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This paper reports on an evaluation project conducted at the University of Melbourne during 2002. The objective of the project was to evaluate selected information literacy programs that were provided to students in the Arts Faculty. The three programs that were evaluated used different modes of delivery. The paper discusses the rationale of the project, the methodology and the results of the evaluation.

In response to changing pedagogical theory and practice in higher education, library designers have created innovative library learning spaces that support informal learning outside the classroom. Libraries can be justly proud of their new collaborative learning spaces that support interaction and discussion; social spaces that foster engagement and learning; as well as quiet places for independent study. Less attention has been paid to the relationship between library spaces and frontline services and the way in which learning theory might inform the service experience. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the way in which a large academic library responded to this challenge.

Using a case study approach informed by theoretical analysis, the paper outlines the decision-making process underlying the reformulation of frontline library service. The study explains why decisions were taken leading to the development of a distinctive and collaborative service model and how they were put into practice. The case study employs a narrative approach that is deliberately rich in description to assist readers in understanding the context of this complex process.

Informed by the principles of social constructivist pedagogy and modern learning space design, the paper poses an alternative and more collaborative model for delivering frontline service that is more consistent with learning theory.

Through the reformulation of a traditional frontline service model, this case study engages with a topic of interest to many academic libraries, contributing to the literature of library practice and encouraging re-conceptualisation of space, design and service.

Most libraries in higher education are facing the challenge of providing valued and improved services with the same or fewer resources. Focussing on the library learning service at one university, the purpose of this paper is to consider how libraries can find new service models with contracting resources while aligning with institutional and professional values and providing value-in-use for end users and key stakeholders.

Following a discussion of sustainability as relevant to library services, the paper presents a case study of one library’s approach to sustaining its library learning service.

The sustainability of library services is aided by developing a service blueprint that provides direction and structure yet is dynamic and responsive. To be successful the approach should be grounded in resource realities, encourage scalability where possible and address the values and needs of key stakeholders.

The paper presents a workable, integrated approach to managing a library learning service so that it delivers value and is sustainable.

Being different from others can be stressful, and this may be especially salient for newcomers during organizational socialization when they may be expected to fit in. Thus, drawing on conservation of resources theory, the authors examine the effects of newcomers' individual differentiation on their subsequent emotional exhaustion.

The authors test a multiple mediation model with data from 161 UK graduates collected at three times using structural equation modeling.

The results largely support the hypotheses, identifying individual differentiation as a motivational resource associated with the proactive behavior of changing work procedures. In turn, changing work procedures links with the personal resource of positive affect, which facilitates the relational resource of social acceptance and predicts lower emotional exhaustion. Individual differentiation predicts lower social acceptance also, but not via monitoring as anticipated.

The results provide novel insights into the effects of individual differentiation on emotional exhaustion in the context of organizational socialization. The study highlights that, while newcomers high in individual differentiation face depletion of the relational resource of social acceptance, they can still adjust well and avoid emotional exhaustion through changing work procedures to foster positive affect.

This study was undertaken in response to the audit requirements for the National Service Framework for Older People Standard 1 ‘Rooting Out Ageism’. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the nature of any age‐discriminatory practice in the clinical setting through the perceptions and experiences of staff working with older people.The study adopted a qualitative approach using focus group design. Six focus groups were conducted with 57 members of staff. An aim of the study method was to isolate consensus areas of ageist practice that would facilitate targeted intervention. To assist this, statements relating to common practice experiences were developed following the first two focus groups. This was used as a discussion tool for the subsequent groups.Perceived ageist practice could be grouped under the following themes:• access to services• communication and attitudes• treatment and care• the role of relatives• resources.On the basis of the findings, greater choice and control for older people need to be key features of the recommendations, through the development of a co‐ordinated development programme involving all stakeholders

This paper aims to answer the following question: How can a discursive approach to how music fans construct loyalty in a digital context contribute to a theoretical understanding of brand loyalty?

Drawing on insights from theories of brand loyalty and fandom, this interpretive inquiry makes use of data from an online forum dedicated to the rock music band, U2, and interviews with forum members. A combination of online ethnography and discourse analysis are used.

The analysis shows that music fans mobilise particular discursive resources in constructing loyalty in the digital context, specifically length of time spent as a fan, obsession and the opposition of obligation and choice. These discursive resources reflect a grounded account of an experientially rooted brand loyalty that extends beyond attitudinal and behavioural loyalty and which is particularly salient in music consumption.

This is a single case study, but as a rich and vibrant online community, it provides fruitful insights into the discursive construction of loyalty. The processes of negotiation, accommodation and conflict, engaged in through online discourse, are important in laying bare the preferences, value systems and meanings that frame the experiences of loyal consumers.

This socially constructed view of loyalty facilitates a more sensitive and nuanced application of brand loyalty, with implications for segmentation and targeting activities. It provides a possible basis through which precise insights can be gained into the meanings and practices of loyal fans and consumers.

Examining loyalty through the lens of online music fandom enables a discursive understanding of consumers’ experience of brand loyalty. It shows how online engagement with other consumers of a brand facilitates a deep engagement with the notion of loyalty.

The aim of this study was to evaluate determinants of four diversification practises by cocoa smallholders in West Sulawesi, Indonesia: (1) growing other crops, (2) keeping livestock, (3) off-farm work for wages (4) off-farm self-employment, and the impact of diversification on welfare of community members.

Household interviews (n = 116) conducted in two subdistricts (Anreapi and Mapilli) of Polewali-Mandar District, West Sulawesi, provided quantitative data on household characteristics, crop and livestock production, income sources, expenditure and credit access. Two villages per subdistrict were included in the study, each producing cocoa as the main crop but differing in their proximity to a market town. Logistic regression was applied to identify determinants of diversification by households. Multiple linear regression (MLR) models evaluated the impact of diversification practices and other explanatory variables on two proxies of welfare (or household wealth): per capita value of durable assets (household assets other than land or livestock) and per capita expenditure for each household.

Mean per capita cocoa production in the sample was low (51 kg dry beans/annum). The mean dependency ratio (proportion of household occupants age <18 and >64) was 35%, with an average of five occupants per household. Household heads were predominantly male (95%), averaging 46 yo and 7 years of formal education. Most households (72%) depended on loans, but only 24% accessed formal loans. Significant determinants of diversification practices were access to formal credit for self-employment and subdistrict for livestock, with Mapilli subdistrict households more likely to keep livestock. Household predictors in the MLR accounted for 28% variation of the dependent, per capita value of durable goods. Off-farm self-employment and raising livestock significantly improved welfare, but growing other crops or off-farm work for wages had little effect. Other household variables demonstrated to have significant positive effects on welfare were education of the household head, proximity to a market town and land area per household.

The study was restricted to a relatively small sample size (n = 116). Studies including panel data or larger numbers of households could enable the identification of further determinants of diversification.

The study demonstrates that diversification has the potential to improve rural livelihoods, but that obstacles, especially formal credit access, may deter poorer households from diversifying their income sources.

Programs and policies that facilitate access to formal finance by smallholders could encourage diversification into small business and improve livelihoods in cocoa-dependent communities.

In the light of the decline in cocoa farm productivity in West Sulawesi, the study demonstrates the potential benefits, as well as limitations, of income diversification by smallholders.

Victim narratives consistent with anti-trafficking and anti-prostitution rhetoric leave little room for understanding agential labor in the sex industry, which profoundly impacts sex workers’ experiences in other domains. One such domain – academia – is often understood as antithetical to the “body work” of sex work. It is, after all, the domain of the mind. Drawing from my experiences as an undergraduate and graduate student as well as from my work as a sex worker, I use auto-ethnography to demonstrate the lasting impact of (1) mind/body dualisms, (2) the virgin/whore dichotomy, and (3) narratives of sexual danger on perceptions of legitimation and status for sex workers in academia. I also discuss implications for broader social concerns like legal policy.