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1 – 10 of over 28000Michelle Brannen, Peter Fernandez, Thura Mack and Molly Royse
In order to effectively serve diverse communities, an organization must first create an internal culture of empathy and acceptance. An organizational read can be an opportunity to…
Abstract
In order to effectively serve diverse communities, an organization must first create an internal culture of empathy and acceptance. An organizational read can be an opportunity to create this culture as well as create times, spaces, and experiences to transfer knowledge and build community beyond an organization on a topic of importance that has an impact on the communities it serves. The University of Tennessee Libraries' 2019 organizational read program featured Robin DiAngelo's book White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, which helped create diversity conversations to enable personal changes that facilitated more effective engagement. This chapter provides an overview of the Libraries' organizational read, including its structure and evaluation, and discusses the success of the program in building community engagement and outreach. Examples are shared regarding how the program has impacted the Libraries' outreach efforts to three new communities, as well as details for future iterations and plans for the program to continue to expand beyond the Libraries. Ideas are provided for adapting the program to other types of communities that want to build bridges for change.
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John Goodwin, Eileen Savage and Aine O'Donovan
Significant advances have been made in using applied methodological approaches. These approaches facilitate critical and creative ways to generate new knowledge, encouraging…
Abstract
Purpose
Significant advances have been made in using applied methodological approaches. These approaches facilitate critical and creative ways to generate new knowledge, encouraging researchers to explore novel research questions which could not be sufficiently addressed using traditional “branded” methodologies. It is important that, in addition to design, researchers consider the most appropriate methods to collect data. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of the draw and tell method in the context of an interpretive descriptive study.
Design/methodology/approach
Given the challenges associated with eliciting responses from adolescent populations, in addition to the use of a semi-structured interview guide, the authors encouraged adolescent participants to produce drawings as part of an interpretive descriptive study.
Findings
Despite the fact that drawings are seldom used with adolescents during research interviews, the authors found this method promoted conversation and facilitated deep exploration into adolescents' perspectives.
Originality/value
The authors argue that this creative approach to data collection should be embraced by researchers engaging in applied methodological research, particularly with participants who may be challenging to engage. Drawings, although seldom used with adolescent research participants, can stimulate engagement and facilitate conversations.
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This chapter presents a theory for developing an adaptive high commitment, high performance system of organizing, managing, and leading. It is a synthesis of my 50 years of action…
Abstract
This chapter presents a theory for developing an adaptive high commitment, high performance system of organizing, managing, and leading. It is a synthesis of my 50 years of action and field research presented in my books and articles. It operationalized and makes actionable the ideas of Lewin and systems theorists. Its features are three organizational outcomes that must be achieved simultaneously, features of the system that must be targeted for change, six silent barriers to change, a governance system for continuous learning, change in large complex systems, and elements of a system that needed to immunize it against ultimate destruction.
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Kay Grieves and Michelle Halpin
The purpose of this paper is to share the ways in which University Library Services Sunderland, created and embedded a quality model, to engender service-culture change, ensure…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share the ways in which University Library Services Sunderland, created and embedded a quality model, to engender service-culture change, ensure engagement with and best use of library services and capture and demonstrate evidence of the value of the library's contribution to the student experience. Launched in 2008 the Quality Model initiative is ongoing and has become the established way of working.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is of particular significance as Higher Education (HE) libraries are increasingly challenged to demonstrate their contribution to the academic experience and are exploring the role of cultural change to facilitate this. Although designed to meet the specific aims at Sunderland many of the techniques will be transferrable to the strategic priorities of other HE libraries.
Findings
The creation and embedding of the Quality Model is enabling us to successfully nurture cultural change, to re-shape customer relationships and to capture and demonstrate the impact.
Originality/value
The University of Sunderland Quality Model differs from many library performance models in that it takes an holistic approach. It aims to inform and shape cultural change and lead a strategic approach to customer relationship management in order to facilitate the capturing of impact evidence and demonstrate the value of the contribution. It is self-formed and based upon strategic marketing principles and underpins university priorities.
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Monica Figueroa and Kristan Shawgo
Under the transformational leadership of the University Librarian, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries shifted from having an education- and…
Abstract
Purpose
Under the transformational leadership of the University Librarian, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries shifted from having an education- and programming-based “diversity committee” to a council of librarians advocating for action, anti-racism and social justice, both within our organization and across campus. As our University Librarian noted, “you cannot read your way out of racism.”
Design/methodology/approach
With support from library leadership, the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Council has advanced anti-racism work in the libraries by serving as facilitators for a book discussion series, organizing a 21-day racial equity challenge, supporting staff in integrating anti-racism practices into their daily work through brown bag conversations, and facilitating the development of inclusion-focused performance management goals.
Findings
What does an anti-racist library look like, and how does our organization envision this future? These questions anchor the IDEA Council's strategies. The libraries have witnessed a positive shift in staff participation: two-thirds of library staff participated in a Racial Equity Institute Groundwater presentation and in a library-wide book discussion series; approximately half the staff committed to our 21-day racial equity challenge. Participants were asked to reflect in conversation and through surveys.
Originality/value
The first wave of a newly established grant program funded eight staff-led projects to advance social justice in the libraries. Additional steps included caucusing by racial identity, staff-wide discussions about racial equity, and a second wave of funding for the grant program. The authors approach this work with cultural humility: seeking to learn from one another, our peers and fellow activists.
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Elena Prigoda and Pamela J. McKenzie
The authors aim to apply a collectivist theoretical framework to the study of human information behaviour and the construction of meaning in a knitting group held in a branch of a…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors aim to apply a collectivist theoretical framework to the study of human information behaviour and the construction of meaning in a knitting group held in a branch of a large Canadian (Ontario) public library.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design was naturalistic and consisted of active participant observation of five knitting group sessions and semi‐structured interviews with 12 group members. Field notes were taken, and both observations and interviews were audio taped and transcribed. Field notes and transcripts were coded qualitatively.
Findings
Information practices and contextual factors are mutually constitutive. The location of the circle in a public library, the physical characteristics of the act of knitting, and the social meanings of the activities taking place within the group, including the significance of gender and caring, are integrally linked to HIB in this setting. Findings are described verbally and illustrated through a model.
Research limitations/implications
This study applies collectivist understandings to enrich concepts such as the “information ground” that have previously been studied largely from constructivist perspectives. As a small‐scale naturalistic study, results are context‐specific and must be applied tentatively.
Practical implications
This study provides an example of how programs in public libraries can provide opportunities for information behaviour and the construction of meaning for members of the community.
Originality/value
This study contributes a collectivist approach to research on everyday‐life information seeking and on the library as a place.
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Julie Petrokubi and Sarah Pierce
In the past five years, state education agencies (SEAs) have increased the number of social and emotional learning (SEL) policies, oftentimes engaging stakeholders across the…
Abstract
In the past five years, state education agencies (SEAs) have increased the number of social and emotional learning (SEL) policies, oftentimes engaging stakeholders across the state. However, few use multiple sources of stakeholder engagement data to develop and improve their SEL standards and resources (Yoder, Dusenbury, Martinez-Black, & Weissberg, 2020). This chapter describes the experience of a nonprofit research organization supporting an SEA and a volunteer workgroup in Washington state to gather and use several forms of stakeholder input and feedback in developing statewide SEL guidance for K-12 educators. Operating from a research–practice partnership framework (Coburn & Penuel, 2016), the team assisted the workgroup members in applying both an ecological systems theory perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) and an equity lens to their work through an iterative process of data collection, interpretation, and use. This chapter describes the process and outcomes of this research–practice partnership and provides examples of how the workgroup incorporated stakeholder input and feedback into the development of SEL guidance and resources. We offer insights and lessons learned from these efforts to expand the perspectives represented in SEL research and policymaking. Our aim is to highlight the importance of stakeholder engagement to ensure that SEL guidance considers the priorities and values of diverse communities, especially historically marginalized communities. We hope to encourage more research–practice partnerships to investigate and amplify community perspectives in SEL.
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Chris Archer-Brown and Jan Kietzmann
This paper aims to examine if (and how), enterprise social media (ESM) can be understood as a strategic knowledge management phenomenon to improve organizational performance.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine if (and how), enterprise social media (ESM) can be understood as a strategic knowledge management phenomenon to improve organizational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses intellectual capital theory and its functional building blocks to organize different types of the ESM platforms, based on secondary data. It then connects these findings to the underling intellectual capital tenets to introduce a conceptual model that explicates how ESM impacts strategic knowledge management, and vice versa.
Findings
This paper concludes that ESM provides a unique complement to traditional strategic knowledge management. The authors argue that ESM differs substantially from other contexts in which intellectual capital has been applied, and extend intellectual capital with three appropriate dimensions (human, social and structural capital). Given the potentially disruptive nature of ESM, this framework helps firms understand the nature of the changes that are needed.
Originality/value
The paper provides the first review of the business needs that are served by the software functions and management processes under the ESM banner. This original contribution takes the intellectual capital and strategic knowledge management discussions from their usual high levels of abstraction and relates them to the real world of ESM, focusing on outcomes. Its unique “Intellectual Capital Framework for the Socially Oriented Enterprise” includes distinct, testable propositions that provide a practical approach to strategically planning, implementing and optimizing ESM.
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Ha Nguyen, John Lopez, Bruce Homer, Alisha Ali and June Ahn
In the USA, 22–40% of youth who have been accepted to college do not enroll. Researchers call this phenomenon summer melt, which disproportionately affects students from…
Abstract
Purpose
In the USA, 22–40% of youth who have been accepted to college do not enroll. Researchers call this phenomenon summer melt, which disproportionately affects students from disadvantaged backgrounds. A major challenge is providing enough mentorship with the limited number of available college counselors. The purpose of this study is to present a case study of a design and user study of a chatbot (Lilo), designed to provide college advising interactions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted four primary data sources to capture aspects of user experience: daily diary entries; in-depth, semi-structured interviews; user logs of interactions with the chatbot; and daily user surveys. User study was conducted with nine participants who represent a range of college experiences.
Findings
Participants illuminated the types of interactions designs that would be particularly impactful for chatbots for college advising including setting reminders, brokering social connections and prompting deeper introspection that build efficacy and identity toward college-going.
Originality/value
As a growing body of human-computer interaction research delves into the design of chatbots for different social interactions, this study illuminates key design needs for continued work in this domain. The study explores the implications for a specific domain to improve college enrollment: providing college advising to youth.
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Joseph Press, Paola Bellis, Tommaso Buganza, Silvia Magnanini, Abraham B. (Rami) Shani, Daniel Trabucchi, Roberto Verganti and Federico P. Zasa