Search results

Recent research implies that leader performance may be enhanced by mindfulness. The purpose of this paper is to present findings that help clarify the process of behavioral development that may be involved, as well as contributing to a better understanding of why leaders attribute improved effectiveness to mindfulness.

Data were collected through 42 modified behavioral-event interviews with senior organizational leaders from ten countries. Data analysis was performed using qualitative analysis techniques, and the emotional and social competency inventory (ESCI).

Mindfulness is perceived by practitioners as significantly influencing the development of behaviors, and changes to awareness, that they link to improved leadership effectiveness. Mindfulness is also perceived as enhancing cognitive function, and may contribute to the development of emotional intelligence competencies linked to increased leadership performance.

The results have potential implications for improving the efficacy of leadership development activities specifically through the incorporation of mindfulness and emotional intelligence training activities.

To the researcher’s knowledge, this is both the first qualitative study to conduct an in-depth analysis exploring the link between mindfulness and improvements in leader effectiveness, and also the first study to examine these relationships using the ESCI as a framework for analysis.

Libraries can be seen as the collective identity of its employees engaged in providing a myriad of services to a community of patrons. Libraries can also exist in virtual settings, defined with descriptive parameters, described by a wider user group external to the library environment. The diverse nature of what constitutes libraries is illustrated by researchers, such as Marino and Lapintie (2015), who use the term “meta-meeting place” when describing its environs. Whatever model is used to describe contemporary libraries, the library environment usually has numerous needs and demands coming from a variety of stakeholders, from administrators to patrons. This chapter examines how we, as librarians, with users, co-construct library as both space and place.

We used a theoretical framework (social constructionism) to show how library identity is established by its users in the space planning process to address their needs and expectations and provided a case study of the main library at the University of South Florida.

We found that libraries are reflective of the vision and values of a diverse community and the social-political milieu in which they are housed. Librarians used a number of innovative methods and frames to create best/evidence-based practice approaches in space planning, re-envisioning library functions, and conducting outcomes/programmatic assessment. For librarians to create that sense of place and space for our users requires effective and open conversations and examination of our own inherent (and often unacknowledged) contradictions as to what libraries are or should be as enduring structures with evolving uses and changing users. For example, only a few of the studies focused on the spatial use and feel of libraries using new technologies or methodologies, such as social network analysis, discourse analysis, or GPS, to map the use of physical and virtual space.

First, new ways of working and engaging require reexamination of assessment and evaluation procedures and processes. To accomplish this, we must develop a more effective culture of assessment and to use innovative evaluation measures to determine use, user paths, and formal and informal groupings. Changes that affect patron and staff perceptions of library as place/third space may be difficult to assess using quantitative surveys, such as LibQual, that may not provide an opportunity for respondents to provide specifics of what “place” means to them. Second, it is important to have effective communication among all members of the library (patrons, library staff, and university administration) so that we design spaces/places that enhance the relationships among users, technology, pedagogy, and learning spaces, not just the latest “thing” in the literature.

This value of this review is to provide a social constructionist perspective (frame) on how we plan library space. This approach provides opportunities to truly engage our patrons and administration in the co-construction of what “our library” should be since it provides insight to group, place, and social dynamics.

Many universities are currently investing significant sums of money into refurbishing existing learning spaces and/or building further infrastructure (including Next Generation Learning Spaces (NGLS)) to support learning and teaching in the face-to-face context. While this is usually welcome by staff and students, there is often a concern that designs are not informed by input from appropriate stakeholders.

This chapter brings together information from a range of sources to provide practical ideas and advice on designing robust, whole-of-lifecycle evaluations for learning space projects. By incorporating pre- and post-occupancy stages, involving a wide array of stakeholders and looking beyond surveys and focus groups as evaluation techniques, universities can ensure that future designs take into consideration the experiences and context of staff and students at the institution as well as lessons learned from previous projects.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Library collected a rich set of assessment data for its Learning Commons (LC), and how it analyzed, summarized and presented the data to drive improvement as well as to demonstrate impact.

The assessment targeted at exploring users’ perception of and experience in using the LCs. It employed multiple channels to collect data. It comprised of three student focus groups, and two questionnaire surveys for students and service partners, respectively. They were planned strategically, with clear objectives and a phase-by-phase design, so that the instruments can be fine-tuned based on the findings and experience of the previous one.

The assessment collected a good amount of qualitative and quantitative data. It showed that the LCs had become a very important part of students’ campus life. Students’ experience reported through the focus groups and survey helped the Library to make a number of improvement in services and facilities. The result was tactfully presented to senior university administrators as a proof of the Library's impact.

The case study showed how an assessment, when strategically planned, can generate findings that help libraries to demonstrate their capability and impact on students’ academic life. The methods applied in this case study can also be used by other functional areas.

The assessment went beyond quantitative measures, it tapped into students’ experience. The paper illustrates how HKUST Library analyzed and presented the data to achieve results and changes. Other libraries may find this process helpful for future assessment planning.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a framework to guide learning and teaching practice in next generation learning spaces. The framework is informed by both learning and teaching theory and the current context of the sector. The framework provides guidance to those who teach in next generation learning spaces and is illustrated with examples of effective pedagogic practices that use the affordances of spaces while avoiding their limitations. The chapter discusses the tension between next generation learning space design and use. Design is influenced by drivers ranging from a need to accommodate ever-larger student numbers and responding to digital technologies and other developments in educational media, to providing for new approaches to learning. Use is determined by understandings of the teaching task, which can range from presentation by a teacher through to students working individually or in groups to generate meaningful knowledge, useful skills and professional values. In this chapter we identify drivers underpinning the creation and design of next generation learning spaces in universities today and associated expectations of the ways in which the spaces will be used. We reflect on understandings of sound pedagogic practice and work through to implications for learning and teaching in NGLS. In some cases advocated pedagogic practice asks teaching staff to make the most of spaces designed to allow students to engage constructively in their learning. In other cases it involves teaching constructively in spite of the design of the space.

Purpose – The integration of librarians and technologists to deliver information services represents a new and costly organizational challenge for many library administrators. To understand how to control the costs of integration, this study uses structural contingency theory to study the coordination of librarians and technologists within the information commons.

Design/methodology/approach – This study tests the structural contingency theory expectation that an organization will achieve higher levels of performance when there is a positive relationship between the degree of workflow interdependence and the complexity of coordinative structures necessary to integrate these workflows. This expectation was tested by (a) identifying and collecting a sample of information common; (b) developing and validating survey instruments to test the proposition; and (c) quantitatively analyzing the data to test the proposed contingency theory relationship.

Findings – The contingency theory expectations were confirmed by finding both a positive relationship between coordination and interdependence and a positive relationship between perceptions of performance and degree of congruency between interdependence and coordination.

Limitations – The findings of this study are limited to both the context of an information common and the structures tested. Future research should seek to both broaden the context in which these findings are applicable, and test additional structural relationships as proposed by contingency theory

Practical implications – This study contributes to the library profession in a number of ways. First, it suggests that managers can improve IC performance by matching coordination structures to the degree of interdependence. For instance, when librarians and technologists are strictly co-located, managers should coordinate workflows using less resource-intensive policies rather than meetings. Second, the instruments developed in this study will improve the library manager's ability to measure and report unit interdependence and coordination in a valid and reliable manner. Lastly, it also contributes to the study of structural contingency theory by presenting one of the first empirical confirmations of a positive relationship between interdependence and coordination.

Originality/value – This study represents one of the first empirical confirmations of the structural contingency theory expectations of both a positive relationship between workflow interdependence and coordination, and a positive relationship between performance and coordination's fit to workflow interdependence. These findings are of value to both organizational theorists and to administrators of information commons.

The research explores the emerging specialty of learning space assessment with a focus on how new information professionals represented by graduate students in an academic libraries course defined quality criteria for library spaces and how they approached designing and conducting a one-shot multi-site space assessment project.

The instructor-investigator adopted a diachronic collective case study strategy, using documents generated by six cohorts over three academic years. The data included 180 online discussion posts, 97 individual site assessments and 32 group project reports. Data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively to identify patterns and trends in student behaviour.

The analysis revealed a strong trend among students for creating their own evaluation frameworks in preference to reusing existing professional tools in their current form; the proportion of students who developed their own criteria or combined existing criteria in new ways shifted from 40 per cent to 80 per cent in three years. Their approaches demonstrated willingness and ability to engage in independent and creative thinking, and readiness to explore interdisciplinary and international perspectives on space. They also displayed a commitment to accessible, flexible and adaptable user-centred design for active, collaborative learning and to bringing a user perspective to their observations.

The focus on student-librarians provides a unique forward-looking perspective on the desirable qualities of next-generation learning spaces in academic libraries. The study documents an unprecedented range of established and novel space evaluation frameworks and tools informed by different professional disciplines. The results should be of interest to library and information science (LIS) educators and practitioners.

This chapter examines the conundrum of juvenile immigration law and policy and argues that it is a present-day manifestation of “child-saving” in rhetoric, disposition, and human capital harm. In support of this thesis, the chapter reviews the pertinent human rights, law, and social science evidence, and it concludes that the maintenance of the nation’s existing immigration policy only makes sense within the context of the intentions of the 19th century child-saving movement. To substantiate this view, the political-economic drivers of contemporary US immigration policy (i.e., its child-saving dynamics) are explored. The chapter concludes by speculatively addressing the character (i.e., the form and quality) of modern-day juvenile immigration policy as child-saving informed by the philosophy and criticism of Psychological Jurisprudence (PJ).

There is no proposed solution to address the unresolved issues of publishing music-related electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) pertaining to technology availability, copyright, and preservation. The purpose of this paper is to propose a complete system, including technology development and publishing model, which addresses the existing issues of publishing music-related ETDs. The paper shares the practice of utilizing the system developed by Texas Tech University Libraries known as Streaming Audio and Video Experience (SAVE), and proposes it as a solution for other multimedia collections.

The proposed system includes a technology solution and a publishing model. The technology solution, SAVE, contains an authenticated streaming multimedia player, a responsive-design user interface, and a web-based submission and management system. The publishing model combines a DSpace-based institutional repository (IR) with SAVE and preservation strategies.

The integrated system of SAVE and DSpace-based IR expands the access of music-related ETDs and other multimedia collections to patrons, benefits the distance education students as well as the local students, facilitates professors’ classroom teaching, and helps to preserve physical multimedia items by avoiding check-outs.

The SAVE solution resolves issues of publishing music-related ETDs, fulfills the local needs of publishing hundreds of music-related ETDs from the College of Visual and Performing Arts, and supports the publishing of other multimedia collections. The software will be released open source to the public for other universities’ use. The publishing model is also useful for those universities that intend to integrate an IR with the streaming player platform.