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Article
Publication date: 1 January 1935

With this number the Library Review enters on its ninth year, and we send greetings to readers at home and abroad. Though the magazine was started just about the time when the…

Abstract

With this number the Library Review enters on its ninth year, and we send greetings to readers at home and abroad. Though the magazine was started just about the time when the depression struck the world, its success was immediate, and we are glad to say that its circulation has increased steadily every year. This is an eminently satisfactory claim to be able to make considering the times through which we have passed.

Details

Library Review, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0024-2535

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1996

Sarah Kelly and David Nicholas

The Internet is now with us and as a result fundamental changes in information work encompassing the ‘virtual library’ and the ‘cybrarian’ are being forecasted. But how much of…

Abstract

The Internet is now with us and as a result fundamental changes in information work encompassing the ‘virtual library’ and the ‘cybrarian’ are being forecasted. But how much of all this is hype — and have we not all been here before, when online in the shape of full‐text systems like FT PROFILE first arrived? And PROFILE has been with us more than a dozen years and, yes, the basic shape of the information service has changed as a result — a little more buying in of the full text and less indexing it yourself. Indeed it was the advent of full text information services that first enabled librarians to run a purely electronic library. Why then should we look to more fundamental changes as a result of the arrival of the Internet? Since business librarians have often been at the forefront of technological and management changes within the information world — the early learners — their experiences with the Internet are of interest to us all. Can they tell us where we are all going? Since the business sector is such a large and multivariate group the assertion has been tested out on just one sector — the banking and finance sector. There are sound grounds for choosing this sector, for it employs more information professionals than any other business field. It is also, perhaps, the most influential business sector since anything that happens in the banking world is soon felt by all those working in other areas. The largest proportion of information professionals in the banking and finance sector are based in the City of London. However, this group contains two diverse banking areas, namely investment and dealing. While many of the target group were involved in in‐depth project finance research, others had to answer questions on companies and currencies within minutes. The information professionals in this sector are under intense pressure to deliver quality information at speed. It was assumed that if the Internet was a welcome part of this environment, it would not be long before it was a staple part of any efficient library. And after all, unlike PROFILE, the Internet is free isn't it?

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 48 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Article
Publication date: 17 March 2020

Lola García-Santiago and María-Dolores Olvera-Lobo

This paper presents an exploratory study on the accessibility of Spanish World Heritage website home pages in the Spanish language.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper presents an exploratory study on the accessibility of Spanish World Heritage website home pages in the Spanish language.

Design/methodology/approach

The study sample comprised 78 home pages from the institutional websites of the 47 cultural, natural and mixed assets considered as World Cultural Heritage by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). These home pages have been analysed using online accessibility validator tools, following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 recommendation for the different levels of priority. The compiled data were employed in a quantitative study on adherence to WCAG guidelines. Furthermore, the types of errors made using the perspective of accessibility and usability were identified, and the application rate was calculated for these accessibility guidelines according to the type of entity managed by the websites and pages.

Findings

The results show that more than 25 percent of the cases analysed had ten accessibility errors or fewer. Moreover, it was only necessary to correct one or two types of errors in close to 40 percent of them. The paper draws the conclusion that, despite technological and legislative advances that make public entity websites accessible, there is still much to do before complete web accessibility and usability at AA and AAA level can be achieved.

Practical implications

Identifying accessibility problems on institutional websites constitutes the first step towards creating web content that is easy to access and manage for users with disabilities. In this regard, this study contributes to improving web content according to objective guidelines such as those encouraged by the WCAG 2.0.

Originality/value

This article provides information on how accessibility and usability guidelines are implemented by institutional websites for Cultural Heritage deemed especially important. This is an issue with significant implications for users and for which, however, there is a lack of prior studies. As a result, the value and originality of this paper can be considered evident.

Details

Library Hi Tech, vol. 39 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-8831

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1936

SEPTEMBER this year will be unique in the history of the librarian in England in that for the first time in nearly sixty years the annual conference of the Library Association has…

Abstract

SEPTEMBER this year will be unique in the history of the librarian in England in that for the first time in nearly sixty years the annual conference of the Library Association has already become a memory only. There are those who profess to believe that the conference should be restored to the autumn months. It may be suggested on the other hand that the attendance at Margate lent no assistance to that point of view; indeed, the Margate conference was one of the most pleasant, one of the most successful, of which we have record. Nevertheless, if it can be proved that any large body of librarians was unable to be present owing to the change of month, it appears to us that the matter should be considered sympathetically. Although no one holds any longer the view that one week's attendance at a conference will teach more than many months' study in hermit‐like seclusion—the words and sentiments are those of James Duff Brown—because to‐day there is much more intimate communication between librarians than there was when that sentiment was expressed, there is enormous value, and the adjective is not an exaggeration, in one large meeting of librarians in body in the year. It is an event to which every young librarian looks forward as the privilege to be his when he reaches a high enough position in the service; attendance is a privilege that no librarian anywhere would forego. And this, in spite of the fact that there is usually a grumble because the day is so full of meetings that there is very little chance of such recreation as a seaside, or indeed any other, place visited, usually provides for the delegates.

Details

New Library World, vol. 39 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 3 October 2019

Jodie Conduit, Ingo Oswald Karpen and Kieran D. Tierney

The ability to attract and retain volunteers is crucial for not-for-profit organizations, and consequently, the need to understand and manage volunteers’ engagement is paramount…

1914

Abstract

Purpose

The ability to attract and retain volunteers is crucial for not-for-profit organizations, and consequently, the need to understand and manage volunteers’ engagement is paramount. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of five volunteer engagement dimensions (cognitive, affective, behavioral, social and spiritual engagement) on perceived value-in-context, and its subsequent role for volunteer retention. Thus, providing for the first time an understanding of how unique types of value are determined through different facets of volunteer engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

To establish the nature and consequences of volunteer engagement, the authors collaborated with an Australian not-for-profit service organization. Using a survey method, the authors studied the organization’s volunteer workforce resulting in 464 usable responses. To capture volunteers’ degree of spiritual engagement, this paper introduces a rigorously developed unidimensional measure.

Findings

The results demonstrate the importance of the five engagement dimensions on volunteers’ perceived value-in-context, while highlighting significant effect differences including some counterintuitive consequences. The authors also establish the role of spiritual engagement and demonstrate the impact of value-in-context for volunteer retention.

Originality/value

This research explores the volunteer engagement-retention chain, by empirically studying the role of value-in-context. The authors provide first evidence for the relationship between volunteer engagement and value-in-context, examining the independent yet relative effects of various facets of volunteer engagement. In doing so, the authors offer new insight into the dimensionality of the volunteer engagement construct, broadening its conceptualization to include spiritual engagement as a core constituent. The authors further demonstrate the impact of value-in-context on volunteer retention, helping organizations to better make sense of meaningful volunteer experiences with long-lasting impacts and mutual benefits.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1983

‘PLR is not, and was never imagined to be, a cure for the economic anomalies of contemporary authorship’, wrote a supporter in The Author in the summer of 1981. But if there was…

Abstract

‘PLR is not, and was never imagined to be, a cure for the economic anomalies of contemporary authorship’, wrote a supporter in The Author in the summer of 1981. But if there was to be a Bill for authors, that is precisely what it should have addressed itself to, and the defensive tone of the statement suggests the writer knew that was what the majority of authors sought—or, of those responsible for 40,000 titles a year, more would have registered.

Details

New Library World, vol. 84 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Content available
80

Abstract

Details

Library Hi Tech News, vol. 16 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0741-9058

Article
Publication date: 20 November 2017

Colette Rabin and Grinell Smith

The purpose of this paper is to explore social studies from the moral perspective of an ethic of care. Care ethics considers not only the cognitive skills but also the affective…

1806

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore social studies from the moral perspective of an ethic of care. Care ethics considers not only the cognitive skills but also the affective dimensions of educative experiences for how they might forward an ethical ideal of caring.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study was conducted in a second-grade classroom at a small, diverse, urban, independent K-8th grade elementary school. Data were gathered from six sources: notes from the participating second-grade teacher’s planning meetings over the course of a two and a half month unit of instruction about genealogy; lesson plans and observation notes; interviews of participating teachers; interviews with participating students; surveys of students; and the second-grade teacher’s reflective journal. The authors took a phenomenological approach to data analysis, examining the entire data set and conducting inductive interpretive coding to identify emergent themes.

Findings

The authors found that adopting the theoretical perspective of care ethics helped a novice elementary teacher revise his/her approach to social studies instruction. Care ethics led to the teacher coming to see himself/herself as a teacher of care ethics, focusing on dialogue over stories to teach caring in diverse contexts, and highlighting social aspects of the curriculum. The students’ descriptions of their learning indicate that they perceived a larger purpose for their social studies lessons – in this case, participation in social life – and that this perception contributed to their engagement.

Research limitations/implications

The study was conducted at one school site where the teachers enjoyed the intellectual freedom to infuse new perspectives such as care ethics into their curriculum. More research needs to be done to explore the feasibility of application of these ideas elsewhere.

Practical implications

Implications include how adopting an ethic of care provides a larger purpose for social studies that may deepen the educative experience, both for the teacher and for the students. Adopting an ethic of care in social studies might help cultivate students’ inclination to act in more caring ways toward one another.

Originality/value

This paper addresses the overlooked ethical purposes of teaching social studies from a care ethics perspective.

Details

Social Studies Research and Practice, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1933-5415

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 January 2013

Inger L. Stole

The purpose of this article is to explore how the (War) Advertising Council organized the advertising community to assist the US government's home front campaigns during the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to explore how the (War) Advertising Council organized the advertising community to assist the US government's home front campaigns during the Second World War. It aims to discuss how the council urged individual advertisers to use their product‐ads to instruct the civilian population about behavioral changes that the government deemed essential to the war effort. The task required great ambidexterity: paying a high level of attention to the government's wartime needs while coaching and encouraging advertisers into compliance. As such, the article also aims to discuss the council's challenge in weighing the government's wartime needs against commercial pressures. A case study of the Advertising Council's 1944 campaign to “Stamp out VD” seeks to illustrate the latter concern.

Design/methodology/approach

The article comprises an historical account of the US advertising industry during the Second World War. Applying a qualitative approach, it relies on archival sources, industry trade publications, newspapers accounts and existing scholarship for its information.

Findings

While publicly framing its wartime contribution as a patriotic gesture, the council's underlying rationale was that of serving the advertising industry in a public relations capacity. Unsure of its standing as America entered the war, the donation of time and talent to the government's war effort helped strengthen the advertising industry's economic position and social standing. As such, the council was not only a pioneer of “social marketing”, but also demonstrated a sophisticated use of “strategic philanthropy,” long before it became a common marketing practice.

Originality/value

Analyzing previously un‐explored sources, the article sheds new light on the US advertising industry's public relations strategies during the Second World War.

Details

Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-750X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 4 February 2008

Sam Wineburg

This chapter outlines some of the challenges in assessing teachers’ subject-matter knowledge. After reviewing traditional ways of mapping a domain, such as job analysis and…

Abstract

This chapter outlines some of the challenges in assessing teachers’ subject-matter knowledge. After reviewing traditional ways of mapping a domain, such as job analysis and “wisdom of practice,” the author alights on the two constructs, depth and breadth, that have come to define how teachers’ subject-matter knowledge is conceptualized. He argues that these two constructs constitute an impoverished vocabulary that misrepresents the complexity of the subject-matter knowledge teachers most need for effective instruction. He proposes an expanded set of constructs – differentiation and elaboration, qualification, integration, generativity, and epistemological knowledge – that better approximate the complexity of a subject-matter domain and serve as a better guide for creating an assessment system.

Details

Assessing Teachers for Professional Certification: The First Decade of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1055-5

21 – 30 of 39