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The purpose of this article is to examine the trend of interlibrary loans (ILLs) through the experiences of Edinburgh University Library (EUL). A preliminary study aims to consider how the purchase of one e‐journal package impacted on the number of ILL requests processed.

The article describes the experience of EUL.

The article finds that total ILLs, both returnables and non‐returnables, rose to a peak in 1998 and have declined significantly since then. Full desk‐top delivery has not yet been achieved, but this is in the forefront of the library's strategy.

The paper gives a detailed insight into the impact of e‐journals and other factors on the use of the document supply service for both returnables and non‐returnables in a large UK university.

To examine how the synergy of open access and open source have been used at Edinburgh University Library to design and implement an e‐thesis service, and to offer a comfortable theoretical framework to aid others.

The concepts of open access and open source are introduced and compared to show the conceptual relationship between them and the natural partnering of these approaches to information freedom. The development of the open access repository (Edinburgh Research Archive, ERA) and the related open source software (Tapir for DSpace) are then examined as an opportunity for other implementers and developers to gain insight, both technical and non‐technical.

That open access and open source are a natural and forward looking way to develop e‐theses and other research material repositories. The discussion of developing open source and the brief study of the creation of ERA show us that this approach is both warranted and useful.

It shows how institutions can leverage open source technology successfully, and further consideration must be given to this development methodology.

Software and documentation outcomes available for the community have been produced should aid the further research in this area and provide a good starting point for institutions.

We discuss for the first time both the theoretical aspects and the practical considerations surrounding an e‐theses archive which is of value to any group of information professionals considering similar activities.

Growth in electronic information services, pressure on staff resources and developments in the area of electronic learning have resulted in a need for online information skills delivery. Edinburgh University Library has developed some simple animated tutorials using Macromedia Flash to support use of a number of library services. The process of planning, creating and evaluating the modules is described, and the need to consider issues of accessibility, usability and pedagogy is emphasised. Technical aspects of design and documentation are considered. We conclude that it is important to consider the cost and time involved in even a modest exercise of this nature, but that the Flash software makes it very achievable, given an initial investment in development time and training.

This paper aims to explore informal learning experiences among employees working in South Korean small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 100 employees. This study specifically seeks to understand the characteristics of informal learning in Korean SMEs and culturally sensitive contextual factors that shape informal learning.

To understand the complex, holistic nature of the phenomenon, the current study used a phenomenological qualitative approach. Eighteen full-time employees working at South Korean SMEs in knowledge-intensive industries were interviewed. Data were analyzed using Moustakas’s phenomenological analysis.

The findings emerged from the field data revealed four characteristics of informal learning in South Korean SMEs: absolute reliance on informal learning; rapid/immediate learning and application; relationship/client needs-based learning; and extensive trial and error. The current study also identified South Korean SMEs’ unique organizational context (i.e. a family-like atmosphere, one employee-multiple tasks, passive investment in employees and the absence of systems) and Korean culture (i.e. Gab-Eul relations and chemyon) that drive the emergence of SMEs’ informal learning characteristics.

Very little empirical research has been conducted to explain how informal learning actually occurs and why such learning patterns have emerged in South Korean SMEs. The findings of this study have a profound impact on practice and academia, as it unveils characteristics of informal learning in SMEs, the unique cultural context in which Korean SMEs operate and how these characteristics impact the learning process.

Edinburgh University Library is a classic example of distributed data, distributed processing, and distributed service, until 1982 all in manual form. It is dispersed, with the University, over several square miles in the centre and south of the city. The Main Library in George Square houses the central administration, the Arts and Social Sciences collections, the main Undergraduate Reading Room, the Special Collections, the Map collection, the main Reference and Statistical Reference collection, other archives, collections, and special processing and service units such as the Bindery and the Photographic Department. There are also major collections in New College Theological Library, the Medical Libraries, the Science Libraries on the Kings Buildings campus, the Law and Centre for European Government libraries, the Music library and the Veterinary libraries. All of these are professionally staffed, and professional library work (selection, acquisition, cataloguing and classification, reader services etc) is carried out there. Greater co‐ordination is being achieved since ‘the cuts and automation’ is seen as an instrument for further beneficial rationalization and co‐operation in improved services. There are also numerous class and departmental libraries of varying size, some of which the University Library controls and supports, some of which it merely advises and helps as best it can. Altogether the stock is thought to comprise between one and a half million and two million items, but this includes approximately half a million un‐catalogued items in Special Collections and New College.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived overqualification and job crafting, which has the ability to drive satisfaction, loyalty and performance; drawing on the broaden-and-build theory, the study tests the positive psychological capital (PsyCap) moderation role in this relationship.

Data were obtained from 320 white-collar employees in Northern Cyprus. Data on perceived overqualification and positive PsyCap were gathered in the first survey, and job crafting was measured as a follow up. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression.

Perceived overqualification has a significantly negative effect on all dimensions of job crafting. However, considering PsyCap as a moderator, the study demonstrates that the negative impact of perceived overqualification on job crafting lessens when positive PsyCap is high rather than low.

Self-reported surveys are used and results were collected from only Northern Cyprus.

The study has important practical implications for managing and reaping benefits from employees who perceive themselves as overqualified. Specifically, organizations need to implement efficient activities that increase positive PsyCap among these employees (e.g. inspirational videos and other learning), which can thereby boost their job-crafting behavior and result in better organizational performance.

This research is the first to investigate positive PsyCap among employees who feel overqualified. The findings further point to what can be done to encourage job-crafting behavior by using positive PsyCap to increase passion and motivation among overqualified employees.

The publication presents an analysis of the cost and schedule performance of incentive/disincentive projects and case studies toward developing a systematic disincentive valuation process, with Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (CA4PRS) software integration that aids agencies in minimizing the likelihood of court challenges of disincentives.

From a California transportation database, the authors performed cost and schedule analyses of 43 incentive/disincentive (I/D) projects and case studies on four of those I/D projects. Interviewees included subject matter experts from transportation organizations to ensure applicability and maximum value-adding, and the process was implemented on ten California transportation projects and monitored for performance.

The presented process mitigates the contractor's ability to claim disincentives as penalties in a court of law through the following: (1) all calculations are performed using project-specific bases, backed by estimations of actual incurred costs; (2) the CA4PRS software allows for estimation transparency and (3) the clarity of cost inclusions reduces any chances of “double-dipping” between disincentives and liquidated damages.

Transportation agencies have historically faced legal challenges to their enforcements of disincentives. As agencies continue to apply disincentives on more megaprojects, contractors will likely attempt to pursue legal challenges more frequently. The presented process mitigates the likelihood of these challenges going to court and increases the accuracy and efficiency of disincentives.

While there have been publications that discuss the legal challenges of imposing disincentives, they mainly provide guidelines and lack applicable processes. Existing literature that does present incentive/disincentive valuation process focuses on incentive valuations and neglects the disincentives' legal challenges. The following publication fills this gap by presenting an applicable disincentive valuation process for transportation projects which incorporates the guidelines for legal mitigation.

This paper aims to define an adapted contemporary design language for housing built next to vernacular residential buildings of Anatolian villages. The case has been selected from Balıkesir province in the North-western part of Anatolia within a corpus of 104 houses from selected 81 villages of the region. Originally, vernacular house plans consist of allocation of rooms around a hall: sofa. Each room is a core living space with everyday living needs for a family. House is formed with various spatial relations between sofa and rooms around it. This relation is the determinative feature in formation of vernacular language for each Anatolian house. The study has three phases: analysis, adaptation and generation. The first phase analyzes the elements of vernacular by decomposing its language into sub-parts. In the second phase, the inadequacies of existing vernacular structures were exposed with methods of observation and questionnaires applied on users and new demands for living have been adapted with vernacular existing language grammar rules. In the last phase within the framework of adapted language rules for Balıkesir vernacular, numerous novel design alternatives were generated. This study claims to sustain the existing socio-cultural spatial configuration by adapting newly built contemporary houses to actual vernacular architecture in the planning context.

Leading representatives of the European grocery industry formed the European efficient consumer response initiative in 1995. The goal of this strategic alliance is set to reengineer the way in which business is done in the industry by implementing cooperative strategies between retailer and manufacturer in order to fulfill consumer wishes better, faster and at less cost. Efficient consumer response appears thereby in many facets, from a “simple” dyadic value‐adding partnership to a sophisticated form of co‐opetition, where supply chain members have both relationship types – competition and cooperation – at the same time. Our paper discusses these issues first on theoretical bases and then presents empirical results of a comprehensive analysis within a selected European efficient consumer response initiative showing the success factors of managing efficient consumer response partnership relations.

This article sets out to prove that the basic concepts and techniques of reliability engineering, which are normally applied to material products, can also be applied effectively to intangible services. It deals in some detail with the power and communication industries and refers also to government.