scholarly journals Daseinsvorsorge in Gefahr: öffentliche Bibliotheken zwischen Digitalisierung und Austerität

2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-122
Author(s):  
Katja Thiele
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Development Strategies ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Educational Justice ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Austerity Policy

Abstract. Public libraries are an important public service of general interest and, as part of social infrastructures, contribute to educational justice. This article discusses their development against the background of the interaction of digitization and austerity. As voluntary services they are particularly affected by the current austerity policy and have to increasingly justify their services and structures. At the same time, they are being rediscovered in the course of local authorities' urban development strategies. Based on empirical results from Bonn, the paper discusses central municipal strategies for the further development of the local library system and sheds light on the associated ambivalent socio-spatial implications.

SERVICES OF GENERAL INTEREST IN THE EVALUATIONS OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES

2017 ◽  
Vol XIX (3) ◽  
pp. 258-264
Author(s):  
Łukasz Satoła
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Service Needs ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Education Services ◽  
Research Material ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Services Of General Interest

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the perception of services of general interest by the inhabitants of local communities. The research material was the result of a survey conducted in 24 municipalities. Despite the differences in the level of satisfaction of residents with public services, their opinions in general have provided a good response to public needs. Education services were the highest ratings, while the sewage infrastructure was rated the worst. The results also confirmed that the level of satisfaction of public service needs determines to a large extent the performance of local authorities.

A comparative analysis of the lay-friendliness of Danish EU patient information leaflets from 2000 to 2012

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inger Askehave ◽  
Karen Korning Zethsen
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Patient Information ◽  
Patient Information Leaflet ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Information Leaflet ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Patient Information Leaflets ◽  
Information Leaflets ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Eu

Since becoming mandatory in the EU in 1992, the patient information leaflet (PIL) has been the subject of an on-going discussion regarding its ability to provide easily understandable information. This study examines whether the lay-friendliness of Danish PILs has improved from 2000 to 2012 according to the Danish consumers. A reproduction of a questionnaire study from 2000 was carried out. The responses of the 2012 survey were compared to those of the 2000 survey and the analysis showed that Danes are less inclined to read the PIL in 2012 compared to 2000 and that the general interest in PILs has decreased. The number of respondents who deem the PIL easy to read has gone down. According to Danish consumers, the lay-friendliness of PILs has not improved from 2000 to 2012 and a very likely explanation could be that the PIL as a genre has become far too regulated and complex to live up to its original intentions. On the basis of the empirical results the article furthermore offers suggestions for practice changes.

Urban Development Strategies of City Centers: The Case of Rafah City, Palestinian Territories

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Omar S. Asfour ◽  
Samar Abu Ghali
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Development Strategies ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
City Center ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
The City ◽  
Commercial Center

City centers worldwide are perceived as essential parts of the city, where city memories are preserved and its identity is expressed. They are planned to satisfy the functional requirements and pleasurable qualities of the city. Under the accelerating urbanization of the modern city, several challenges face these centers including demographic, economic, and environmental challenges. This requires a continuous and incremental urban development process based on clear strategy and action plans. Thus, this study focuses on urban development strategies of city centers, with a focus on Rafah city located in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories. The geographic location of this city near the Palestinian-Egyptian borders makes it a promising commercial city at local and regional levels. Thus, the current situation of Rafah city center has been analyzed, and several development strategies have been proposed. This has been done through a field survey based on observation and a questionnaire directed to city center users. It has been found that there is a great potential of Rafah city center to be developed as a commercial center. In this regard, several strategies and required actions have been proposed in the fields of transportation, environmental quality, shopping activities, investment opportunities, and visual perception.

scholarly journals Subject Access to a Data Base of Library Holdings

1974 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 267
Author(s):  
Alice S. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Ohio State University ◽  
State University ◽  
Complete Collection ◽  
Remote Locations ◽  
Readable Form ◽  
The Ohio State University ◽  
Machine Readable ◽  
Machine Readable Form

As more academic and public libraries have some form of bibliographic description of their complete collection available in machine-readable form, public service librarians are devising ways to use the information for better retrieval. Research at the Ohio State University tested user response to paper and COM output from selected areas of the shelflist. Results indicated users at remote locations found such lists helpful, with some indication that paper printout was more popular than microfiche.

Importance of Public Service Reform: the Case of Kenya

1993 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Exchange ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Development Strategies ◽  
Slow Response ◽  
Bilateral Aid ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Tied Aid

International donors supporting Kenya's development strategies have increasingly tied aid to the implementation of policy and sectoral reforms. After being confronted by more than 150 required structural adjustment conditions, the Government's good rhetoric but slow response led frustrated donors in November 1991 to suspend all foreign-exchange relief, and large blocks of bilateral aid, pending substantial progress in meeting these requirements.

scholarly journals Analysing public service outsourcing: The value of a regulatory perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 958-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Cunningham ◽  
Philip James
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Regulatory Perspective ◽  
Longitudinal Case Studies ◽  
Voluntary Organisations

This article draws on findings from two longitudinal case studies of voluntary organisations engaged in delivering social care services via purchaser–provider relations with local authorities. The study focuses on changes to contractual relations, employment conditions in provider organisations and service quality. The article argues the influence of the market on these changes can only be adequately comprehended by rooting the analysis in an understanding of the way in which surrounding regulatory frameworks shape its structure and operation. In doing so, it reveals how in an era of shifting market conditions characterised by greater competition and dramatic local authority cuts, a ‘soft’ regulatory framework offers little support to partnership relations between voluntary organisations and local authorities. Instead, the regulatory environment undermines financial security among voluntary organisations, degrades employment conditions in them and raises concerns regarding their service quality.

scholarly journals Development of 3D Ultrasound

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazunori Baba
Keyword(s):  
Human Development ◽  
Clinical Application ◽  
3D Ultrasound ◽  
Obstetrics And Gynecology ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Early Human Development ◽  
3D Sonography ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Early Human ◽  
Made In

Abstract Significant advances have been made in recent years in clinical application of 3D sonography in both obstetrics and gynecology. Since the author pioneered the use of 3D sonography many new clinical useful techniques have been used for better visualization of early human development and for the diagnostics of many gynecological problems as well as the use of 3D in management of female infertility. In this review we are describing further development in 3D ultrasound, which should be of general interest of readers of this journal.

Why are Local Authorities Reluctant to Externalise (and Do They Have Good Reason)?

10.1068/c0419 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Entwistle
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Performance Improvement ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Labour Government ◽  
Theoretical Support

In vogue with the international currents of public management, the United Kingdom's New Labour government sees the outsourcing, or externalisation, of public service delivery as a key instrument of performance improvement. Evidence suggests, however, that a significant proportion of local authorities are reluctant to externalise. On the basis of fifty interviews in six case-study authorities, the author identifies five reasons for a reluctance to externalise. He further considers the degree of theoretical support for this reluctance, concluding that gaps in our knowledge—critical to ‘make or buy’ decisions—make it impossible to determine whether a reluctance to externalise is well founded or not.

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