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Article
Publication date: 1 September 2004

Alison Jane Pickard and Pat Dixon

Focuses on the research outcomes of a longitudinal, in‐depth investigation of the electronic information resource use of 16 young people. Aims to provide a flexible, qualitative…

Abstract

Focuses on the research outcomes of a longitudinal, in‐depth investigation of the electronic information resource use of 16 young people. Aims to provide a flexible, qualitative framework that can be applied within local contexts to enable context‐specific understanding of electronic information resource use. Concludes that, although the groups may remain consistent, personal constructions and notions of value within those groups is more likely to be context‐specific.

Details

VINE, vol. 34 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0305-5728

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 December 2004

Pat Allatt and Carolyn Dixon

In all its stages, qualitative research inhabits a visible world. Yet the use of visual data across the life of a research project is a visual span seldom considered in the…

Abstract

In all its stages, qualitative research inhabits a visible world. Yet the use of visual data across the life of a research project is a visual span seldom considered in the methodological literature (Albrecht, 1985; Brannen, 2002). From a study largely based on observation and interviews in which visual data did not feature at the outset, we illustrate this longer perspective by focussing on two aspects of span. One refers to the inclusion of visual data throughout a project, from the search for a research setting to the final stage of dissemination. The other concerns the more frequent approach that includes a mix of visual methods, ranging from visual documents of film and photographs (Denzin, 1989) to other visual images and sights fleetingly observed. We argue that to use our eyes in the peripheral as well as the central data gathering stages, and to glean data from what is incidentally noticed as well as harvested with specific visual tools, generate an extended sociological understanding. The visual widens the window on the world of those being studied, bringing the intricacies of their lives closer to both researcher and audience. In this latter regard, we note the value of visual data at the dissemination stage, particularly for audiences of practitioners and those with interests in policy formation.

Details

Seeing is Believing? Approaches to Visual Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-211-5

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2002

Pat Dixon, Alison Pickard and Heather Robson

If information professionals are to measure the value of their services, they must talk directly to users and listen to what they have to say about their lives, as well as…

1092

Abstract

If information professionals are to measure the value of their services, they must talk directly to users and listen to what they have to say about their lives, as well as measuring the service in terms of value for money. Whilst acknowledging the necessity of data concerned with processes and procedures, the concept of value can only be fully explored by going to the individual user directly, within a specific context. Researchers must make the anecdotal believable, trustworthy, worthy of being considered alongside other types of hard data, and a constructivist approach to collecting, analysing and presenting qualitative data can be used effectively to achieve this. The UK government has pledged to deliver public services to meet the needs of citizens, not the convenience of service providers, by involving and meeting the needs of all different groups in society. Its Best Value review represents one of the most far reaching challenges facing those responsible for local services. Can its framework provide the flexibility to support all those who have a stake in measuring value of library and information services?

Details

Performance Measurement and Metrics, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-8047

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Article
Publication date: 1 April 2004

Niels Ole Pors, Pat Dixon and Heather Robson

The paper discusses which factors influence the adoption and use of quality measurement tools in libraries. With very different practices and implementation strategies in…

2404

Abstract

The paper discusses which factors influence the adoption and use of quality measurement tools in libraries. With very different practices and implementation strategies in different countries, compares the situation in Denmark and the UK. The basis for the comparison is a comprehensive survey of managers in the library sector.

Details

Performance Measurement and Metrics, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-8047

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Abstract

Details

Library Review, vol. 53 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

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Article
Publication date: 11 January 2008

Elena Corradini

The purpose of this paper is to provide a flavour of the content of International Round Table at the Conference on Competencies and Curriculum for IL held in Milan, Italy in March…

397

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a flavour of the content of International Round Table at the Conference on Competencies and Curriculum for IL held in Milan, Italy in March 2007.

Design/methodology/approach

A description of the issues, content and speakers of the Round Table is presented in this report.

Findings

Various international perspectives were reported at this round table, covering the themes of IL courses, the curriculum, professional competencies, learning by doing, and who is the right teacher for IL, which ended with a lively discussion and thoughts for the future.

Originality/value

This paper provides a conference report of value to library and information professionals on the role of libraries for education, IL, learning styles, and the new challenges for information professionals working in the learning society.

Details

New Library World, vol. 109 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 4 December 2012

Sue Myburgh and Anna Maria Tammaro

Purpose – Changes in the environment – political, economic, social, educational and technological – have demanded changes in many areas of work, most particularly in the roles and…

Abstract

Purpose – Changes in the environment – political, economic, social, educational and technological – have demanded changes in many areas of work, most particularly in the roles and tasks of those involved in the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage, and interpersonal information intervention. Sending, storing and receiving digital information are commonplace activities, and now formally constructed digital libraries constitute an important component of this virtual information environment. Similar to traditional physical libraries, digital libraries are constructed for particular purposes, to serve particular clienteles or to collect and provide access to selected information resources (whether text documents or artefacts). Information intermediaries – or digital librarians – in this transformed information environment must learn new skills, play different roles and possess a new suite of competencies.

Design, methodology and approach – Myburgh and Tammaro have, for several years, examined the new knowledge, skills and competencies that are now demanded, in order to design and test a curriculum for digital librarians which has found expression in the Erasmus Mundus Master's in Digital Library Learning (DILL), now in its sixth year.

Findings – The chief objective of the Digital library program is to prepare information intermediaries for effective contribution to their particular communities and societies, in order to assist present and future generations of digital natives to negotiate the digital information environment effectively. This includes, for example, the necessity for digital librarians to be able to teach cultural competency, critical information literacies and knowledge value mapping, as well as understanding the new standards and formats that are still being developed in order to capture, store, describe, locate and preserve digital materials.

Research limitations – In this chapter, we propose describing the work we have done thus far, with special reference to the development of a model of the role of the digital librarian, including competencies, skills, knowledge base and praxis.

Social implications – Amongst the various issues that have arisen and demanded consideration and investigation are the importance of a multidisciplinarity dimension in the education of digital librarians, as information work is orthogonal to other disciplinary and cultural categorisations; that a gradual convergence or confluence is being identified between various cultural institutions which include libraries, archives and museums; the new modes of learning and teaching, with particular regard to knowledge translation and the learner-generated environment or context; and possibly even a reconsideration of the role of the information professional and new service models for their praxis.

Originality/value – The chapter tries to evidence the present debate about digital librarianship in Europe.

Details

Library and Information Science Trends and Research: Europe
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-714-7

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Article
Publication date: 22 May 2007

Anna Maria Tammaro

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the trends for digital library education in Europe. It addresses two questions: what are the roles for digital librarians? How should they…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the trends for digital library education in Europe. It addresses two questions: what are the roles for digital librarians? How should they be educated?

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis is based on the results of the project “European Curriculum Reflections on Library and Information Science Education” and the proceedings of the Workshops on Digital Library Education, held in Italy in 2005 and in Croatia in 2006.

Findings

Three approaches to education for digital library are described: the emergence of the concept of “memory institutions”; the library‐based approach to knowledge management; and the isolation of IT from library and information science (LIS) schools.

Research limitations/implications

The roles of the digital librarian are suggested, and the structure of a course for digital library education is proposed, but further research is needed on the definition of the digital library concept.

Practical implications

A digital librarian should have a combination of technological and librarianship competences.

Originality/value

The paper addresses the issue of education needed for digital librarians in Europe.

Details

New Library World, vol. 108 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 December 2004

Pat Allatt is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Teesside, U.K.Tim Dant is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of East Anglia, U.K.Carolyn Dixon is a…

Abstract

Pat Allatt is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Teesside, U.K.Tim Dant is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of East Anglia, U.K.Carolyn Dixon is a researcher and an independent artist.John Donnelly is Senior Lecturer in the Sociology and Criminology Division at the University of Northumbria, U.K.Alan Felstead is Professor of Employment Studies at the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester, U.K.Barbara Harrison is Professor of Sociology at the University of East London, U.K.Rosalind Hurworth is Director of the Centre for Program Evaluation within the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia.Nick Jewson is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester, U.K.John Martin is Principal Lecturer in Economic and Social History at De Montfort University, U.K.Ruth Martin was the Research Assistant for the “Asian Leicester” project.Sarah Pink is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Loughborough, U.K.Christopher Pole is a Reader in the Department of Sociology at the University of Leicester, U.K.Andrea Raggl is a Research Assistant in the Department of Teacher Education and School Research at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.Michael Schratz is Professor of Education at the Department of Teacher Education and School Research of the University of Innsbruck, Austria.Matt Smith is a Lecturer in the Sociology and Criminology Division at the University of Northumbria, U.K.Sally Walters is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester, U.K.

Details

Seeing is Believing? Approaches to Visual Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-211-5

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2005

Li‐teh Sun

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American…

Abstract

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 25 no. 6/7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

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