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1 – 10 of over 225000Michael Perini and Beth Roszkowski
Undergraduate information commons have become pervasive in the academic library landscape. In recent years, librarians and administrators have come to identify the need for…
Abstract
Undergraduate information commons have become pervasive in the academic library landscape. In recent years, librarians and administrators have come to identify the need for comparable commons’ spaces and services for graduate students. This chapter serves as a review of recently developed models of graduate commons—in this discussion referred to as Scholars’ Commons—as defined by an integration of physical learning spaces, personnel, and a dynamic availability of research support services that support assist graduate students throughout their academic life cycle. These provisions serve as the foundation for the development of enhanced library-supported graduate student success.
Still a rare commodity, existing models from selected institutional web sites were examined using a framework for analysis consisting of several criteria: new use of space; segmented services; partnerships; and new organizational structures. Through a synthesis of the commonalities prevalent in these systems, this chapter aims to provide recommendations for prospective Scholars’ Commons models and proposals for their development. Library organizations contemplating the development of a Scholars’ Commons need to consider the needs of their target population, potential new or reallocated spaces, feasibility of providing support and research technologies, and possible staffing models. As well, the authors consider the importance of library-based graduate student support that bolsters cross-divisional collaborative partnerships across the academy.
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The paper seeks to describe the establishment and progress of an online initiative: RIC – Researching the Information Commons.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to describe the establishment and progress of an online initiative: RIC – Researching the Information Commons.
Design/methodology/approach
Who has really challenged and thought through in a research sense about the issues that surround the commons provision of information; a concept dear to the hearts of many of the world's librarians? This question leads to the development of a researcher networking initiative, represented on the web as RIC (http://infocommons.curtin.edu.au).
Findings
The web site has a growing number of participants, not all working together, but who are interested in information commons matters from a research point of view.
Research limitations/implications
RIC is a federated network of colleagues researching in this many faceted arena and it is slowly gathering momentum. Expressions of interest to join have been sought, and a web site has been developed.
Practical implications
RIC will operate through: openness and feedback; shared decision making; diversity within the commons; honouring social and legal equity amongst its members; and fostering sociability within the commons.
Social implications
The vision for the RIC Group is to nurture and mentor a community of researchers interested in matters relating to the information commons, by being in itself an information commons.
Originality/value
The topic of information commons has considerable use and currency but there appears to be only one RIC.
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William Daniels, Colin Darch and Karin de Jager
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use made of the Research Commons during its first year of operation in an attempt to establish whether it actually provides a genuinely…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the use made of the Research Commons during its first year of operation in an attempt to establish whether it actually provides a genuinely new and different service from the point of view of the end‐users, and whether a facility such as this could indeed be presumed to support research and enhance research output at the university.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Lippincott's assessment grid, an attempt was made to assess activities in the Research Commons according to the dimensions of extensiveness, efficiency, effectiveness, service quality and usefulness. Methodology was mixed, with quantitative and qualitative components that logged the extent and nature of the use of the various facilities in the Research Commons and sought to establish from stakeholder perceptions whether the services on offer are regarded as substantially different from those in the undergraduate Knowledge Commons and whether they are indeed seen to be supporting research activities.
Findings
It was found that a combination of numerical and qualitative measurements has yielded sufficient evidence for the drawing of preliminary conclusions. The evidence gathered demonstrates that the Research Commons, designed primarily as a site for the creation of new knowledge in the form of original writing by researchers at postgraduate and academic level, is indeed an advance on the well‐established “library commons” concept, and that its creation represents an instance of “parallel invention” – the “new creature” that the title refers to.
Originality/value
This paper provides a multifaceted perspective on the activities taking place in a new library facility and should provide librarians and researchers with evidence‐based insight into how meaningful research support may be provided to young researchers from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds as part of an academic library service in a middle income country.
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The purpose of this paper is to survey how research data are governed at repositories in Japan by deductively establishing a governance typology based on the concept of openness…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to survey how research data are governed at repositories in Japan by deductively establishing a governance typology based on the concept of openness in the context of knowledge commons and empirically assessing the conformity of repositories to each type.
Design/methodology/approach
The fuzzy-set ideal type analysis (FSITA) was adopted. For data collection, a manual assessment was conducted with all Japanese research data repositories registered on re3data.org.
Findings
The typology constructed in this paper consists of three dimensions: openness to resources (here equal to research data), openness to a community and openness to infrastructure provision. This paper found that there is no case where all dimensions are open, and there are several cases where the resources are closed despite research data repositories being positioned as a basis for open science in Japanese science and technology policy.
Originality/value
This is likely the first construction of the typology and application of FSITA to the study of research data governance based on knowledge commons. The findings of this paper provide practitioners insight into how to govern research data at repositories. The typology serves as a first step for future research on knowledge commons, for example, as a criterion of case selection in conducting in-depth case studies.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a reflective evaluation of the concept of the teaching commons as presented by authors Huber and Hutchings and to summarize expected…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a reflective evaluation of the concept of the teaching commons as presented by authors Huber and Hutchings and to summarize expected outcomes from participation therein.
Design/methodology/approach
An appraisal of the book The Advancement of Learning: Building the Teaching Commons is presented to explore the conception of the teaching commons. This review addresses the definition of the teaching commons and explores the establishment of, and participation in, the teaching commons as a means of advancing the scholarship of teaching and learning and for improving student learning.
Findings
A fundamental premise is developed suggesting that the development and utilization of a teaching commons will improve teaching and learning through the provision of a defined safeplace for conversations about teaching and learning and specific avenues to share information about teaching innovations for improving student learning. Sustained faculty engagement in a teaching commons must be supported by formalized institutional recognition and appropriate rewards.
Practical implications
A practical resource for faculty members involved in the scholarship of teaching and learning and for administrators developing teaching and learning centers or resources for utilization by faculty members.
Originality/value
This review examines the definition and establishment of a teaching commons for improving the scholarship of teaching and learning at the college and university levels.
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The concept of the commons, or common goods, is becoming increasingly widespread in the world of research and among civil society. The commons are defined as resources that are…
Abstract
Purpose
The concept of the commons, or common goods, is becoming increasingly widespread in the world of research and among civil society. The commons are defined as resources that are shared and collectively managed by communities of users, such as natural commons (e.g. fisheries, the climate) and knowledge commons (e.g. Wikipedia, open-source software). The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the findings of the PhD dissertation “Social finance and the commons,” recipient of the 2017 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award, category Management and Governance, sponsored by Management Decision. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective of the commons, this dissertation investigates how community enterprises govern financial resources as commons to serve the common good. To do so, it builds on data collected on community development banks in Brazil and complementary currencies in multiple countries.
Findings
The findings explain how collective action favors the implementation of new forms of governance and management potentially enabling finance to create and support communities. In doing so, this dissertation provides insights on the transformative power of some governance features for the creation of commons.
Originality/value
This dissertation advances theoretical and conceptual foundations for a theory of the commons in management sciences. It contributes to a new conceptualization of the commons, especially by extending the concept of commons to finance and showing the variety of commons according to governance structures and values. It also generates theoretical insights into social and community entrepreneurship research through an in-depth investigation of social finance organizations.
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Ren Shuhuai, Sheng Xingjun, Lin Haiqing and Cao Jialin
Based on the information commons service model, the aim of this article is to propose a new model for knowledge commons. It seeks to define the conceptual model and constructing…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the information commons service model, the aim of this article is to propose a new model for knowledge commons. It seeks to define the conceptual model and constructing framework of knowledge commons, which aim for a collaborative knowledge‐sharing environment to support innovative community activities of university library.
Design/methodology/approach
By analyzing the innovation activities of communities, infusing theories of knowledge management, collaboration and Library 2.0, the knowledge commons conceptual model is brought forward to improve communication, collaboration, sharing and conversation.
Findings
Since the innovative community is interdisciplinary and cross‐campus, the scattered research team and study group requires a library to extend the services to a logical system, while the virtual layer is to make this spatial decentralized and logically centralized system a reality. The core elements, namely information technology, organization and management, culture and spirit, make up the supporting layer, of which, trust and collaboration culture for innovation is important.
Practical implications
Research work and practice of information commons and library 2.0 have aroused a new round of the library service movement, while the knowledge commons conceptual model would provide steering for a knowledge sharing environment.
Originality/value
In this paper, the new model is based on information commons and assimilating the theories of knowledge management, collaboration and Library 2.0, intended to integrate digital library, physical resource, virtual resource and human resource into a whole. It is of great importance for the library to serve education and scientific research well.
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Libraries and library professionals face multiple challenges in meeting user needs in the second decade of the new millennium. This is particularly true in academic libraries…
Abstract
Purpose
Libraries and library professionals face multiple challenges in meeting user needs in the second decade of the new millennium. This is particularly true in academic libraries where students and faculty demand and expect fast, easy, and seamless access to information as well as flexible, comfortable places to work alone as well as collaboratively with colleagues, friends, classmates, and instructors. These same patrons often require the assistance of information specialists to navigate a library’s increasingly large array of online resources. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper provides historical context and reviews recent trends in the area in the area of learning and study spaces in academic libraries. It also cites the successful information commons at the author’s home institution, Loyola University Chicago, examining its first six years of operation and projecting changes in its next half decade.
Findings
The past 15 plus years have seen a major shift in philosophy in the USA and in other parts of the globe in terms of the importance of “library as space” in enhancing the role of the college and university library. As a result, academic institutions, at the urging of librarians, have created spaces known as information commons, learning commons, research commons, etc. in response to user needs for access to technology, group work, social interaction, and knowledge creation.
Originality/value
The information commons in all its forms has not been static, indeed it has matured, adapting over time to changing technologies, patron needs, and pedagogies.
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Williams Ezinwa Nwagwu and Margaret Molaodi Matobako
This study was aimed to examine emerging knowledge commons in the public libraries in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District in Free State, South Africa.
Abstract
Purpose
This study was aimed to examine emerging knowledge commons in the public libraries in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District in Free State, South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
A triangulated sample survey was adopted to collect data from the users of the commons using a questionnaire, and data of community member and the library officers were collected using an interview schedule. The study was guided by Hess and Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development framework.
Findings
The librarians and the commons users recognise the changing nature, roles and services of the libraries without necessarily attributing the changes to the emergence of knowledge commons. Users viewed the commons by the learning opportunities offered by information and communication technologies. They were, however, willing to contribute their resources to boost and enrich the commons; their contributions presently take the forms of volunteering of their knowledge and skill through offering of training sessions to users of the commons. A critical aspect of the commons, namely, participation in the governance and management of the commons resources appears not to be occurring.
Practical implications
To adequately build knowledge commons in the libraries will require formally introducing knowledge commons in the libraries, doing a systems analysis, deciding on the content and their sources, drawing up a programme for nurturing the system including training of relevant staff and then providing basic infrastructures.
Originality/value
This study used quantitative approach to deploy the institutional analysis development Institutional Analysis and Development framework in the study of public library institution. Studies on knowledge commons in public libraries have not been found.
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This bibliography aims to give citations and annotations for a core selection of sources on the information and learning commons trend in academic libraries.
Abstract
Purpose
This bibliography aims to give citations and annotations for a core selection of sources on the information and learning commons trend in academic libraries.
Design/methodology/approach
Articles, books, and web sites relevant to this topic were found in the Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts database; Library Literature Index; WorldCat; and on the internet. Sources were chosen that contribute to an overview of the concepts or cover practical considerations in implementation.
Findings
Libraries are developing best practices as they experiment with learner‐centered service models, but they apply these best practices differently according to their unique needs. Early implementations focus on technology and access, while later implementations focus on more collaborations surrounding learner‐centered pedagogies.
Research limitations/implications
This bibliography selects from English language books, web sites, and peer reviewed journals about US, British, Canadian, and Oceania academic libraries, large and small.
Originality/value
This survey of the literature will help librarians and administrators understand the theoretical trends and collaboration that influence how libraries can change service, space, and technology to meet emerging needs.
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