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The International Mayor provides a quick but precise overview of mayors and their cities around the world. As the Fiscal Austerity and Urban Innovation (FAUI) Project is unique in its extensive coverage, so is this report.

This paper charts new ground by first considering a paradigmatic shift in the nature of political decision making, driven by globalization and post-industrial trends. Second, it uses an original methodology to identify political culture and policy focus – a content analysis of some 60 websites of local authorities across Britain. We hope that the substantive results as well as the methodological lessons about how to study these issues systematically may interest British readers as well as persons confronting similar issues around the world. We particularly recommend the website analysis methodology as a relatively inexpensive procedure for conducting research globally. Many local governments worldwide now have websites – for instance over 80% of Korean local governments do, as Korean researchers reported in starting a similar content analysis.

This paper aims to evaluate the reception of the Amazon Kindle e‐book lending program at the Texas A&M University Libraries.

The paper presents an analysis of genre of titles requested to be loaded onto the e‐book readers as well as a general review of the e‐book lending model.

The Kindle e‐book readers were extremely popular, and users selected titles for them that were mostly of a general reading nature; academic titles were rarely selected. The Texas A&M lending service has been successful and will continue. Other libraries should investigate e‐book readers to supplement their bestseller and new book collections.

E‐book devices offer sophisticated users a reading option that fits many needs. This is a relatively new way that libraries can offer sophisticated users options for reading; libraries must continue to invest in new ways of delivering content.

This is the first study on e‐book reader lending services in libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to assess user preferences and perceptions of Texas A&M University Libraries' Kindle e‐book reader lending program, to determine if current lending practices and procedures adequately satisfy user needs.

An online survey was administered to library patrons who participated in the first full semester of the e‐reader lending program. Of the 63 individuals who borrowed a Kindle, 52 answered the 13‐question survey designed to elicit their feedback about their experiences borrowing and subsequently using a Kindle to read their requested e‐books. The format of the survey was varied, and included objective and short‐answer questions. When possible, responses included a five‐point Likert scale.

Analysis of the survey results indicates overall interest and support for the Libraries' e‐reader lending program. Participants mainly utilized Kindles to read popular titles, indicating that the lending program has found a niche within the Libraries' suite of media borrowing services to support leisure reading. Furthermore, from a collection development standpoint, the user‐driven acquisition policy for Kindle titles has served as an extension and virtual enhancement of the popular bestseller print collection.

This study is one of the first qualitative research reports on patron perceptions of an academic library e‐reader lending program. This study is likely to be of practical interest to academic librarians who are in the process of developing similar lending programs.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of co‐browse in live chat, customers' question types, referral to subject experts, and patrons' usage patterns as experienced in the virtual reference (VR) chat reference services at Texas A&M University Libraries.

Chat transcripts from 2005 to 2007 were sampled and analyzed by peer reviewers. Statistical data in that period were also examined. A set of methods and a pilot study were created to define the measurement components such as question types, expert handling, and co‐browsing.

Co‐browsing is used in 38 percent of the sampled chat sessions. The Texas A&M University live chat service group considers co‐browsing a useful feature. Of questions received on VR, 84 percent are reference questions. Only 8.7 percent of the total questions or 10 percent of the reference questions need to be answered by subject experts. The use of VR increases dramatically in the past two years at the Texas A&M University. The findings also reveal users' logon patterns over weekdays and weekends.

The study contributes and advances understanding in the role VR plays in a large academic library and the role co‐browsing plays in VR services. The study also provides a comprehensive method for transcript and usage data analysis. It is believed that a similar methodology may be replicated elsewhere by other institutions engaging similar services or evaluation.

The purpose of this paper is to assess initial user perceptions and use of Amazon's Kindle e‐book reader.

Thirty‐six participants were provided with a Kindle e‐book reader and $100 to spend at Amazon. After one month of use focus groups were conducted to elicit user feedback about their experiences and overall first impressions.

Analysis of the discussions indicates overall interest in the Kindle as a basic reading device for fiction. However, its use in an academic setting is limited due to content availability and licensing issues, graphic display capabilities, organizational issues, and its prohibitive cost.

This is the first research paper of its kind to report on qualitative research conducted on user perceptions of the Kindle e‐book reader.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the further evolution of electronic resources access support at Texas A&M University Libraries with recommendations for incorporating ER support into a virtual reference (VR) service. In a previous article, the implementation of a two‐tiered electronic resources (ER) HelpDesk service was discussed. While an improvement, that service existed in parallel with the library's VR service, requiring separate staff and expertise. After considerable discussion and exploration, it became apparent that the needs of ER support could be met, with some modification, within the VR service.

A project at the Texas A&M University Libraries sought to utilize an existing VR service, staffed by reference librarians and staff, to expand and improve handling and resolving ER access problems.

VR software is effective for managing an electronic access problem reporting system. Integrating ER support into VR more broadly and equitably distributes responsibility for access and supports improved service for patrons and increased transparency and functionality for staff who respond to electronic resources access problems.

Virtual reference and electronic resources staff can merge similar responsibilities for better service to patrons.

This article offers experience‐based guidance on utilizing VR technology and staff to effectively address and resolve electronic resource access problems. Our research suggests that there has not been another report of the use of integrating electronic resource problem reporting into virtual reference services.

This introductory chapter develops the overall research focus and the aim of the present special issue ‘Gender segregation in vocational education’. Against the backdrop of strong horizontal gender segregation in vocational education and training (VET), we ask how institutional arrangements affect gendered (self-)selection into VET, and to what extent the patterns of the latter vary by context and over time. In order to expand our knowledge about the impact of educational offers and policies on gendered educational pathways and gender segregation in the labour market, we have gathered comparative quantitative studies that analyse the relationship between national variations in the organization of VET and cross-national differences in educational and occupational gender segregation from an institutional perspective. Following a review of the core literature within the field of gender segregation in VET, this introduction presents a discussion of education system classifications and institutional level mechanisms based on the contributions made in this volume. We then discuss gendered educational choices at the individual level, with particular emphasis on variation across the life course. Finally, we conclude our introductory chapter by commenting on the main contributions of the volume as a whole, as well as addressing suggestions for further research.

This study uses data from 255 global pharmaceutical/biotechnological companies to (1) determine the impact of internationalization on firm performance and (2) explore the moderating effect that product diversity has on the relationship between internationalization and company performance. The results highlight the rewards of pursuing internationalization and demonstrate that companies benefit from internationalization activities by achieving higher overall performance. This finding contrasts with recent empirical evidence that an S‐curve relationship exists. Analysis of the moderating effect of product diversity indicates a strong effect on the internationalization‐performance relationship and thus shows that the payoff from internationalization is moderated by product diversity