Search results

The purpose of this paper is to outline a useful model for identifying and addressing employee performance issues in academic libraries, specifically in a Learning Commons.

The Human Performance Technology (HPT) model created by the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) was used to identify employee performance issues in a newly created Learning Commons at a mid‐size academic library.

Applying the HPT model to a Learning Commons enabled the authors to identify organizational and employee performance issues and identify solutions to these issues. The HPT model was deemed a useful tool for addressing performance issues.

Little research has been published using the HPT model in libraries and more research should be performed to determine the suitability of this model for libraries. It should be acknowledged that the model is used to identify weaknesses and any organization using this model will likely uncover areas for improvement.

The HPT model provides a method to identify measurable performance indicators which could be used to set standards of performance for employees. Setting such standards can help achieve and maintain levels of high quality for any library service. This model is particularly useful when employees at one service point may include a combination of student workers, paraprofessionals, and librarians.

The study could identify only one article in the relevant literature addressing the use of the HPT model in a library setting. This paper more broadly introduces HPT to the field of librarianship as an assessment tool.

On April 2, 1987, IBM unveiled a series of long‐awaited new hardware and software products. The new computer line, dubbed the Personal Systems 30, 50, 60, and 80, seems destined to replace the XT and AT models that are the mainstay of the firm's current personal computer offerings. The numerous changes in hardware and software, while representing improvements on previous IBM technology, will require users purchasing additional computers to make difficult choices as to which of the two IBM architectures to adopt.

Here is the long‐awaited fourth edition of Ralph De Sola's classic Abbreviations Dictionary. This updated edition of a work first published in 1958 is the largest, most complete compilation of its kind — a reference book far surpassing all others in the field. Mr. De Sola has expanded his work to include more than 130,000 definitions and entries — over 77,000 definitions, over 54,000 entries. The current edition offers abbreviations, acronyms, anonyms, contradictions, initials and nicknames, short forms and slang shortcuts, and signs and symbols covering disciplines which range from the arts to the advanced sciences and embrace all areas of human knowledge and activity.