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The purpose of this paper is to describe how librarians at the State University of New York College at Buffalo used iPads during one class session of a semester-long library instruction course to increase student engagement, energize the traditional library tour, build collaboration and give students experience using tablet technology in an educational setting.

Librarians provided iPads to groups of students and sent them to photograph different areas of the library during one class session of a semester-long course. Students then uploaded the photographs to a common Web site for class discussion.

Formal and informal student feedback was positive. Students connected with the instructors and with each other, enjoyed discovering library spaces and services and became more comfortable with tablet technology. The project also increased student enthusiasm for the class.

This paper is the first to systematically describe a simple activity that can be used by instruction librarians to incorporate tablets into the curriculum. The method requires minimal time to set up and implement, involves a very short learning curve and is easily adaptable to various mobile devices.

The data set used to write this case was collected from 83 public sources, including company communications, company journals and reports and the company website, along with newspaper articles, industry reports, scientific articles and case studies. The data set was used to analyse both the industry and firm in which Arup operated to draw conclusions about the firm’s strategy and competitive advantage, specifically, as it relates to trust and knowledge management.

Alan Belfield, an employee of Arup Group Limited for 29 years, and the company’s chairman since 2019, had witnessed significant growth since he first joined the firm. Operating globally, Arup had a proud past; since 1946, the company had served 6,931 clients across 143 countries, leading to its important contribution to many world-renowned landmarks within the built environment. From 2018 to 2020, revenue at the global multiservice engineering company had grown almost £250m [1] to £1.809bn.

Over the past few years and as 2021 came to an end, the global engineering services industry had experienced a flood of mergers and acquisitions, as the industry grew towards maturity and clients looked for full-service solutions. Arup’s strategy had proven successful in the past, evidenced by its capacity to grow revenues and partake in the design of well-known structures and buildings. However, with the trend towards consolidation, as Arup headed into 2022, how could the firm retain its position as one of the global leaders in the industry over time?

The case can be used in business courses on global strategic management at the bachelor and master levels, as it applies key strategic management concepts within a global context. The case focuses primarily on the transnational corporation (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 2002) and how it creates value through strategy and structure. Instructors who wish to integrate the human resource management aspect into the course are provided with optional material, including an additional reading, along with an assignment question and associated analysis and teaching guidance.

Is there an electronic banking (e‐banking) revolution in the USA? Millions of Americans are currently using a variety of e‐banking technologies and millions more are expected to come “online.” However, millions of others have not or will not. This paper explores factors that affect the of adoption or intention to adopt three e‐banking technologies and changes in these factors over time. Using a Federal Reserve Board commissioned data set, the paper finds that relative advantage, complexity/simplicity, compatibility, observability, risk tolerance, and product involvement are associated with adoption. Income, assets, education, gender and marital status, and age also affect adoption. Adoption changed over time, but the impacts of other factors on adoption have not changed. Implications for both the banking industry and public policy are discussed.

With the COVID-19 pandemic introducing social distancing measures around the world, how we conceptualise and experience intimacy has significantly and suddenly shifted. Intimate moments such as funerals, weddings and the nurturing of everyday relationships have unfolded over video calls, and digitally mediated contact has been granted, for many, greater importance. At the same time, who we can be close to, and the conditions of this closeness have come under intense scrutiny as we become aware of how bodily proximity and bodily performances such as breathing are implicated in the spread of the virus. With this awareness comes a renewed intimacy with seemingly mundane bodily gestures and performances such as breath – and with the ways in which we are always entangled with those around us. In this chapter, we examine intimacy in a post-COVID future through the themes of proximity, breath and mediation. While intimacy is often conceptualised as occurring only between human subjects, we contribute to a more expansive understanding of intimacy that can account for the closeness and familiarity we feel with non-human objects. We argue that our social worlds are layered with familiar objects that facilitate our everyday encounters – a facemask or Zoom interface – and we argue that conceptualising intimacy must account for these entanglements.

The purpose of this paper is to put librarian use of instant messaging (IM) into a context of new media development. The paper aims to evaluate use of IM from findings in a research project of a Danish IM test.

The paper is grounded on findings related to the author's research of a specific Danish instant messaging test called Need2Know. With help of theories of communication patterns on the internet and of media theory of Web 2.0 IM is assessed as a tool for public libraries.

Instant messaging is an instance of expanding conversational and decentralized ways of communication on the internet. It is a useful communication tool to get in touch with young users, but it may be a waste of resources if the purpose primarily is to answer short questions of encyclopaedic facts. If the service is not anchored in an explicit library context or in library resources, the ask service easily will decay to a type of “living search machine” and not be part of a participatory culture promised by Web 2.0.

The paper assesses an instant messaging tool, Need2Know. The Need2Know service mirrors a traditional attitude to the relationship between users and library. Today users are able to find simple information themselves, and they are even able to disseminate and share this information through numerous social technologies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key issues surrounding teacher/staff disability disclosures in the UK's further education (FE) sector.

In total, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted in a medium-sized FE college (case study) setting in the South East of England. To compare the experiences, views and perceptions of leaders, managers and teachers, interviews were carried out with leaders and managers who are accountable for ensuring disability legislation is adhered to, and with teachers who are responsible for complying with equality and disability legislation. The 15 interviewees who volunteered to take part in this research represent the various layers of the organisational structure and different academic departments in the college.

Two major themes discussed include: the desire for teaching staff to “come out” and make a disability disclosure and the perception of disability as a “deficit”. A number of staff that disclosed their hidden disabilities stated they would not do so again. To avoid the negative side effects, developing a “culture of disability disclosure” and providing long-term employer support are required.

This is an exploratory qualitative case study that highlights some of the key issues from a teacher/staff perspective. It is not meant to be generalisable research, but the ideas therein should help to develop a wider (empirical) research agenda.

There is an abundance of critical and sociological research concerning disability disclosure in general; there are also a number of scholarly studies that focus on disability issues from the student perspective. However, this is the first scholarly study that explores the key issues involving FE staff.