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This paper aims to describe the inception and continuation of a collaborative effort between York College’s Common Reader program and the York College Library. The Common Reader program comprises academic and extracurricular activities designed to help achieve the goals of York College’s First Year Experience Program to assist in the successful transition, achievement and retention of first-year students at York College, The City University of New York.

The Common Reader Committee was initially comprising only of participating classroom faculty and Student Development staff. York College Library was invited to help with one of the extracurricular events. Subsequently, the collaboration was considered essential to the success of the Common Reader program. This paper describes the library’s role in supporting the initiative.

The library is an active member of York’s Common Reader Committee and is involved in the selection of the Common Reader book; publicity of the program; promotion of library resources and services; and the programming of extracurricular events. Involvement in these areas allows the library to collaboratively build a learning community, integrate information literacy skills into the curricula, nurture the practice of critical reading and help students feel connected in a new academic environment.

Many colleges have implemented common reading programs, and, in many cases, libraries have been involved in the program in some shape or form. However, at York College, there is a strategic partnership between the library and the Common Reader program. Such a partnership has made it possible for the library to be deeply involved in helping students transition to college life.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the early experiences of those involved with the development of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), examining how the aspiration towards a “clinically-led” system is being realised. The authors investigate emerging leadership approaches within CCGs in light of the criterion for authorisation that calls for “great leaders”.

Qualitative research was carried out in eight case studies (CCGs) across England over a nine-month period (September 2011 to May 2012) when CCGs were in their early development. The authors conducted a mix of interviews (with GPs and managers), observations (at CCG meetings) and examined associated documentation. Data were thematically analysed.

The authors found evidence of two identified approaches to leadership – positive deviancy and responsible guardianship – being undertaken by GPs and managers in the developing CCGs. Historical experiences and past ways of working appeared to be influencing current developments and a commonly emerging theme was a desire for the CCG to “do things differently” to the previous commissioning bodies. The authors discuss how the current reorganisation threatens the guardianship approach to leadership and question if the new systems being implemented to monitor CCGs’ performance may make it difficult for CCGs to retain creativity and innovation, and thus the ability to foster the positive deviant approach to leadership.

This is a large scale piece of qualitative research carried out as CCGs were beginning to develop. It provides insight into how leadership is developing in CCGs highlighting the complexity involved in these roles.

This paper aims to demonstrate the variety of ways institutions and their libraries approach student success both conceptionally and operationally.

Librarians from nine different institutions of higher education were given a series of questions about student success on their campuses and in their libraries. They responded with written essays describing their experiences and perspectives.

The contributed pieces are collected together and display a shared interest in defining “student success,” aligning strategic planning with student success initiatives and establishing (and assessing) strong infrastructure to support student success.

These examples help us observe what is happening throughout higher education and see potential paths forward at our own institutions engaged in this work.

This paper aims to use social network analysis (SNA) to determine whether compulsive exercise (CE) was related to social connections and network position among participants of group-exercise programs.

Members from two group-exercise programs (Gym 1: n = 103; Gym 2: n = 56) completed an online survey measuring their social connections within the program, CE, depressive symptoms and sense of belonging. Network position was calculated for each person based on network centrality scores (i.e. closeness, eigenvector centrality). Linear network autocorrelation models determined whether respondents reported similar CE as their network ties (i.e., network effects) and whether network position was related to CE in these networks.

Eigenvector centrality (i.e., being connected to popular/important people within the network; Gym 1: parameter estimate [PE] = 0.51, p < 0.01, Gym 2: PE = 0.39, p = 0.02) and network effects (i.e. having similar CE scores as direct network ties; Gym 1: PE = 0.07, p < 0.01, Gym 2: PE = 0.19, p < 0.01) were related to CE among participants in these programs.

This study builds on existing SNA research suggesting the importance of social connections and network position on CE, and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first to explore these effects among group-exercise participants. This study describes how the social environment can impact, both positively and negatively, someone’s susceptibility for CE and supports fostering social connections within group-exercise programs as a way to potentially combat harmful CE among its participants.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) training which was provided to community agency staff (N=18) implementing DBT in the community with street-involved youth.

Staff participated in a multi-component approach to training which consisted of webinars, online training, self-study manuals, and ongoing peer consultation. To evaluate assess the effectiveness of the training, questionnaires assessing evaluating DBT skills knowledge, behavioral anticipation and confidence, and DBT skills use, were completed at baseline, immediately post-training, four to six months post-training, and 12-16 months post-training. Additionally, the mental health outcomes for youth receiving the DBT intervention are reported to support the effectiveness of the training outcomes.

Results demonstrate that the DBT skills, knowledge, and confidence of community agency staff improved significantly from pre to post-training and that knowledge and confidence were sustained over time. Additionally, the training was clinically effective as demonstrated by the significant improvement in mental health outcomes for street-involved youth participating in the intervention.

Findings suggest that this evidence-based intervention can be taught to a range of staff working in community service agencies providing care to street-involved youth and that the intervention can be delivered effectively.

These findings help to close the knowledge-practice gap between evidence-based treatment (EBT) research and practice while promoting the implementation of EBT in the community to enhance positive youth outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and incorporate personal narratives as a new methodological tool into the qualitative research of complex organisational issues such as identity. Particularly, this study provides a fresh methodological perspective on organisational identity exploration by using personal narratives to examine multiple identities that occur in dynamic organisational contexts.

In order to examine multiple identities, personal narratives found in the 43 semi-structured in-depth interviews collected were analysed. These narratives were examined following a textual and performative analysis.

The paper furthers methodological discussions in organisations in three ways. First, it responds to the need for a methodological approach that allows multiple identity exploration in organisations while it presents personal narratives as a valuable methodological perspective within organisational research. Second, it extends the methodological use of personal narratives for the in-depth qualitative study of complex organisational issues such as identity. Finally, the study stretches the boundaries of mainstream organisational research by illustrating that personal narratives can be used as a methodological approach to explore organisational identities.

This research integrates personal narratives as a methodological tool into the qualitative research of dynamic organisational issues. Employing personal narratives has allowed the exploration of multiple identities that take place in organisations in a manner not previously achieved in organisational studies. The study, therefore, challenges previous organisational research and expands the boundaries of organisational identity studies, offering a new qualitative methodological account for identity exploration in organisations.

Although ecosystems have been researched extensively over the past decade, we know little about how they should be organised. Focusing on a knowledge ecosystem comprising a university and a regional strategic network (RSN), this paper aims to describe and discuss the mechanisms for knowledge development in knowledge ecosystems.

This paper studies the integration of a university into a Swedish RSN. Data were collected through interviews with representatives of the university, the RSN and all firms comprising the RSN. A qualitative content analysis helped to detect mechanisms for knowledge development.

Two reinforcing mechanisms for knowledge development in the knowledge ecosystem are identified: structure and openness, which relate to insight and outlook, respectively. The findings also indicate a knowledge division, with the university representing the transfer of knowledge capabilities as a linear process, whereas the content-related knowledge is collaborative.

This paper contributes to research on knowledge ecosystems by describing how their organisation is based on a number of contradictions (structure and openness, insight and outlook, linearity and collaboration) to accomplish the development of knowledge capabilities and content-related knowledge.

It is hard to imagine more thoughtful and stimulating responses to The Familial State (Adams, 2005a) than the four gathered in this symposium. Mounira Maya Charrad, Ivan Ermakoff, Edgar Kiser and Pavla Miller raise important challenges not only for me but for all those who tackle questions of large-scale comparative history. Rather than arguing about this or that point of specific interpretation – in fact I think that unlike some “Author Meets Critics” sessions, these commentators have the main arguments of the book nailed down – I will immediately turn to those issues. These include the relationship of the argument to today's patrimonial states; patriarchal power and internal family dynamics; the reasons for the decline of hegemonic powers; the microfoundations of collective action and the place of evolutionary biology in comparative historical explanation.

The purpose of this paper is to (a) distinguish the structural designs, and (b) examine the relationship between structure and effectiveness in American sport organizations. Formalization, centralization, and specialization were examined to determine the structural designs. Senior level administrators from National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I (N = 86) departments completed an electronic questionnaire. Cluster analysis was used to group departments according to the three dimensions of structure. Results demonstrated the presence of two structural designs—the Simple Structure and the Enabling Structure. MANCOVA procedures showed differences between departments in athletic achievement, but not in the education of student athletes. Discussion of the findings and future directions are presented.