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Article
Publication date: 15 September 2020

Daniel Earl Wilson

The purpose of this paper is to explore academic library leadership behaviors and the methods for integrating the democratic and transformational leadership styles.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore academic library leadership behaviors and the methods for integrating the democratic and transformational leadership styles.

Design/methodology/approach

Eleven structured interviews were conducted with academic deans and directors. A thematic content analysis was conducted on their responses, analyzing the frequency of certain topics and identifying emergent themes. These themes were then used to construct a democratic communication model.

Findings

The interview responses were grouped into five general leadership themes: participation in decision-making, relationship building, frequent and honest communication, equality and knowing the environment.

Research limitations/implications

The structured interview format did not permit for unplanned follow-up questions, and some topics may not have come up in every interview unless specifically asked by an interview question. Due to the qualitative nature of this study, the perspectives of the participants may not be generalizable to the larger population.

Practical implications

This study identifies core themes of leadership practice that extend beyond the focus of transformational leadership alone. It suggests a democratic communication model to assist in integrating democratic leadership methods with transformational practices and goals.

Social implications

This study suggests a greater emphasis on the communication and engagement practices of democratic leadership. In doing so, it suggests that the American Library Association's emphasis on transformational leadership alone should be reconsidered and that library science schools should increase focus on democratic leadership practices.

Originality/value

Most library leadership style studies emphasize transformational leadership. While there are some studies that explore elements of democratic leadership such as engagement and a flattening of organizational hierarchy, there is limited research on the integration of democratic and transformational leadership practices.

Details

Library Management, vol. 41 no. 8/9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 22 May 2012

Neal Caren, Kay Jowers and Sarah Gaby

Purpose – We build on prior research of social movement communities (SMCs) to conceptualize a new form of cultural support for activism – the social movement online community…

Abstract

Purpose – We build on prior research of social movement communities (SMCs) to conceptualize a new form of cultural support for activism – the social movement online community (SMOC). We define SMOC as a sustained network of individuals who work to maintain an overlapping set of goals and identities tied to a social movement linked through quasi-public online discussions.

Method – This paper uses extensive data collected from Stormfront, the largest online community of white nationalists, for the period from September 2001 to August 2010 totaling 6,868,674 posts. We systematically analyzed the data to allow for a detailed depiction of SMOCs using keyword tags. We also used Stata 11 to analyze descriptive measures such as persistence of user presence and relation of first post to length of stay.

Findings – Our findings suggest that SMOCs provide a new forum for social movements that produces a unique set of characteristics. Nevertheless, many characteristics of SMOCs are also in line with conventional offline SMCs.

Originality of the paper – This research broadens our understanding of the differences between online and offline SMCs and presents the special case of the SMOC as a way for scholars to conceptualize and study social movements that use the Internet to form their collective identity.

Details

Media, Movements, and Political Change
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-881-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2015

Daniel Earl Wilson

– This paper aims to evaluate the website content of Alabama academic libraries to examine their services, content and compliance with design and accessibility standards.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to evaluate the website content of Alabama academic libraries to examine their services, content and compliance with design and accessibility standards.

Design/methodology/approach

A content analysis was conducted on 24 academic library websites discovered through Jeanne Burke’s Higher Education Directory and the Alabama Colleges directory website. All data were collected within a month.

Findings

Study data revealed that while academic libraries are offering more online services, many continue to lack certain services or fail to implement basic web design and accessibility standards.

Research limitations/implications

Inclusion into the study was limited to the independent library websites of Alabama institutions offering four-year degree courses and content data discoverable within three clicks of the home page. Future studies might identify why certain libraries lack reference chat services, social media accounts and/or certain accessibility accommodations. Additional research might evaluate multilingual websites and their methods for providing language options.

Practical implications

The results of this study should assist in the evaluation of library websites and increase awareness of design and accessibility standards, enabling designers and policy makers to improve upon future website designs.

Originality/value

This study presents a depth of evaluation and currency unseen in most web content analyses. The extent of this study should provide librarians, web designers, and library policy makers with a suitable comparison for website projects and evaluations.

Details

The Electronic Library, vol. 33 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-0473

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 January 2014

Fintan Bracken, Daniel Earls, Catherine Madders, Faye O'Leary, Stephanie Ronan, Ciara Ward, Paul Tolan and Judith Wusteman

The purpose of this paper is to discover the research practices of biology researchers and to assess the suitability of the OJAX++ Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for these…

2506

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discover the research practices of biology researchers and to assess the suitability of the OJAX++ Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for these researchers.

Design/methodology/approach

Usability testing was used to evaluate the usability of OJAX++ in relation to biology researchers. Interviews with biology researchers in a large Irish university were conducted to investigate their research information behaviour, to establish user requirements in their discipline and to evaluate the feasibility of using OJAX++ in their research.

Findings

The results show that biology researchers used online tools extensively in their research but do not use social networking tools. E-mail and phone conversations are the preferred methods of collaborating with colleagues. The biology researchers found that OJAX++ was easy to use, intuitive and professionally presented but in its present format, OJAX++ does not fit in with current research practices as they do not use Web 2.0 tools that facilitate tagging. A list of requirements of a VRE for biology researchers is presented.

Originality/value

The findings of the study will assist developers of VREs and other web tools to better understand how researchers, in particular biologists, collaborate during the research process and what they require from online research tools. This study gives an important insight into the information behaviour of life science researchers.

Details

Aslib Journal of Information Management, vol. 66 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-3806

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 November 1968

MR. DENIS HOWELL, M.P., Minister for Libraries, who was to have told Conference how public libraries had progressed since the Act, had to withdraw and so we did not find out how…

Abstract

MR. DENIS HOWELL, M.P., Minister for Libraries, who was to have told Conference how public libraries had progressed since the Act, had to withdraw and so we did not find out how the responsible minister felt about us.

Details

New Library World, vol. 70 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1946

An actuating unit for an aircraft remotely controlled element, comprising a motor including a drive shaft and a pair of field coils for rotating said shaft in opposite directions…

Abstract

An actuating unit for an aircraft remotely controlled element, comprising a motor including a drive shaft and a pair of field coils for rotating said shaft in opposite directions, an output shaft, complemental jaw clutch elements between said shafts, said clutch elements being adapted to be engaged to establish the driving relation between said shafts and disengaged to break the driving relation, a solenoid controlling said jaw elements, a solenoid switch for each of said field coils, a pair of spaced limit switches operatively connected to said solenoid and solenoid switches, a member movable between said limit switches to actuate one or the other, means drivably connected to said output shaft to cause movement of said member to engage one of said limit switches after a predetermined number of revolutions of said output shaft, contact means included in the circuit of said solenoid switches, and means to control said contact means from said jaw clutch elements whereby engagement of said clutch elements makes the contact and disengagement of the clutch elements breaks the contact.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 18 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-2667

Article
Publication date: 18 May 2012

Adarsh Garg and D.P. Goyal

Despite general awareness and acceptance of the benefit of strategic planning/alignment of IS strategy with business strategy, few efforts have been made to define and study the…

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Abstract

Purpose

Despite general awareness and acceptance of the benefit of strategic planning/alignment of IS strategy with business strategy, few efforts have been made to define and study the relationship. A review of literature has revealed that past studies have largely neglected the specific consideration of small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) especially IT/software developing SMEs in India. The purpose of this research is to investigate the prevalence of strategic planning activity in Indian IT SMEs and its decisive influence on business performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey‐based approach was adopted to understand the prevalence of strategic planning activity in Indian IT SMEs and its crucial influence on business performance at all three levels of management. A short survey instrument was designed by reviewing the literature on strategic planning activity in software developing SMEs. A sample of 23 software developing SMEs in India was used.

Findings

A response rate of 88.8 per cent was achieved and included respondents at senior management, middle management, and lower level management across the software developing SMEs in India. The results indicate that the alignment of IS/IT strategy with corporate strategy has significant effect on performance of IT SMEs besides the general awareness of importance of strategic alignment in SMEs at all three levels of management.

Research limitations/implications

The limited number of software developing SMEs will affect the generalizability of the study to the entire SME population. To negate the limitations of this study, multiple multi‐level case studies will be conducted in SMEs in the next phase of research. This research would contribute by indicating some of the implications, for both decision makers and academia, of an extended IT capabilities viewpoint on strategic planning activity. Future study should focus on performing a global survey on strategic alignment practices in SMEs.

Originality/value

The novelty of the paper lies in conducting a comparative study on the strategic alignment practices at all three levels of management in Indian SMEs and measuring its impact on the performance of the firm.

Details

Journal of Advances in Management Research, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0972-7981

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 6 July 2021

Gabriela González Vaillant and Fernanda Page Poma

This paper analyzes the relationship between the Chilean student movement and state force action during the period 2000–2012, placing specific attention on three waves of student…

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between the Chilean student movement and state force action during the period 2000–2012, placing specific attention on three waves of student contention that took place at the turn of the century. During the decade under study, the Chilean students became more contentious, they broadened their demands beyond specific grievances to encompass a critique to the education system as a whole, their alliance system grew (gaining from these denser networks of collaboration more resources to mobilize), and they managed to win public opinion on their side. However, the relationship with state forces has not been static across time, and both students and state forces have experienced changes in how they interact with each other. The results of this paper are based on a mixed method approach that drew on a quantitative database of student contention in Chile (n = 491 student events) and 15 in-depth interviews with leader activists from the most salient recent Chilean student movements of three periods under study, in addition to some key informants. The findings confirm that when student protests target the government, when they use disruptive strategies that affect the status-quo, and when they mobilize alongside other challenging actors, they are more likely to be met with direct repression by authorities. The research shows that there is a “dialect of repression” at play by which state forces' direct repression of protest can be two-fold: on the one hand, it gives students visibility in the public opinion, but on the other, it can be negative for ushering support if the media and authorities are successful in portraying them as violent or a threat to public order. In this sense, the figure of the “encapuchado,” students who disguise their identity and purposefully seek confrontation with authorities during mobilizations is problematized by the movement itself. How to win public opinion and use that visibility in their favor is related to decision-making mechanisms that the movement puts at play but also to the calculations done on the part of the government and security forces about the leverage of the movement.

Details

Four Dead in Ohio
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-807-4

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2004

Rebecca Gasior Altman is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at Brown University. Her focus is on medical sociology, environmental sociology, organizational theory…

Abstract

Rebecca Gasior Altman is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology at Brown University. Her focus is on medical sociology, environmental sociology, organizational theory, and social movement theory. Her current research projects analyze narratives about community toxics activism, environmental advocacy support organizations, and medical waste.Phil Brown is Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at Brown University. He is currently examining disputes over environmental factors in asthma, breast cancer, and Gulf War-related illnesses, as well as toxics reduction and precautionary principle approaches that can help avoid toxic exposures. He is the author of No Safe Place: Toxic Waste, Leukemia, and Community Action (Phil Brown & Edwin Mikkelsen), co-editor of a collection, Illness and the Environment: A Reader in Contested Medicine, and editor of Perspectives in Medical Sociology.Daniel M. Cress is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Western State College of Colorado. His research and teaching interests include social movements – particularly among poor and marginalized groups, environmental sociology, and globalization. His published work has focused on protest activity by homeless people.Jennifer Earl is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research areas include social movements and the sociology of law, with research emphases on the social control of protest, social movement outcomes, Internet contention, and legal change. Her published work has appeared in a number of journals, including the American Sociological Review, Sociological Theory, and the Journal of Historical Sociology.Myra Marx Ferree is professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work on social movements has focused on women’s mobilizations and organizations in Germany, the U.S., and transnationally, most recently looking at interactions between American and Russian feminists (Signs, 2001), German and American abortion discourses and the definition of radicalism (AJS, 2003), and the European Women’s Lobby in relation to transnational women’s organizations on the web (Social Politics, 2004).Joshua Gamson is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of San Francisco. He is author of Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity (Chicago, 1998), Claims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary America (California, 1994), and numerous articles on social movements, gay and lesbian politics, popular culture and media. He is currently working on a biography of the disco star Sylvester.Teresa Ghilarducci is Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Higgins Labor Research Center at the University of Notre Dame. She is author of Labor’s Capital: The Economics and Politics of Private Pensions (MIT Press) and Portable Pension Plans for Casual Labor Markets: Lessons from the Operating Engineers Central Pension Fund (with Garth Mangum, Jeffrey S. Petersen & Peter Philips). She is a former Board of Trustees member of the Indiana Public Employees Retirement Fund, a former advisory board member for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Social Insurance.Brian Mayer is a doctoral student in the Sociology Department at Brown University. His interests include environmental and medical sociology, as well as science and technology studies. His recent projects include an investigation of the growth of the precautionary principle as a new paradigm among environmental organizations and a study of social movements addressing environmental health issues.Sabrina McCormick is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at Brown University. She is a Henry Luce Foundation Fellow through the Watson Institute of International Studies. Her main interests are environmental sociology, medical sociology, and the politics of development. As a Luce Fellow, she is engaged in comparing environmentally-based movements in the U.S. and Brazil. Additional special interests include the social contestation of environmental illness, the insertion of lay knowledge into expert systems, and the role of social movements in these struggles. She has recent publications by Ms. Magazine and The National Women’s Health Network related to these areas.Rachel Morello-Frosch is an assistant professor at the Center for Environmental Studies and the Department of Community Health, School of Medicine at Brown University. As an environmental health scientist and epidemiologist, her research examines race and class determinants of the distribution of health risks associated with air pollution among diverse communities in the United States. Her current work focuses on: comparative risk assessment and environmental justice, developing models for community-based environmental health research, children’s environmental health, and the intersection between economic restructuring and environmental health. Her work has appeared in Environmental Health Perspectives, Risk Analysis, International Journal of Health Services, Urban Affairs Review, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, and Environment and Planning C. She also sits on the scientific advisory board of Breast Cancer Action in San Francisco.Daniel J. Myers is Associate Professor, Chair of Sociology, and Fellow of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He has published work on collective violence, racial conflict, formal models of collective action, urban poverty, and the diffusion of social behavior in the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and Mobilization. He is also author of Toward a More Perfect Union: The Governance of Metropolitan America and The Future of Urban Poverty (both with Ralph Conant), and Social Psychology (5th edition) with Andy Michener and John Delamater. He is currently conducting a National Science Foundation-funded project examining the structural conditions, diffusion patterns, and media coverage related to U.S. racial rioting in the 1960s.Sharon Erickson Nepstad is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Duquesne University and the author of Convictions of the Soul: Religion, Culture, and Agency in the Central America Solidarity Movement (Oxford University Press, 2004).Francesca Polletta is Associate Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. She is the author of Freedom Is an Endless Meeting: Democracy in American Social Movements (University of Chicago, 2002) and editor, with Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper, of Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements (University of Chicago, 2001). She has published articles on culture, collective identity, emotions, law, and narrative in social movements, and on the civil rights, women’s liberation, new left, and contemporary anti-corporate globalization movements.Nicole C. Raeburn is Assistant Professor and Chair of Sociology at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of the book, Changing Corporate America from Inside Out: Lesbian and Gay Workplace Rights (University of Minnesota Press, 2004). Her new research project compares the adoption of gay-inclusive workplace policies in the corporate, educational, and government sectors.Leila J. Rupp is Professor and Chair of Women’s Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A historian by training, her teaching and research focus on sexuality and women’s movements. She is coauthor with Verta Taylor of Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret (2003) and Survival in the Doldrums: The American Women’s Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s (1987) and author of A Desired Past: A Short History of Same-Sex Sexuality in America (1999), Worlds of Women: The Making of an International Women’s Movement (1997), and Mobilizing Women for War: German and American Propaganda, 1939–1945 (1978). She is also editor of the Journal of Women’s History.David A. Snow is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. He taught previously at the universities of Arizona and Texas. He has authored numerous articles and chapters on homelessness, collective action and social movements, religious conversion, self and identity, framing processes, symbolic interactionism, and qualitative field methods; and has authored a number of books as well, including Down on Their Luck: A Study of Homeless Street People (with Leon Anderson), Shakubuku: A Study of the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist Movement in America, 1960–1975, and The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements (edited with Sarah Soule & Hanspeter Kriesi). His most current research project involves an NSF-funded interdisciplinary, comparative study of homelessness in four global cities (Los Angeles, Paris, São Paulo, and Tokyo).Sarah A. Soule is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona. Her research examines U.S. state policy change and diffusion and the role social movements have on these processes. Current projects include the NSF-funded “Dynamics and Diffusion of Collective Protest in the U.S.” from which data for this paper come; an analysis of state-level contraception and abortion laws; an analysis of state ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment; and an analysis of state-level same-sex marriage bans. She has recently completed an edited volume, The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, with David Snow and Hanspeter Kreisi.Verta A. Taylor is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is coauthor with Leila J. Rupp of Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret (University of Chicago Press) and Survival in the Doldrums : The American Women’s Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s (Oxford University Press); co-editor with Laurel Richardson and Nancy Whittier of Feminist Frontiers VI (McGraw-Hill); and author of Rock-a-by Baby: Feminism, Self-Help and Postpartum Depression (Routledge). Her articles on the women’s movement, the gay and lesbian movement, and social movement theory have appeared in journals, such as The American Sociological Review, Signs, Social Problems, Mobilization, Gender & Society, Qualitative Sociology, Journal of Women’s History, and Journal of Homosexuality.Nella Van Dyke is currently an Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at Washington State University. Her research focuses on the dynamics of student protest, social movement coalitions, hate crimes, and the factors influencing right-wing mobilization. Her recent publications include articles in Social Problems and Research in Political Sociology. She is currently conducting research on the AFL-CIO’s Union Summer student internship program and its influence on student protest, how the tactics of protest change over time, and how movement opponents influence the collective identity of gay and lesbian movement organizations.Stephen Zavestoski is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of San Francisco. His current research examines the role of science in disputes over the environmental causes of unexplained illnesses, the use of the Internet as a tool for enhancing public participation in federal environmental rulemaking, and citizen responses to community contamination. His work appears in journals such as Science, Technology & Human Values, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Sociology of Health and Illness, and in the book Sustainable Consumption: Conceptual Issues and Policy Problems.

Details

Authority in Contention
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-037-1

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2004

Jennifer Earl

Work on repression within the social movements literature has largely focused on state-based and coercive repression, despite both the empirical importance of private and…

Abstract

Work on repression within the social movements literature has largely focused on state-based and coercive repression, despite both the empirical importance of private and non-coercive forms of protest control and the theoretical leverage studying other forms of protest control could offer. This paper argues that scholars should shift from studying repression, which as a terminology carries connotations about state-based and coercive action, and instead focus on the “social control of protest.” The paper then manufactures a literature on private forms of protest control, culling existing work from disparate fields and literatures. These works are organized using a previously published typology of repressive forms that covers such diverse actions as vigilantism and countermovement violence. This organization reveals that empirical research has been done on private protest control even if it has not been named as such or been connected to a coherent body of scholarship on the subject. The paper then examines possible directions for future research that could facilitate the growth of scholarship on private protest control.

Details

Authority in Contention
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-037-1

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