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1 – 10 of over 1000Neil Robdale describes how the Enable pilot job retention project has been successfully developed into a county‐wide service that aims to step in before people experiencing mental…
Abstract
Neil Robdale describes how the Enable pilot job retention project has been successfully developed into a county‐wide service that aims to step in before people experiencing mental health problems become long‐term unemployed and help negotiate a return to their former job. Key to the success of the service is taking referrals directly from GPs, as well as from the community mental health teams, although this requires considerable investment in promoting the service.
Claire Bellamy, Margaret Struthers and Lorraine Green
Drawing on empirical research which incorporated biographical interviews with two older male perpetrators, this chapter develops theoretical conceptualisations of the histories…
Abstract
Drawing on empirical research which incorporated biographical interviews with two older male perpetrators, this chapter develops theoretical conceptualisations of the histories, experiences and motives of these men. Four key areas are highlighted, which will be subject to closer scrutiny in relation to extant literature: (i) gender, particularly notions of masculinity, power and entitlement; (ii) attitudes relating to the use of violence both within intimate relationships and generally (iii) critical junctures in the life course which triggered attempts to desist; and (iv) an exploration of maturation and completion of treatment programmes in relation to their use of violence, future risks and efforts towards desistance.
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Anthony (Tony) Ferguson, Frederick Nesta and Colin Storey
The purpose of this paper is to present the experiences of three western librarians in adapting their management styles for working and living in a new culture.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the experiences of three western librarians in adapting their management styles for working and living in a new culture.
Design/methodology/approach
Three university library directors who have been working as expatriates in Hong Kong for 2 to 18 years were asked to comment on their own personal experiences in moving to a new culture, a new language environment, and new management challenges.
Findings
Moving to a new culture can be difficult for the expatriate and his family but work environments have many similarities. Developing an understanding of the local professional culture and working within is vital to success.
Practical implications
The paper presents some guidelines for librarians who may be seeking a career abroad.
Originality/value
There is very little literature on librarians, particularly those in management, who have chosen to continue their careers abroad. This paper provides first‐hand experiences and demonstrates that librarianship shares a certain commonality and that management skills can be adapted to new cultures.
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The purpose of this paper is to address the dangers and opportunities for a highly trained group of professionals – librarians – in responding to the present and future…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the dangers and opportunities for a highly trained group of professionals – librarians – in responding to the present and future challenges, for example from the web's so‐called digital natives and from the web's bare‐fisted market forces.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a general view of the current state‐of‐play in library management vis‐a‐vis the e‐revolution, in terms of the history and future of the profession.
Findings
Librarians are in danger of casting off the primordial and deeply original tenets of the profession (the term “ur‐librarianship” is suggested here to refer to this canon of library beliefs). Librarians may well become irrelevant shadows of their former selves by embracing a mish‐mash of misdirected and misappropriated ideologies and peripheral priorities from other, newer, professions and undo centuries of hard work (here referred to as “un‐librarianship”). In consequence, readers, in a cloud of unknowing, would not understand who librarians are, what they do, and especially, what they stand for. Librarians have opportunities to re‐enliven the developmental arc of venerable tradition and to recast agile services to sustain, as in the long past, an absolutely unquestioned place in society (“uber‐librarianship”). Is it going to be “Librarian Interrupted!”, or “Librarian Triumphant!”?
Practical implications
Librarians need to brand themselves and their libraries distinctly for a successful and relevant future.
Originality/value
Using practical examples from many years of experience in librarianship, the author states some strong opinions on librarians' professional futures.
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Constructing academic library learning spaces involves ad hoc groups of agents often with fuzzy inter-relationships. Librarians and their user communities are initially hailed…
Abstract
Purpose
Constructing academic library learning spaces involves ad hoc groups of agents often with fuzzy inter-relationships. Librarians and their user communities are initially hailed within these groups as prime-movers in realizing projects. Librarians bring to the table contagious ideas generated from their own profession in the hope of securing appropriate funding and planning pre-requisites. All other agents, be they internal community representatives or external architects, assist them in making sense of each other’s standpoints to co-create dynamic learning spaces in “commons consent”. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the community culture in The Chinese University of Hong Kong as existed in 2012 as a case study, this paper examines the reality of this process in terms of a new library for learning, teaching and research.
Findings
Can librarians hold sway over the priorities of other individual agents, particularly architects, to gain consent to build their initial concept of the commons which they are vigorously promoting as professionally valid and educationally potent? In the co-creation of a building, individual preferences and organizational power structures in ad hoc groups drawn from the university’s distinct cultural environment fuel compromise and even tension around the librarians’ and architects’ original visions.
Research limitations/implications
Many other case studies of library building learning commons projects would be useful to add to these findings in sensemaking, co-creation and community cultures.
Practical implications
Assists library managers in their management of large buildings projects.
Originality/value
An original case study of a major Asian academic library learning commons project which involves sensemaking, co-creation and community cultures ideas imported from construction science.
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The purpose of this paper is to address the dangers for a highly trained group of professionals – academic librarians – in responding to the challenge of divesting their libraries…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the dangers for a highly trained group of professionals – academic librarians – in responding to the challenge of divesting their libraries of a very large amount of printed material.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach takes the form of a general view of the current state‐of‐play in library management vis‐à‐vis the e‐revolution, in terms of the corresponding preservation of printed materials.
Findings
Traditionally, the majority stock of any library, rarely used printed books and journals seem to have become a liability and a burden in this web‐spun, e‐raddled world. Academic librarians are becoming active participants in the rush to achieve a “print→less” heaven. For the first time in history on such a scale and in any period of war or peace, the next 20 years could witness a huge and deliberate global dispersal and even destruction of a substantial portion of the printed word in university, college and research libraries. This Fahrenheit 451‐equivalent event would be carefully planned not by ruthless despots and capricious censors riding roughshod over the bodies of librarians to re‐write historical records, but by … the librarians themselves. This is not just “bibliobabble” – defined here as the reactionary ravings of the bibliophile against a tidal wave of e‐books and digital content. Given librarians' innate professional ability for organized thoroughness, a series of small local projects, largely unremarked in the wider world, would be very speedily executed, leading to global and possibly uncoordinated weeding. This sustained dispersal or destruction of printed material from the protective walls of universities and colleges, without the usual finesse or adequate time or resources, will re‐classify “ordinary” works into titles of “relative” or even “absolute” rarity worldwide. Academic librarians will have created a new profession for themselves – “rare book engineers” – by massively reducing the number of copies held in the world's libraries and relying on private book collectors (if they still exist in 2060) to acquire any of the millions of discarded titles and preserve them for posterity.
Practical implications
Librarians need to consider carefully how and where lesser‐used printed materials will be disposed of and sent.
Originality/value
Using practical examples from many years of experience in librarianship, the author states some strong personal opinions on this matter.
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The aim of this article is an analysis of the links between race and psychotic illness, psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, as well as psychiatric, police and prison violence…
Abstract
The aim of this article is an analysis of the links between race and psychotic illness, psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, as well as psychiatric, police and prison violence against people with mental health problems. The analysis focuses on Black men who are more frequently diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders and who face more brutal treatment than other people with such diagnoses. We have adopted a multidisciplinary approach which draws insights from psychiatry, psychology, and sociology and challenges the biologistic interpretation of “mental illness.” We take into account the United States and Britain – two countries with large Black minorities and an established tradition of research on these groups. Among the crucial findings of this study are the facts that racial bias and stereotypes heavily influence the way Black men with a diagnosis of psychotic illness are treated by the psychiatric system, police and prison staff, and that the dominant approach to psychosis masks the connections between racism and mental health.
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Briefly describes the recent history and development of informationtechnology in Hong Kong Polytechnic University Library in all areas ofoperation. The Library installed the Data…
Abstract
Briefly describes the recent history and development of information technology in Hong Kong Polytechnic University Library in all areas of operation. The Library installed the Data Research integrated online library system in 1989, and in early 1991 reorganized its management structure in order to respond more quickly and efficiently to the demands of the information revolution. Taking the revolution in information technologies as an exemplar, analyses the effects such fundamental changes have had on the management and organization of the Polytechnic University Library, and the positive responses made by professional librarians to the challenges facing the library service. In particular, focuses on the management of human resources to meet the burgeoning growth and development of electronic systems. How can senior library staff be organized most effectively to exploit the new technology to the benefit of their users? What practical steps can be taken to train academic staff and students in the availability and use of systems?
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The purpose of this paper is to address two questions: first, faced with the “disruptive technologies” of e‐revolution, will there be academic libraries in 25 years time for our…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address two questions: first, faced with the “disruptive technologies” of e‐revolution, will there be academic libraries in 25 years time for our younger colleagues to inherit? Are senior academic library managers reacting rightly and proactively making the correct strategic decisions now to ensure the rightful and proper place for librarians in a university for decades to come? Second, assuming there will indeed be university libraries and “librarians” to people them in the future, what professional and personal attributes will future librarians need, not only to ride the e‐revolution wave, but also to prosper as leaders in their institutions to the year 2057 and beyond?
Design/methodology/approach
A general review of the current state‐of‐play in academic library management vis‐à‐vis the e‐revolution, in terms of the history of the profession and previous perceived “revolutions”.
Findings
Suggests academic library professionals are over‐reacting to the “newness” of the electronic environment and under‐valuing their own professional traditions and their own people.
Practical implications
Proposes remedies: advising caution, common sense, and the right sort of professionals to “brand” the library for a successful future.
Originality/value
The author's own personal views built up after 35 years of experience in academic library management.
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