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1 – 10 of over 140000The purpose of this paper is to provide an input‐output analysis of electronic resources in academic libraries by verifying evaluation indicators and applying them to the digital…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an input‐output analysis of electronic resources in academic libraries by verifying evaluation indicators and applying them to the digital library environment.
Design/methodology/approach
This study measures the performance of electronic resources in academic libraries in Korea. To measure the efficiency of the input‐output ratio, evaluation indicators were divided into inputs and outputs. Inputs refer to the e‐resource use environment as well as the acquisition of e‐resources such as web DB, e‐books, e‐journals, and so on. Outputs quantify the use of each resource.
Findings
First, the results of this study show that a large share of academic library budgets is spent on e‐resource purchases and e‐resource environment improvement for better use. Second, the measurement shows that web DB subscription, annual e‐resource development, and education for e‐resource exhibit higher efficiency, while e‐resource use, web DB and e‐journal download exhibited relatively high efficiency. Third, when the input‐output ratio is calculated in percentage terms, the efficiency of e‐resources of Korean academic libraries reaches 88.20 per cent.
Research limitations/implications
First, to measure performance accurately, results/effectiveness must be included. However, this study focused on quantifiable input and output factors. It is recommended that future research include user satisfaction and learning effects. Second, this study was conducted in a particular country (Korea). So it is advisable to conduct research to compare the results of this study to results in other countries.
Originality/value
This study is the first research to consider the performance of electronic resources in depth. This paper contributes to improving the reliability of library evaluation.
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I.J. Hetty van Emmerik, Arnold B. Bakker and Martin C. Euwema
Departing from the Job Demands‐Resources (JD‐R) model, the paper examined the relationship between job demands and resources on the one hand, and employees' evaluations of…
Abstract
Purpose
Departing from the Job Demands‐Resources (JD‐R) model, the paper examined the relationship between job demands and resources on the one hand, and employees' evaluations of organizational change on the other hand.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants were 818 faculty members within six faculties of a Dutch university. Data were analyzed using multilevel analyses with faculty as the grouping variable.
Findings
For the job demands, results show that emotional demands, but not workload, are negatively related to more favorable evaluations of organizational change. Regarding job resources, results show that support from the supervisor, job control, and opportunities for professional development is associated with more favorable evaluations of organizational change. Moreover, job control and support from the supervisor buffered the negative relationship between emotional demands and favorable evaluations of organizational change.
Research limitations/implications
One of the clear implications of this study is that organizations should try to provide their employees with adequate resources together with the ascertaining of jobs with low job demands such that people can fulfill their job without severe adverse working outcomes. If it is impossible to reduce or optimize specific demands, additional job resources should be provided.
Originality/value
The finding that job resources are important in shaping evaluations of organizational change perceptions is consistent with the idea that employees with enough resources will be motivated to do their job and to be motivated to participate in change processes. Employees, who perceive their work environment and their job as highly resourceful, are more likely to anticipate into a pending change effort.
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Libiao Bai, Zhiguo Wang, Hailing Wang, Ning Huang and Huijing Shi
Inadequate balancing of resources often results in resource conflict in the multiproject management process. Past research has focused on how to allocate a small amount of…
Abstract
Purpose
Inadequate balancing of resources often results in resource conflict in the multiproject management process. Past research has focused on how to allocate a small amount of resources optimally but has scarcely explored how to foresee multiproject resource conflict risk in advance. The purpose of this study is to address this knowledge gap by developing a model to predict multiproject resource conflict risk.
Design/methodology/approach
A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to transform subjective judgments into quantitative information, based on which an evaluation index system for multiproject resource conflict risk that focuses on the interdependence of multiple project resources is proposed. An artificial neural network (ANN) model combined with this system is proposed to predict the comprehensive risk score that can describe the severity of risk.
Findings
Accurately predicting multiproject resource conflict risks in advance can reduce the risk to the organization and increase the probability of achieving the project objectives. The ANN model developed in this paper by the authors can capture the essential components of the underlying nonlinear relevance and is capable of predicting risk appropriately.
Originality/value
The authors explored the prediction of the risks associated with multiproject resource conflicts, which is important for improving the success rate of projects but has received limited attention in the past. The authors established an evaluation index system for these risks considering the interdependence among project resources to describe the underlying factors that contribute to resource conflict risks. The authors proposed an effective model to forecast the risk of multiproject resource conflicts using an ANN. The model can effectively predict complex phenomena with complicated and highly nonlinear performance functions and solve problems with many random variables.
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Kaixin Wangzhou, Chunbo Hao and Huamin Wang
With the development of small towns in China, the country pays more and more attention to the protection of landscape resources. It is an urgent problem that is how to protect…
Abstract
Purpose
With the development of small towns in China, the country pays more and more attention to the protection of landscape resources. It is an urgent problem that is how to protect landscape resources and ecological environment while developing economic industry in small towns. Establishing an ecotourism evaluation model can provide valuable reference for ecotourism planning, development protection and sustainable development of small towns.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to construct the ecotourism evaluation system that accords with the characteristics of small towns. A judgment matrix is constructed to determine specific indicators and factor values based on expert survey results. Based on the AHP theory and considering 4 aspects, construction conditions of featured small towns, ecological and environmental conditions, ecotourism resources endowment and development conditions and tourism capacity. In addition, 16 factor evaluations were selected, evaluation model of ecotourism resources were built and each evaluation index value was confirmed by adopting expert's advice.
Findings
Ecological environment, socioeconomic, uniqueness, esthetic ornamental value, small-scale industry scale, type and development level, type and scale, tourism talent level, therapeutic and leisure value were the indispensable components of evaluation of ecotourism resources in featured small towns.
Originality/value
The ideas of ecological environment development are rooted in the hearts of the people with the development of times. The model in this research is pertinent, typical and universal to some extent. Thus it is worth popularizing and applying.
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This study aims to develop an evaluation index to evaluate the economic value among the values of the library and also attempts to measure the economic value of the library by…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop an evaluation index to evaluate the economic value among the values of the library and also attempts to measure the economic value of the library by performing a survey of the librarians and users at public libraries. The results of this research would likely encourage the librarians to feel increasingly confident about the library, while students and users, in general, would also likely be able to realize the economic value and presence of the library in more perceptive ways, thereby contributing to the activation of the library.
Design/methodology/approach
This study pertains to the development of an evaluation index for assessing the economic value of the library and, to evaluate the economic value of the library, has derived a preliminary evaluation index by collectively gathering and analyzing the domestic and foreign papers on the value of the library in its first phase. The preliminary evaluation index derived was verified by conducting three phases of Delphi survey by selecting ten experts. The survey questionnaire was developed to measure the economic value based on the final evaluation index derived from this study, and the economic value was measured against the perceptions of librarians and users of the public library.
Findings
The economic value of the library was divided into the four categories of the local economy’s value enhancement, namely, connection with the local community, human resources development, job creation and investment value enhancement for the librarians and users surveyed for assessment purposes. Consequently, the area of connection with the local community turned out to be the highest at 4.15, followed by 4.02 of the investment value improvement, 3.58 for the local economy’s value improvement and 3.50 for the human resources development and job creation, respectively. Furthermore, the respondents demonstrated the highest level of consensus on average on how the resource sharing by libraries has helped to reduce the economic burden for the residents as a matter of social value for the public library while believing that the libraries deliver a high level of return on social investments.
Originality/value
There are not that many studies conducted on the economic influence or the value of public libraries in Korea, and they are merely referenced in part if and when referenced to the overall value of the library. Given that, the research that focuses only on the economic value of the library must be carried out. In this respect, this research has been quite meaningful. The evaluation index developed in this research is likely to become a basic tool that can be applied to public libraries, as well as other types of libraries. Furthermore, the evaluation index developed through this research could be applied to nonprofit organizations, such as libraries, and would likely have a social ripple effect as a research that evaluates and presents the economic value of libraries. Accordingly, in this research, we have analyzed the list presented by the American Library Association and domestic research results, and have also structured the core details and derived the preliminary economic value index. Finally, 4 evaluation areas, 7 evaluation items and 22 evaluation indicators have been developed through the Delphi survey through three phases.
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Purpose. There are a large number of free electronic resources available on the web, from various sources, including the outputs of funded research projects. As yet, there are not…
Abstract
Purpose. There are a large number of free electronic resources available on the web, from various sources, including the outputs of funded research projects. As yet, there are not well‐established procedures for the evaluation of the quality and usefulness of these electronic resources. This article examines two preliminary approaches to the problem. Approach. An investigation into free e‐books was carried out for the JISC to examine the potential for the use of free e‐books in teaching and learning in further and higher education in the UK. Questionnaires, a dissemination workshop and focus groups were used to obtain the research results. Three possible approaches to evaluation are discussed, involving the collection of high‐quality resources in a trusted repository, large‐scale evaluation of available resources, and evaluation by end‐users. The practical problems of each approach are discussed. The prospect of future large‐scale digitisation projects and their possible impact in this field is also considered. In a separate section, the question of evaluation of electronic resources is briefly considered in the context of collections development in the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS). Findings. The conclusion is drawn that it is more cost‐effective to intervene early in the lifecycle of a digital resource and to help ensure good practice in the creation of the resource than to attempt to evaluate and enhance a resource at the end of the creation process. Originality. This paper draws on the unique experience of the AHDS as a central, national service for researchers in the arts and humanities creating and using electronic resources.
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This paper seeks to rediscover the most suitable efficiency evaluation variables (input and output variables) for digital libraries and to employ the data envelopment analysis…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to rediscover the most suitable efficiency evaluation variables (input and output variables) for digital libraries and to employ the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to measure the resource utilization efficiency of university libraries.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to analyze and evaluate university library efficiency, the paper introduces the DEA‐CCR Model and the DEA‐BCC Model. Based on these research tools, the Technical Efficiency (CCR*BCC) was determined. First, a reference group was created with a 100 percent efficiency rate, then the factors contributing to inefficient DMUs were analyzed, and the difference in the efficiency rate compared according to the different governing bodies of the libraries. Finally, the difference of efficiency according to the introduction and rejection of electronic resources was analyzed. It was possible to measure the technical efficiency, pure‐technical efficiency, and scale efficiency.
Findings
The results showed that the efficiency of university libraries varied significantly according to whether or not electronic resources were included in the evaluation. In addition, the findings confirmed decision making units (DMUs) have a 100 percent efficiency rate and a low efficiency rate as well as proposed benchmarking DMUs for inefficient DMUs and a direction for future improvements.
Originality/value
The paper identifies that there was a significant difference in efficiency, according to the presence of electronic resources in university libraries.
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Ming K. Lim, Weiqing Xiong and Zhimei Lei
Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) is a networked manufacturing mode that promotes the agile, service-oriented, green and intelligent development of the manufacturing industry. Although…
Abstract
Purpose
Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) is a networked manufacturing mode that promotes the agile, service-oriented, green and intelligent development of the manufacturing industry. Although some scholars have reviewed related studies of CMfg from multiple perspectives, these reviews are not fully systematic or well justified and fail to fully reveal the key characteristics in the development process of CMfg. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the relevant research on CMfg via identification of key characteristics of definition, architecture, supporting technology and application of CMfg to provide critical information in decision support for the innovation and development of CMfg.
Design/methodology/approach
This study systematically reviews the relevant research on CMfg across theoretical methods to technical applications by integrating quantitative and qualitative methods. Word cloud method is used to quantitatively analyse the structure and feature of different definitions of CMfg. The principle of System Science is used to explore the basic components and functions of various CMfg architectures and their common and differing characteristics. A multi-level technology framework is developed to explore the development status of CMfg supporting technologies. A multi-stage application classification is proposed to reveal the application status of CMfg.
Findings
Through literature review, this study found that CMfg architecture is currently dominated by general architectures and lacks architectures that fit the actual enterprise characteristics; CMfg supporting technology is mature in the traditional cloud computing-based technology, but it is still weak in the development of virtualization and servitization technology, service scheduling technology; CMfg application is still in the initial stage and still lacks a relatively complete system application. By analysing the development status of CMfg, this study also identified potential research directions of CMfg in information management, service composition and evaluation, system application and sustainable development and other aspects.
Research limitations/implications
This paper predominantly focuses on journal articles and some key conference papers published in English and Chinese. Chinese articles account for more than half of the total. The reason is that CMfg was proposed by the Chinese and CMfg is suitable for the development of China's manufacturing industry because of China's intelligent manufacturing environment. It is believed that this research has reached a reliable comprehensiveness that can help scholars and practitioners establish new research directions and evaluate their work in CMfg.
Originality/value
Prior literature reviews ignore the identification and analysis of key feature identification for the current development of CMfg, including common and unique feature identification of different CMfg architectures and functions, multi-layer analysis and interpretation of CMfg technology and different stage analysis of CMfg applications. This study addresses these limitations and provides a comprehensive literature review.
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Kangqu Zhou, Chen Yang, Lvcheng Li, Cong Miao, Lijun Song, Peng Jiang and Jiafu Su
This paper proposes a recommendation method that mines the semantic relationship between resources and combine it with collaborative filtering (CF) algorithm for crowdsourcing…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes a recommendation method that mines the semantic relationship between resources and combine it with collaborative filtering (CF) algorithm for crowdsourcing knowledge-sharing communities.
Design/methodology/approach
First, structured tag trees are constructed based on tag co-occurrence to overcome the tags' lack of semantic structure. Then, the semantic similarity between tags is determined based on tag co-occurrence and the tag-tree structure, and the semantic similarity between resources is calculated based on the semantic similarity of the tags. Finally, the user-resource evaluation matrix is filled based on the resource semantic similarity, and the user-based CF is used to predict the user's evaluation of the resources.
Findings
Folksonomy is a knowledge classification method that is suitable for crowdsourcing knowledge-sharing communities. The semantic similarity between resources can be obtained according to the tags in the folksonomy system, which can be used to alleviate the data sparsity and cold-start problems of CF. Experimental results show that compared with other algorithms, the algorithm in this paper performs better in mean absolute error (MAE) and F1, which indicates that the proposed algorithm yields better performance.
Originality/value
The proposed folksonomy-based CF method can help users in crowdsourcing knowledge-sharing communities to better find the resources they need.
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Ralf Klischewski and Ingrid Wetzel
Aims to show that workflow management needs to rethink its basis of discussion in order to meet today's challenges and to provide adequate IT support for heterogeneous workflow…
Abstract
Purpose
Aims to show that workflow management needs to rethink its basis of discussion in order to meet today's challenges and to provide adequate IT support for heterogeneous workflow networks.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the need for flexibility in relating resources in workflow management is examined in more detail. Second, some approaches to managing workflows in heterogeneous networks are inspected and it is found that all of these improve flexibility on the basis of contracting services. Third, it is elaborated how processing by contract supports decentralized resource management through dynamically interrelating social and technical services driven by a cycle (“wheel”) of execution and monitoring, evaluation and demand, as well as selecting and contracting.
Findings
Conclusions are drawn for systems architecture and implementation to guide the design of internet‐enabled workflow support.
Research limitations/implications
Important questions for the research agenda are: how can one enrich application‐oriented workflow modelling languages in order to describe processes as consisting of heterogeneous services? How should one design and implement workflow engines which enable the turning of the “wheel” with the support of integrating human activities and technical agency as workflow process services?
Practical implications
The idea of processing by contract may lead to new workflow concepts and technology to meet the challenges of an internet economy based on the “pay as you go” principle.
Originality/value
Whereas the workflow paradigm of the past may be phrased as processing by definition, i.e. process execution according to predefined process patterns and resource relations, the idea of processing by contract is suggested, i.e. a mode of process execution driven by recurrent process evaluation and service contracting.
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