Academic Libraries as Complex Systems

2011 ◽  
pp. 215-232
Author(s):  
Álvaro Quijano-Solís ◽  
Guadalupe Vega-Díaz
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Collaborative Group ◽  
Basic Unit ◽  
Viable System ◽  
The Way

The purpose of this chapter is to describe how the concepts and principles from the Systems Approach may be helpful in understanding and modeling the collaborative group cognitive processes in information handling in an academic library. In order to address complexity and dynamics, this chapter analyzes several theoretical positions, which together may help us to shape the academic library from a comprehensive and systemic point of view (such as Systems Approach, Communities of Practice, Activity Theory and the Viable System Model). This chapter suggests focalizing on the activity (performed by a community) as the basic unit of analysis in studying the complexity of academic libraries. This activity is what allows the transmission of tacit and explicit knowledge and the skills from an expert to a novice. Other elements in the activity are objectives, rules and regulations, and importantly the learning processes that occur dialectically between subjects and community. A model such as Beer´s in the way the authors presented it in this chapter fits well to decompose reality and synthesize it to analyze the proposed complexity. This may allow facing organizational problems by focusing in the way people act to transform the inputs into products and add value to them by teaching and learning.

scholarly journals Agricultural family schools in the «Pampa Gringa», historical traces between the particular and the universal

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
Myriam Southwell
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Secondary Level ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
South American ◽  
The South ◽  
Conceptual Debate ◽  
Alternative Modality ◽  
The Way

Agricultural Family Schools have been the way to concretize a model of pedagogy of alternation, an education modality that has been little investigated from a historical point of view. This article aims to present the emergence of alternating pedagogy in Europe, its influence in the South American territory, and to analyse in more detail its expansion in Argentina from the late 1960s. We are interested in dwelling on these alternative modes of conceiving and building schools not only because of their value as a contribution to agricultural education at the secondary level, but also as a contribution to research on specific historical experiences which constitute areas for inscription of school innovations, pedagogical debates, struggles and resistance (McLeod, 2014). Likewise, we are interested in analysing this alternative modality of schooling from the conceptual debate on the tension between the particular and the universal, which is expressed in this different way of conceiving teaching and learning and analysing the hegemony of the school format (Southwell, 2008). To do this, we carry out a historical analysis of the testimonies that recorded the emergence, debates and expansion of these institutions, as well as the educational concepts that were configured in the historical journey developed until today.

scholarly journals A case study investigation of academic library support for open educational resources in Scottish universities

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-693
Author(s):  
Seth D. Thompson ◽  
Adrienne Muir
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Educational Resources ◽  
Institutional Commitment ◽  
Case Study Methodology

The aim of the research was to investigate why and how Scottish university libraries support open educational resources and to assess their ability to provide support services for their development and use within higher education institutions. There has been little research on the role of academic libraries in supporting open educational resources in Scotland and previous research found that there is a lack of awareness of them in Scottish higher education institutions and few have open educational resources policies. The case study methodology therefore involved two Scottish academic libraries providing open educational resources services. The libraries’ motivation includes supporting teaching and learning and the development of educator digital skills and copyright knowledge. However, there are a number of barriers limiting the services the libraries are able to provide, particularly lack of human resources. The research confirmed the findings of previous research on the importance of institutional commitment, incentives for educator engagement, and understanding of copyright and licensing issues by educators and library staff.

Staffing the Transition to the Virtual Academic Library

2011 ◽  
pp. 180-193
Author(s):  
Todd Chavez
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Research Library ◽  
Virtual Library ◽  
Online Services ◽  
Computing Technologies ◽  
Library Staff ◽  
The Way

Change brought about by innovations in computing technologies has fundamentally altered the nature of work in academic libraries. In his description of the term informatica electronica, Gilbert (1998) suggests that despite the way technology is changing how library staff do their work, it should not change the emphases on traditional services to patrons, such as accessing and retrieving information. This chapter also focuses on human changes that accompany the migration from print to electronic collections, from traditional to online services, and from the academic research library of a decade ago to the virtual library of today and tomorrow.

scholarly journals Using Digital Badges to Enhance Research Instruction in Academic Libraries

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan David deMaine ◽  
Catherine Lemmer ◽  
Benjamin John Keele ◽  
Hannah Alcasid
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Digital Badges ◽  
Research Instruction

deMaine, S.D., Lemmer, C.A., Keele, B.J., & Alcasid, H. Using digital badges to enhance research instruction in academic libraries. In Eden, B. L. (2015). Enhancing Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century Academic Library: Successful Innovations That Make a Difference. Lanham: Maryland: Scarecrow Press

scholarly journals Leveraging apps for research and learning: a survey of Canadian academic libraries

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Canuel ◽  
Chad Crichton
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Academic Librarians ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the response of Canadian academic libraries to the rapid proliferation of mobile application (apps), many of which are useful for research, teaching, and learning. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted to identify existing initiatives that address the use of mobile apps to facilitate research, teaching, and learning at the libraries of the 97 member institutions of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). Based on this survey, this paper describes how apps are promoted, curated, organized, and described by today’s academic libraries. A review of the literature places this survey in its broader context. Findings – In total, 37 per cent of AUCC member libraries include links to mobile apps in their web site. Larger, research-intensive universities, tend to leverage apps more frequently than smaller institutions. Examples of how academic libraries are promoting apps provide insight into how academic librarians are responding to the proliferation of mobile technology. Practical implications – The results of this survey highlight trends with regard to this emerging service opportunity, help to establish current best practices in the response of academic libraries to the emergence of mobile apps, and identify areas for potential future development. Originality/value – This is the first study of its kind to explore and describe how third-party apps are used and promoted within an academic library context.

Changing Roles in Information Dissemination and Education

2000 ◽  
pp. 141-159
Author(s):  
Brian Kroeker
Keyword(s):  
World Wide Web ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
The World ◽  
Changing Roles ◽  
The Face ◽  
Teaching Faculty ◽  
The Way

The World Wide Web (WWW) is changing the face of today’s academic libraries — the way we use them and how we give value to them. In this article I will explain what the WWW means to the academic library and why it has become worthy of consideration. I will show that the WWW will impact greatly upon the Library whether the Library wants it to or not, and this impact will be in large part be dictated to the Library by forces both technologically and socially based, and thus beyond the Library’s overall control. Some consequences that I see of attempting to ignore WWW technology or providing inadequate resources to it will be discussed as well. Finally I will present some observations that I see on how the WWW is changing the balance between the Library as provider of information and teaching faculty as providers of education.

scholarly journals Students’ Information Needs and Digital Technologies in Academic Libraries

2018 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Mierzecka
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Citation Index ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Information Behaviors ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Thesis/objective – The topic of this article is the influence of digital technologies on the functioning of academic libraries in the context of their users’ needs. Users’ information behaviors have changed significantly through the influence of these technologies, what can be identified in particular in students’ behaviors. Do far-reaching changes in the way in which users, in case of this article - students, interact with information cause transformations in the functioning and mission of academic libraries? On the basis of literature containing the results of researches conducted around the world an attempt was made to present the way academic libraries react to these changes and how they modify their services and resources. Research method – The first step in responding to the actual needs of users is to conduct research in this area. For this reason, the subject of the analysis in this article were publications presenting research on the users’ (students) needs in the context of using academic libraries. The next stage was to identify the texts in which the use of digital technology was discussed. The analyzed literature was selected from leading journals indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A & HCI), and included articles which were published within the last 5 years (2013-2018) – a period in which digital technologies in most academic libraries in the world were most widely used, making changes caused by them possible to be diagnosed, and which corresponds to the information query. The results of the query contained 328 articles, 80 of them have been analyzed in detail, because they were deemed to contain the results of research on the functioning of academic libraries in the context of the needs and expectations of the students. Results/conclusions – On the basis of the analysis it can be concluded that the widespread use of digital technologies has changed functioning of academic libraries to a large extent, but these changes are not revolutionary. The way of implementing library tasks has changed, but the tasks themselves as well as the mission of an academic library have remained similar. One of the most important postulates for the future is the necessity of far-reaching personalization of the services being offered. The conducted analysis is based on the research presented in the literature, the next planned stage is verification of these conclusions in empirical research.

The role of graining in ensuring food security

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-79
Author(s):  
R. M. Gambarova
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Grain Production ◽  
The Government ◽  
Favorable Conditions ◽  
Grain Farms

Relevance. Grain is the key to strategic products to ensure food security. From this point of view, the creation of large grain farms is a matter for the country's selfsufficiency and it leading to a decrease in financial expense for import. Creation of such farms creates an abundance of productivity from the area and leads to obtaining increased reproductive seeds. The main policy of the government is to minimize dependency from import, create abundance of food and create favorable conditions for export potential.The purpose of the study: the development of grain production in order to ensure food security of the country and strengthen government support for this industry.Methods: comparative analysis, systems approach.Results. As shown in the research, if we pay attention to the activities of private entrepreneurship in the country, we can see result of the implementation of agrarian reforms after which various types of farms have been created in republic.The role of privateentrepreneurshipinthedevelopmentofproduction is great. Тhe article outlines the sowing area, production, productivity, import, export of grain and the level of selfsufficiency in this country from 2015 till 2017.

Investigating English Teacher Candidate’s Use of Instructional Media During the Teaching Practicum: A Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Ratih Ayu T ◽  
Zakiyah Tasnim ◽  
Annur Rofiq
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Teacher Candidate ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
English Teacher ◽  
Instructional Media ◽  
Teaching Practicum ◽  
Case Study Design ◽  
The Way

This study analyzes the English teacher candidate’s use of instructional media in the teaching practicum. The English teacher candidate who became the participant in this study was doing their teaching practicum in MTsN 5 Jember. This study applied the qualitative case study design. Interview and observation were done one time to select the participant. The four-times classroom observations and questionnaires were used in order to collect the data. This study employed the model of Creswell in analyzing the data. The findings of this study showed that the English teacher candidate applied one type of instructional media namely Visual Media. Those were Picture and Whiteboard. The way the teacher candidate implemented the instructional media was almost the same in each meeting of the teaching and learning process. However, the students’ participation and response were not always the same in every meeting. It depended on the way the teacher candidate managed the class activity.

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