more useful to researchers.

scholarly journals Extracurricular Partnerships as a Tool for Enhancing Graduate Employability

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David I Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
The Public ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
Key Skills ◽  
Global Demand ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University

The world of work is changing rapidly, with an increasing global demand for employees with higher-level skills. Employees need to have the right attitudes and aptitudes for work, possess work-relevant skills, and have relevant experience. Whilst universities are embedding employability into their curricula, partnerships outside of the taught curriculum provide additional, largely untapped, opportunities for students to develop these key skills and gain valuable work experience. Two extracurricular partnership opportunities were created for Bioscience undergraduates at the University of Leeds, UK: an educational research internships scheme, where students work in partnership with fellow students and academic staff on on-going educational projects, and Pop-Up Science, a unique, student-led public engagement volunteer scheme. Both schemes generate substantial benefits for all. They enhance student’s skills and employability, facilitate and enhance staff-student education practices and research, and engage the public with research in the Biosciences. Collectively, they demonstrate the extraordinary value and benefits accrued from developing extracurricular partnerships between students, staff, and the community.

scholarly journals New approaches toward statistical form design in user services

2018 ◽  
pp. 16-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruslan Baryshev ◽  
Olga Babina ◽  
Tatiana Sergienko ◽  
Pavel Zakharov
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Data ◽  
Information Services ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Research Support ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Key Players ◽  
Form Design ◽  
The University ◽  
Statistical Indicators ◽  
Statistical Form

The Siberian Federal University Scientific Library is characterized as one of the key players in the university’s education and research support. Approaches toward IRBIS-based design of statistical forms are examined. The method enables to take due account of remote users data and the features of the Siberian Federal University Scientific Library’s hybrid collection. Several key statistical indicators to characterize Library’s performance within the user services cycle are discussed. The set of statistical factors used by the University administration and librarians to analyze the Library’s performance are revealed. The authors conclude that the statistical indicators have to be improved to reflect changes in the collection structure, new promising sources and new user needs and demands which will also contribute to developing new approaches in library and information services. They emphasize that the library statistical data are of valuable source for the sphere of culture as a whole, as it enables to compare organizations’ performance, to reveal newest trends, and to measure their potentiality.

A Case Study of Use-Centered Descriptions

2011 ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
Richard Butterworth
Keyword(s):  
Social Role ◽  
Analytic Model ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Data Standards ◽  
Research Support ◽  
Library Resources ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Library Staff ◽  
The University

This chapter argues the case that there is a mismatch between current meta-data standards for the description of archival holdings and what many users actually want to know about a collection. Standard archival descriptions objectively describe what is in a collection, whereas users wish to know what they can do with a collection. It is argued that matching users’ research questions to library resources that could help answer those questions is a crucial social role played by librarians, archivists and other front line staff. However placing descriptions of what is in a collection online for users to search directly risks disintermediating the users from library staff. ‘Use centred descriptions’ are proposed as a way of systematically describing what can be done with a collection, and are, in effect, an encoding of library staff’s knowledge about what can be done with a collection. Its is therefore argued that use centred descriptions repair some of dissintermediation gaps caused by putting collection descriptions online. A theoretical motivation for use centred descriptions is presented by showing how Heaney’s (1999) analytic model of collections, which underlies the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) collection description standard, only addresses finding and identifying resources. We augment this model to address selecting resources from a range of possibilities and show how use centred descriptions stem from this augmentation. A case study is presented demonstrating the experience of developing a set of use centred descriptions for the University of London as part of a project to encourage wider access to their archival holdings. The project had necessarily limited aims, and therefore conclusions are drawn about the viability of use centred descriptions in wider domains.

‘To be or not to be’: Hamlet’s Humanistic Quaestio

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (296) ◽  
pp. 640-658
Author(s):  
Vanessa Lim
Keyword(s):  
Rhetorical Theory ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
Do So

Abstract Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ speech has long been the subject of intense scholarly attention. By situating the speech against the backdrop of classical and Renaissance rhetorical theory, this essay demonstrates that there is still much more to be said about it. The speech ostensibly examines a quaestio infinita or a thesis, and follows the rhetorical rule that the right way to do so is by the invocation of commonplaces. This reading of Hamlet’s speech is not only consistent with Shakespeare’s characterization of the university-educated prince, who frequently invokes commonplaces, but also has significant implications for our understanding of the play and Shakespeare’s own practice as a writer. The book that Hamlet is reading could well be his own commonplace collection, and it is perhaps in looking up his entries under the heading of ‘Death’ that Hamlet finds what he needs in order to examine his quaestio.

scholarly journals Canadian University Social Software Guidelines and Academic Freedom: An Alarming Labour Trend

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 45-56
Author(s):  
Taryn Lough ◽  
Toni Samek
Keyword(s):  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Social Software ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
Administrative Capacity ◽  
Personal Use ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University ◽  
And Control ◽  
Academic Year

An analysis of first-stage social software guidelines of nine Canadian universities conducted in the 2012-13 academic year with the aim to reveal limits to academic freedom. Carleton University’s guidelines serve as the anchor case, while those of eight other institutions are included to signify a national trend. Implications for this work are central to academic labour. In as much as academic staff have custody and control of all records they create, except records created in and for administrative capacity, these guidelines are interpreted to be alarming. Across the guidelines, framing of social media use by academic staff (even for personal use) as representative of the university assumes academic staff should have an undying loyalty to their institution. The guidelines are read as obvious attempts to control rather than merely guide, and speak to the nature of institutional overreach in the related names of reputation (brand), responsibility (authoritarianism), safety (paternalistically understood and enforced), and the free marketplace of [the right] ideas.

scholarly journals Towards an Ethnography Commons

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Eli Elinoff
Keyword(s):  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Transformative Research ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Social Interventions ◽  
The World ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Writing Culture ◽  
The University ◽  
Do So

How might the notion of an ethnography commons transform ethnographic research practice and pedagogy? In this paper, I consider how the concept of the commons, in all of its messiness, might provide a way of not only addressing questions surrounding the boundaries of ethnographic research and knowledge that have been fundamental to anthropology since Writing Culture (Clifford and Marcus 1986), but also for crafting more transformative research and social interventions into the world itself. I do so first by considering how contemporary structures of capitalism are shaping the university, our research, and our relationships with our students. Then, I trace the ways in which the debates about the boundaries of ethnography have transformed research and pedagogy over the last 20 years. Finally, I conclude by suggesting a number of potential trajectories for acting on the promise of the commons through ethnographic teaching and research.

scholarly journals Putting student partnership and collaboration centre-stage in a research-led context

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henk Huijser ◽  
James Wilson ◽  
Yao Wu ◽  
Shuang Qiu ◽  
Kangxin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Poster Presentation ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Fellowship ◽  
Practical Research ◽  
University Degree ◽  
The University

In this case study, we evaluated the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) initiative at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), an extracurricular programme that focuses on academic staff-student partnerships and collaborations. While not directly integrated into university degree programmes, SURF provides students with the opportunity to develop practical research skills related to knowledge they have acquired in class. Participating students receive an authentic research experience, which involves collaboration on research projects with academic staff. All students are required to present results of their projects at a public poster presentation event organised by the university. This case study is a partnership between Academic Enhancement Centre (AEC) staff, who organize and run SURF, SURF students, and a lecturer (M.B.N. Kouwenhoven), and it presents a reflection on their experiences of the SURF programme, and in particular on the notions of partnership and collaboration and the potential tension between those two concepts.

scholarly journals ACADEMIC STAFF TRAINING TRANSFER AND ITS IMPACT ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 993-1001
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Fahad Sulaiman ◽  
Najib Sheikh Abdisamad ◽  
Owolabi Sunday Oluwatosin ◽  
Ahmed Abdul Malik
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Training Transfer ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Task Requirements ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University

Purpose: This study investigates the effect of training transfer to organizational performance through collaboration among academic staff. It provides a clear understanding of specific training transfer concepts and processes during their engagement in the university activities. Several issues affecting training transfer from the learning environment to impact the performance of academic staff were reported. Methodology: A semi-structured interview among four academic staffs through a purposive sampling method. The qualitative analysis had been transcribed and coded. The data gained from the interviews were themed for the purpose of the analysis. Main findings: The findings suggest that there should be training, honest communication, knowledge management, creating the right environment, identifying collaborative leaders, and making collaboration a natural part of the workflow. This was motivated by the increasing need to improve worker's skills through training which encompasses a significant aspect of the modern organization. It is concluded that deciphered training to improve specific task requirements. Therefore, monitoring training transfer provides organizations the opportunity to improve specific work environments and academician’s performance. It is recommended that training transfer and collaboration need to be an important aspect of the organizational process to improve performance outcomes. Implications/Applications: This research is important for academic staff at the Faculty of leadership and management at (USIM) who participated in the research to enhance organizational performance. Therefore, it has provided insights to other academic staff to imitate and the authorities to create a room for achievement for the organization.

scholarly journals University Students Are Unaware of the Role of Academic Librarians

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Kirsty Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Incident ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Information Commons ◽  
Library Resources ◽  
Post Secondary Institution ◽  
Library Staff ◽  
The University

Objective – To discover students’ perceptions of information commons staff, and to determine how these perceptions influence the use of library resources. Design – Post-experience survey with one follow-up interview. Setting – The University of Sheffield, a post-secondary institution in England. Subjects – All undergraduate and postgraduate students were invited to take part. Just over 1% of the student population, or 250 students, completed the survey. Methods – Information about the survey was sent to students’ institutional email addresses. One follow up interview was carried out via email using the critical incident technique. Main Results – Students do not understand the academic roles of librarians. They are unlikely to approach library staff for academic support, preferring to turn to instructors, other students, friends, and family. Most students had positive opinions about assistance received in the Information Commons, but a small number reflected on previous bad experiences with staff, or on a fear of being made to feel foolish. The vast majority of students who did not seek help in the Information Commons stated that this was because they did not require assistance. Most students do not perceive a difference between Information Commons staff and library staff. Conclusion – Students have positive views of Information Commons staff at the University of Sheffield, but have low awareness of the roles of professional librarians. Librarians need to develop partnerships with academic staff and strengthen their presence in both physical and online learning environments to promote their academic roles.

scholarly journals Working together: library value at the University of Nottingham

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Creaser ◽  
Susanne Cullen ◽  
Ruth Curtis ◽  
Nicola Darlington ◽  
Jane Maltby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Academic Librarians ◽  
Library Services ◽  
Research Staff ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Working Together ◽  
The University ◽  
Library Value

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to bring together the findings of two studies investigating the value of academic libraries to teaching and research staff in higher education institutions. The Working Together (WT) project was an international study, funded by SAGE Publishing, investigating the value of academic libraries for teaching and research staff in the USA, UK and Scandinavia. The Raising Academic Impact (RAI) project was an initiative of the University of Nottingham (UoN) aimed at increasing the impact of academic librarians in departments across the university by assessing perception and awareness of current library services and future needs of academic staff. Design/methodology/approach – The WT project was conducted during Spring 2012, comprising a series of eight case studies and an online survey exploring the case study experiences and findings within their wider regional and academic context. One was conducted at the UoN, and included the RAI project. The RAI project was originally a four-phase initiative conducted by academic librarians at the UoN. The first phase, which is reported in this paper, consisted of a survey of teaching and research staff, distributed in summer 2012, investigating awareness, uptake and value of existing services, as well as demand for new library services. Findings – Determining the value of academic libraries is a challenging task as very little evidence (beyond the anecdotal) is collected. Perceptions of library value vary greatly between what librarians think the value of their library is to academic staff and how academic staff actually value their library. Information literacy and study skills teaching are greatly valued by academic staff. Despite current efforts, research support is still limited, owing to a cultural barrier hampering greater collaboration between libraries and academic staff in this area. Communication and marketing are keys to increase the value of academic libraries to teaching and research staff. Originality/value – This paper presents the key findings from the two studies in parallel. It is anticipated that these discoveries will be of interest to the wider library community to help libraries develop services which are closely linked to the needs of teaching and academic staff.

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