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1 – 10 of 32Amelia N. Gibson, Renate L. Chancellor, Nicole A. Cooke, Sarah Park Dahlen, Beth Patin and Yasmeen L. Shorish
The purpose of this article is to provide a follow up to “Libraries on the Frontlines: Neutrality and Social Justice,” which was published here in 2017. It addresses institutional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to provide a follow up to “Libraries on the Frontlines: Neutrality and Social Justice,” which was published here in 2017. It addresses institutional responses to protests and uprising in the spring and summer of 2020 after the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, all of which occurred in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The article expands the previous call for libraries to take a stand for Black lives.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors describe the events of 2020 (a global pandemic, multiple murders of unarmed Black people and the consequent global protests) and responses from within library and information science (LIS), from the perspectives as women of color faculty and library professionals.
Findings
The authors comment on how libraries are responding to current events, as well as the possibilities for panethnic solidarity. The authors also consider specifically how libraries and other institutions are responding to the racial uprisings through statements on social media and call for concrete action to ensure that their organizations and information practices are actively antiracist. In so doing, the authors update the claims and expand the appeals they made in 2017,that Black Lives Matter and that librarianship must not remain neutral.
Originality/value
This paper addresses recent institutional and governmental reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial uprisings of spring and summer 2020. It is original, current and timely as it interrogates ongoing events in a LIS context.
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Amelia N. Gibson, Renate L. Chancellor, Nicole A. Cooke, Sarah Park Dahlen, Shari A. Lee and Yasmeen L. Shorish
The purpose of this paper is to examine libraries’ responsibility to engage with and support communities of color as they challenge systemic racism, engage in the political…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine libraries’ responsibility to engage with and support communities of color as they challenge systemic racism, engage in the political process, and exercise their right to free speech. Many libraries have ignored the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, citing the need to maintain neutrality. Despite extensive scholarship questioning the validity of this concept, the framing of library neutrality as nonpartisanship continues. This paper examines librarianship’s engagement with, and disengagement from black communities through the lens of the BLM movement. It also explores the implications of education, engagement, and activism for people of color and libraries today.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have engaged the topic from a critical race perspective as a practice in exercising voice – telling stories, presenting counterstories, and practicing advocacy (Ladson-Billings, 1998).
Findings
The assertion that libraries have been socially and politically neutral organizations is ahistorical. When libraries decide not to address issues relevant to people of color, they are not embodying neutrality; they are actively electing not to support the information and service needs of a service population. In order for libraries to live up to their core values, they must engage actively with communities, especially when those communities are in crisis.
Originality/value
As a service field, librarianship has an ethos, values, and history that parallel those of many other service fields. This paper has implications for developing understanding of questions about equitable service provision.
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Amelia Gibson, Sandra Hughes-Hassell and Megan Threats
Purpose – We examine the reading lists for required foundational library and information science (LIS) courses at the top 20 American Library Association-accredited LIS programs…
Abstract
Purpose – We examine the reading lists for required foundational library and information science (LIS) courses at the top 20 American Library Association-accredited LIS programs in North America; explore the extent to which critical race theory (CRT) and other critical literatures, methods, and approaches were engaged; and discuss the implications of the findings for LIS education.
Methodological Approach – We conducted quantitative and qualitative content analyses of foundational required readings for the top 20 Master of Library Science/Master of Library and Information Science programs (as ranked by U.S. News & World Report). The sampling process was twofold. The initial sampling included development of the foundational course sample, and the secondary sampling included development of the sample of required readings.
Findings – The vast majority of the required foundational courses examined provided students with little to no exposure to CRT or critical theory.
Originality/Value – CRT and its related concepts provide a structural framework for preparing LIS students and graduates to recognize and address racism, to understand “how power and privilege shape LIS institutions and professional practice” (Cooke, Sweeney, & Noble, 2016, p. 107), and to embrace social justice as an LIS value. Incorporating CRT into existing courses is the first step in pushing the profession in this direction.
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This paper aims to explore the capacity of Australian silo art from a creative placemaking perspective. The paper also takes up this case as fertile ground for probing into the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the capacity of Australian silo art from a creative placemaking perspective. The paper also takes up this case as fertile ground for probing into the complexity of creative placemaking.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study approach is exploratory, drawing on public documents and media sources to thematically (i.e. qualitatively) analyse the factors, actors and processes that pertain to how Australian silo art can contribute towards empowering communities, activating everyday spaces and, ultimately, making socially connected and resilient places.
Findings
Each theme encapsulates a particular interplay: (1) physical space – social place, (2) past – present – future place, (3) bottom-up – top-down energies, (4) residents – tourists, (5) urban – nonurban place and (6) material – digital place.
Research limitations/implications
Rather than proffering conclusions about the current impact of silo art on local communities, the paper illuminates the practical workings of silo art as a potential form of creative placemaking. Additionally, thinking of creative placemaking in terms of ongoing interplays could stimulate and expand knowledge and practice in this domain.
Originality/value
This paper initiates and charts a course for a rigorous and critical investigation into silo art as a substantive cultural and artistic phenomenon and a meaningful chapter in regional arts and creative placemaking in Australia. The interplays distinguished provide an additional basis for probing further into the many layers and overall complexity of creative placemaking.
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Very much more might be done to improve the quality of our food supplies by the great organisations that exist for the avowed object of furthering the interests of traders in…
Abstract
Very much more might be done to improve the quality of our food supplies by the great organisations that exist for the avowed object of furthering the interests of traders in foodstuffs. It is no exaggeration to say that these organisations claim, and rightly claim, to speak in the aggregate on behalf of great commercial interests involving the means of livelihood of thousands of people and the most profitable disposal of millions of money. The information that they possess as to certain trade methods and requirements is necessarily unique. Apart from the commercial knowledge they possess, these organisations have funds at their command which enable them to obtain the best professional opinions on any subjects connected with the trades they represent. Their members are frequently to be found occupying positions of responsibility as the elected representatives of their fellow‐citizens on municipal councils and other public bodies, where the administration of the Food Laws and prosecutions under the Food and Drugs Acts are often under discussion. Such organisations, then, are in a position to afford an unlimited amount of valuable help by assisting to put down fraud in connection with our food supply. The dosing of foods with harmful drugs is, of course, only a part of a very much larger subject. It is, however, typical. Assuming the danger to public health that arises from the treatment of foods with harmful preservatives, the continued use of such substances cannot but be in the long run as harmful to the best interests of the traders as it is actually dangerous to public health. The trade organisations to which reference has been made might very well extend their sphere of usefulness by making it their business to seriously consider this and similar questions in the interests of public health, as well as in their own best interests. It is surely not open to doubt that a great organisation, numbering hundreds, and perhaps thousands of members, has such a membership because individual traders find it to their interest, as do people in all walks of life, to act more or less in common for the general advantage ; and, further, that it would not be to the benefit of individual members that their connection with the organisation should terminate owing to their own wrong‐doing. The executives of such trade organisations hold a sufficiently strong position to enable them to bring strong pressure to bear on those who are acting in a way that is contrary to the interests of the public generally, and of honest traders in particular, by adulterating or misbranding the food products that they gain their living by selling. It should also be plain that such trade organisations could go a long way towards solving many of the very vexed questions that arise whenever food standards and limits, for example, form the subject of discussion. These problems are not easy to deal with. The difficulties in connection with them are many and great; but such problems, however difficult of solution, are still not insoluble, and an important step towards their solution would be taken if co‐operation between those who are acting in the interests of hygienic science and those who are acting in the interests of trade could be brought about. If this could be accomplished the unedifying spectacle of alleged trade interests and the demands of public health being brought, as is so often the case, into sharp conflict, would be less frequent, and there can be no doubt that general benefit would result.
Harriman Samuel Saragih and Novi Amelia
With the growing interest in eudaimonia in the past years and the need to better understand festival visitors' motivation in the context of music festivals, this study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
With the growing interest in eudaimonia in the past years and the need to better understand festival visitors' motivation in the context of music festivals, this study aims to propose visitor segmentation based on the values of hedonia, life satisfaction and eudaimonia.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis in this study employs a case research method that follows the abductive paradigm. The authors begin their conceptual foundation with a review of the literature on hedonia, life satisfaction and eudaimonia. The authors then use the preliminary conceptual foundation as the basis of rival analysis through a focus group and interviews with senior executives, government officials, communities and other related stakeholders. The authors also carry out an exploratory factor analysis to determine the building blocks of eudaimonic festival experiences. Last, using cluster analysis, the authors support their conceptual proposition from the initial qualitative inquiries.
Findings
From the three studies that the authors performed, their findings suggest that, based on hedonia and eudaimonia, festival attendees can be divided into three distinct segments: (1) pleasure seekers (i.e. visitors who look for personal pleasure, enjoyment and affection), (2) playful learners (i.e. visitors who not only seek pleasure, but also consider the urgency to think about the need to grow as a person) and (3) transcendentalists (i.e. visitors who seek a balance of pleasure, escapism, self-reflection, personal meaning and impact through attending festival activities).
Research limitations/implications
This study argues that the ideas of hedonia and eudaimonia are present in the context of the music festival. Theoretically, this paper suggests that festival-goers can be divided into three clusters based on the values of hedonia and eudaimonia: pleasure seekers, playful learners and transcendentalists. Practically, this study suggests that festival organisers should consider developing music concert events by taking into account the eudaimonic and hedonistic desires, intrinsically possessed by the festival-goers, which is expected to add value to the produced musical event.
Originality/value
This study is the first to present visitor segmentation in a music festival setting based on the values of eudaimonia, life satisfaction and hedonia.
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Alyssa Jennings and Kristine Kinzer
The purpose of the paper is two-fold. The first is to inform the readers of the racist origins of libraries in America. Readers will learn about historic instances of systemic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is two-fold. The first is to inform the readers of the racist origins of libraries in America. Readers will learn about historic instances of systemic racism in libraries and those that persist today. The second purpose is to give readers examples of antiracist actions they can take on an individual level, in concert with library administration, and on the institutional level.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper gives an overview of systemic racism in librarianship. Part I outlines the history of libraries and their institutional oppression origins in America. Part II reviews some of the current racial issues in Libraries and Information Science (LIS). Part III gives the author's viewpoint on how to incorporate antiracist action within libraries and how to decenter whiteness at the national level.
Findings
The authors found that libraries were established on institutional oppression and systemic racism, which continue to this day to center whiteness and disadvantage BIPOC. Having said that, now is the time to make changes, decenter whiteness and remove systemic barriers through antiracist actions. These actions will help increase the number of BIPOC working in libraries and improve the retention and promotion of those BIPOC too. If the American Library Association (ALA) heeds this call to action, Critical Race Theory (CRT) will become part of the Master's of Library and Information Science (MLIS), BIPOC will be better funded and supported, and the credentialing stigma will be removed.
Originality/value
This article highlights concrete action that should be taken beyond individual bias awareness and into systemic changes. It advocates for more critical awareness and daily antiracist action within the LIS field.
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Amelia Manuti, Viviana Martiradonna, Umberto Panniello and Michele Gorgoglione
This study investigated how consumers' confidence in medicine and health information seeking and usage could be related to purchase intentions and satisfaction.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated how consumers' confidence in medicine and health information seeking and usage could be related to purchase intentions and satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
A panel of 18 food supplements consumers were interviewed using soft laddering. Qualitative data were coded and used to develop a structured survey. Participants (N = 363) were recruited on a voluntary basis among the customers of an Italian company in this sector. Hypotheses were tested by linear regressions and generalized models.
Findings
Results showed that consumers' confidence in medicine interacted with health information seeking and usage influencing both purchase intention and satisfaction. Consumers with high confidence behave differently from those with low confidence.
Research limitations/implications
The authors used a sample based on one company's customer base.
Practical implications
Companies should segment their customers based on their level of confidence in medicine and adopt different marketing strategies for different segments.
Social implications
A broader knowledge of consumers' attitudes towards food supplements and medicines can improve the public policies aimed at increasing quality of life.
Originality/value
From a theoretical viewpoint, findings suggest to consider consumers' confidence in medicine along with other subjective and contextual variables in socio-cognitive models aimed at explaining food supplements' consumer behavior. From a marketing viewpoint, results suggest to consider confidence in medicine as a precious variable in segmentation strategies. While some communication strategies are valid for all customers (i.e. using experts as advisors, using scientific contents in ads), others (i.e. relying on the advice of trustworthy people, explaining the consequences of consumption) were proved to have different impact on consumers depending on their degree of confidence in medicine.
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Gemma Kerfoot, Zandra Bamford and Sarah Amelia Jones
The aim of this paper is to highlight the challenges in evaluating psychological input into acute wards using more traditional methods; and also to provide an example of how it is…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to highlight the challenges in evaluating psychological input into acute wards using more traditional methods; and also to provide an example of how it is possible to evaluate such services capturing outcomes at multiple levels.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from multiple levels including staff, patients and the wider organisation mainly using self report questionnaires. The paper looks at the impact on satisfaction, service utilisation, development of recovery principles, quality of therapeutic environment and alliance with treatment teams following the introduction of a dedicated psychology team.
Findings
The results show positive trends in patient experiences of the ward environment, alliance with treating teams and staff recovery principles, along with reduced readmission rates and length of stay in hospital. Qualitative data demonstrate the value of the service to both staff and patients.
Research limitations/implications
Much of the data do not meet the criteria for more sophisticated statistical analysis.
Originality/value
The paper provides an example of evaluation of a contemporary model of service delivery for which there is currently a limited evidence base and looks to stimulate current thinking on the practice of mental health service delivery.
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