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21 – 30 of 551
Article
Publication date: 1 January 2006

Zahiruddin Khurshid and Hamed Mostafa Kadry

To share the experiences in data migration of the KFUPM Library with libraries planning to move from legacy systems such as DOBIS/LIBIS to third‐generation systems.

Abstract

Purpose

To share the experiences in data migration of the KFUPM Library with libraries planning to move from legacy systems such as DOBIS/LIBIS to third‐generation systems.

Design/methodology/approach

A detailed analysis of DOBIS/LIBIS data structure, data extraction, including data mining, and data conversion of bibliographic, non‐bibliographic and bilingual data was carried out to provide maximum information to libraries about the complexities of source data and how to overcome them.

Findings

The majority of the problems came from the lack of full MARC support in DOBIS/LIBIS and because of some local practices.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited to the KFUPM library experience in data conversion from DOBIS/LIBIS to Horizon.

Practical implications

This study will have implications for libraries still operating under legacy systems. They are expected to be informed by the KFUPM library experience and hopefully will work on migrating to a new system sooner than later. On the other hand, libraries in the Middle East will receive encouragement from the authors' experience and will feel some relief that, despite the complexities of bilingual data, they have a good example to follow.

Originality/value

This is the first study of data conversion in the Middle East and has enormous value for libraries still struggling with legacy systems. Following the KFUPM library example, they can now plan for their own system and data migration.

Details

Program, vol. 40 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0033-0337

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2017

Stefanie Mauksch, Pascal Dey, Mike Rowe and Simon Teasdale

As a critical and intimate form of inquiry, ethnography remains close to lived realities and equips scholars with a unique methodological angle on social phenomena. This paper…

4178

Abstract

Purpose

As a critical and intimate form of inquiry, ethnography remains close to lived realities and equips scholars with a unique methodological angle on social phenomena. This paper aims to explore the potential gains from an increased use of ethnography in social enterprise studies.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors develop the argument through a set of dualistic themes, namely, the socio-economic dichotomy and the discourse/practice divide as predominant critical lenses through which social enterprise is currently examined, and suggest shifts from visible leaders to invisible collectives and from case study-based monologues to dialogic ethnography.

Findings

Ethnography sheds new light on at least four neglected aspects. Studying social enterprises ethnographically complicates simple reductions to socio-economic tensions, by enriching the set of differences through which practitioners make sense of their work-world. Ethnography provides a tool for unravelling how practitioners engage with discourse(s) of power, thus marking the concrete results of intervention (to some degree at least) as unplannable, and yet effective. Ethnographic examples signal the merits of moving beyond leaders towards more collective representations and in-depth accounts of (self-)development. Reflexive ethnographies demonstrate the heuristic value of accepting the self as an inevitable part of research and exemplify insights won through a thoroughly bodily and emotional commitment to sharing the life world of others.

Originality/value

The present volume collects original ethnographic research of social enterprises. The editorial develops the first consistent account of the merits of studying social enterprises ethnographically.

Details

Social Enterprise Journal, vol. 13 no. 02
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-8614

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1971

TOM HARRISSON

Mass‐observation as a word was first used (without the hyphen) in the New Statesman and Nation at the beginning of 1937 when we published letters about this idea; and from the…

Abstract

Mass‐observation as a word was first used (without the hyphen) in the New Statesman and Nation at the beginning of 1937 when we published letters about this idea; and from the beginning we really meant what we said. It is worth having a look at the word itself, because its meaning has altered somewhat over the years. By ‘Observation’, we meant, of course, observing; and by observing, inferentially, we meant primarily observing by eye, looking at situations—though also by nose, ear, touch, using all of one's senses in fact. We did not mean, in the first place, simply asking people questions. We wanted to observe what they did, not what they said they did. In those days, any attempt to study society as it really was in England was certainly pioneering, in a way that it is difficult to remember now. The Gallup Poll had just started and was treated with a good deal of caution, as is the case again at the moment! The whole idea was novel in those days. But what captured people's interest in our case was the idea of observing. I have not changed my ideas about this, alas, though I have changed many of my other ideas in the last third of a century.

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 23 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Article
Publication date: 6 March 2009

Astrid Oliver

The purpose of this paper is to share findings on how to track the recurring use of items placed on electronic reserve over a period of time using the Create Lists application in…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to share findings on how to track the recurring use of items placed on electronic reserve over a period of time using the Create Lists application in Innovative's Millennium software, in order to help determine copyright compliance with regard to electronic reserves.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach takes the form of use of the Create Lists application in Innovative's Millennium ILS software to track repetitive use of electronic reserves over time and the creation of search statements using both Boolean and regular expressions to capture relevant data in the Create Lists application. Repetitive use of electronic reserve items was tracked over a four‐year period, with repetitive use initially rising, and then declining over the past year for Fort Lewis College.

Findings

Using both Boolean and regular expressions, it is possible to create a series of search statements that will retrieve information from item records in Millennium that identify materials that have been placed on electronic reserves over a series of semesters.

Research limitations/implications

Research was conducted using the Create Lists application of Innovative's Millennium software. It is unknown whether other ILS systems have similar functionality or capability. The implications of the findings indicate that it is possible to track general electronic reserve copyright compliance over time.

Originality/value

The paper offers a methodology for gauging copyright compliance.

Details

Library Hi Tech, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-8831

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1984

Edgar Baker CBE

A study of punctuation is worthwhile, because it guides the reader and reveals whether the writer is thinking clearly. Poor punctuation is a mark of muddled thinking. There are a…

Abstract

A study of punctuation is worthwhile, because it guides the reader and reveals whether the writer is thinking clearly. Poor punctuation is a mark of muddled thinking. There are a certain number of points to keep in mind:

Details

Education + Training, vol. 26 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1992

James E. Corbly

One of the true milestones of library history was reached last year when OCLC introduced the new PRISM service to its member libraries. PRISM was everything OCLC, promised it…

Abstract

One of the true milestones of library history was reached last year when OCLC introduced the new PRISM service to its member libraries. PRISM was everything OCLC, promised it would be: easy to use, fast, and efficient. Like many libraries across the country, McMullen Library at St. Ambrose University registered a significant increase in productivity last year, thanks in part to the new PRISM system.

Details

OCLC Micro, vol. 8 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 8756-5196

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2005

Kenneth D. Mackenzie

The process approach to multi-level organizational behavior is based on the assumption that multi-level organizational behavior is processual in nature. This article defines group…

Abstract

The process approach to multi-level organizational behavior is based on the assumption that multi-level organizational behavior is processual in nature. This article defines group and organizational processes and their representation as process frameworks. Both functional and inclusional classes of levels exist, each of which has at least five categories of levels. All ten categories are special cases of process frameworks. This article provides examples of each category level, which it uses to illustrate new models of organizational work, extended models of interdependence, a new typology of theories based on their levels of processes, and a new tool for survey research called knobby analyses. After explaining the basic idea of knobby analysis, the article briefly describes the processual theory of the organizational hologram, the use of linear programming, and causal-chain analysis to provide multi-level explanations of employee opinion data. These ideas are embodied in conducting a strategic organizational diagnosis, which is the first stage of organizational design. Organizational design encompasses multiple stages, each of which itself involves multiple, multi-level phenomena and analyses. The basic point is that the processual nature of multi-level organizational phenomena gives more hope for improvements in theory building and their application if one uses the process approach rather than a variable approach.

Details

Multi-level Issues in Organizational Behavior and Processes
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-269-6

Book part
Publication date: 22 October 2016

Laura Louise Sarauw

The chapter provides the reader with a critical, conceptual framework for further independent exploration of actor-network theory (ANT) when applied to higher education reform…

Abstract

The chapter provides the reader with a critical, conceptual framework for further independent exploration of actor-network theory (ANT) when applied to higher education reform. First, it introduces briefly the potentials of ANT as a means of questioning, and eventually escaping, the formal policy level as the “natural” point of departure for studying policy reform. Second, by pointing to my experiences from an on-going study on a Danish subset of the European Bologna process, in which I invited relevant actors to participate in formulating the research questions, it concretizes – and critically reviews – how ANT may feed new insights as well as challenges into the research process.

Details

Theory and Method in Higher Education Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-895-0

Article
Publication date: 26 December 2023

Sally Sambrook, Charlotte Hillier and Clair Doloriert

This paper revolves around the central question: is it possible to do “proper ethnography” without complete participant observation? The authors draw upon a student's experiences…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper revolves around the central question: is it possible to do “proper ethnography” without complete participant observation? The authors draw upon a student's experiences of negotiating National Health Service (NHS) ethical approval requirements and access into the student's research field, a British NHS hospital and having to adapt data collection methods for the student's doctoral research. The authors examine some of the positional (insider/outsider, native gone academic), methodological (long-term/interrupted, overt/covert) and contextual challenges that threatened the student's ethnographic study.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on reflexive vignettes written during the student's doctorate, capturing significant moments and issues within the student's research.

Findings

The authors highlight the temporal, practical, ethical and emotional challenges faced in attempting an ethnography of nursing culture within a highly regulated research environment. Having revealed the student's experience of researching this specific culture and finding ways to overcome these challenges, the authors conclude that the contemporary ethnographer needs to be increasingly flexible, opportunistic and somewhat covert.

Research limitations/implications

The authors argue that it is possible to do “proper” and “good” ethnography without complete participant observation – it is not the method, the observation, that is the essence of ethnography, but whether the researcher achieves real understanding through thick descriptions of the culture that explain “what is really going on here”.

Practical implications

The authors hope to assist doctoral students engage in “good” ethnographic research within (potentially) risk-averse host organisations, such as the NHS, whilst being located in neo-liberal performative academic organisations (Foster, 2017; McCann et al., 2020). The authors wish to contribute to the journal to ensure good ethnography is accessible and achievable to (particularly) doctoral researchers who have to navigate complex challenges exacerbated by pressures in both the host and home cultures. The authors wish to see doctoral researchers survive and thrive in producing good organisational ethnographies to ensure such research is published (Watson 2012), cognisant of the pressures and targets to publish in top-ranked journals (Jones et al. 2020).

Originality/value

Having identified key challenges, the authors demonstrate how these can be addressed to ensure ethnography remains accessible to and achievable for, doctoral researchers, particularly in healthcare organisations. The authors conclude that understanding can be attained in what they propose as a hybrid form of “propportune” ethnography that blends the aim of the essence of “proper” anthropological approaches with the “opportunism” of contemporary data collection solutions.

Details

Journal of Organizational Ethnography, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6749

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2002

Rebecca Mallon and Charles Oppenheim

Begins by reviewing relevant literature to identify some of the features that are said to appear exclusively in e‐mails. Also highlights the main issues in the debate between…

1791

Abstract

Begins by reviewing relevant literature to identify some of the features that are said to appear exclusively in e‐mails. Also highlights the main issues in the debate between those who embrace the new style of writing generated by e‐mail, and those who feel it is detrimental to communication. A total of 300 examples of e‐mails were obtained from a wide range of donors. Features counted included emoticons, acronyms and creative spelling. The lengths of texts and of sentences within them were amongst other calculations made. The data was grouped according to purpose: social, business personal and business impersonal. Users of e‐mail appear to be generally unconcerned with formalities. Although the sample of e‐mail texts was lucid, writers often dispense with traditions when opening their e‐mail, and their closings are informal. Social e‐mails involved the most creative sort of communication. Argues that the increased informality and lack of consistency of e‐mail texts is because e‐mail is a new medium where no clear guidelines exist. A standard for e‐mail communication might usefully be established, but such a standard should remain flexible.

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 54 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Keywords

21 – 30 of 551